Mumbai: At Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) annual general meeting on Monday, Chairman Mukesh Ambani made several announcements in regard to company’s activities in Gujarat, mainly in Hazira, Dahej and Jamnagar.

Announcements regarding Hazira and Dahej

Ambani announced one of world’s largest single-train PTA plat of 3 MMTPA capacity at Dahej in Central Gujarat. He said – First, in the Polyester value chain, we will build one of the worlds’ largest single-train PTA plant of 3 MMTPA capacity at Dahej. We will also invest in a 1 MMTPA PET plant at Dahej. Both PTA and PET will be targeted for completion by 2026. We will also reinvest in Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY) and Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF). Polyester expansion with capacity of over 1 MMTPA will be completed in phases by 2026.

Ambani also announced to triple the existing capacity in the Vinyl chain at Dahej and Jamnagar in Gujarat. He said – in the Vinyl chain, we will more than triple our existing capacity by adding world-scale plants at Dahej and Jamnagar in India, and also in the UAE. We will aim to complete 1.5 MMTPA of feedstock integrated PVC expansion at Dahej and Jamnagar in phases by 2026. We will also add capacities to make EDC and PVC at Ruwais, in the UAE, as part of Ta’ziz Chemical Zone. The joint venture with ADNOC and ADQ will target to fulfil domestic demand of the region. With these expansions, Reliance will rank among the Top-5 producers of PVC globally.

Ambani said the company has replaced almost 5 per cent of energy consumption at Dahej and Hazira sites by green power and green steam. He said – We have extensively started consuming biomass as fuel to produce green energy at scale. I am pleased to share that within a span of just one year, we have replaced almost 5 per cent of energy consumption at our Dahej and Hazira sites by green power and green steam. Within one year, the renewable energy consumption at Reliance jumped by 352%. I feel confident that such initiatives, coupled with transition to renewable power for our O2C assets, will accelerate our journey to become net-carbon zero.

Mukesh Ambani also announced one of world’s largest Carbon Fibre plants at Hazira in South Gujarat. He said – consistent with our vision for New Materials, we will build in phases India’s first and one of the world’s largest Carbon Fibre plants at Hazira with a capacity of 20,000 MTPA, based on Acrylonitrile feedstock. We will commence Acrylonitrile production next year and aim to complete the first phase of the carbon fibre plant in 2025.

In a live-streamed address, Ambani said that the conglomerate’s new energy business is now “far more ambitious, transformational and global in scope that anything Reliance has done before.”

Announcements regarding Jamnagar

Last year, I had announced setting up of Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar. Our aim is to establish and enable at least 100GW of solar energy by 2030. The work done so far has reaffirmed my conviction in solar energy and has provided further impetus to our investment thesis to establish four Giga Factories.

First, for photovoltaic panels; Second, for energy storage; Third, for Green Hydrogen; And Fourth, for fuel cell system.

Today, I would like to announce our new Giga Factory for Power Electronics. One of the key components linking the entire value chain of Green Energy is affordable and reliable power electronics. We are building significant capabilities in design and manufacturing of power electronics and software systems, integrating with our capabilities of Telecommunications, Cloud Computing and IoT platform. We will build this through partnerships with leading global players to provide most affordable solutions, meeting global standards of performance, safety, and reliability.

In addition to solar energy, we are also actively progressing on bio-energy, offshore wind and other non-conventional forms of renewable energy, and will continue to expand our manufacturing ecosystem.

Let me further elaborate on the progress made in building our manufacturing ecosystem. We have invested and partnered with leading companies globally in areas of Solar, Battery and Electrolysers. With each of these partnerships, we gained access to unique technology, know-how, and an eager and vibrant talent pool, ready to disrupt the world.

For solar PV manufacturing, we have acquired 100% stake in REC Solar. REC brings 25 years of commitment to solar industry. It is a global leader in solar manufacturing, providing highest efficiency solar panels with Heterojunction Technology (HJT). It is a recipient of the prestigious Intersolar Award 2022, akin to Oscars in the Solar world, and has 1,400+ employees globally, spearheading innovation and manufacturing excellence. It has sold 40 million solar panels till date, for every application, including premium rooftop markets in the US, Europe and Australia. REC is expanding its current 1.2GW annual module production capacity to 1.8GW in Singapore.

The technology for solar PV is constantly evolving. We have a defined improvement roadmap to stay ahead, targeting to increase the HJT module efficiency to 26% by 2026 from the current 23%, and further improving it to 28% through innovations like perovskite-tandem cell technology. We also aim to extend the life of PV modules from 25 to 50 years. Our 10GW solar PV cell and module factory at Jamnagar, based on REC technology, will commence production by 2024. And we are targeting to scale up to 20GW annual capacity in a phased manner by 2026.

This will be first of its kind of ‘quartz-to-module’ facility globally – from quartz, to metallurgical silicon, to polysilicon, to ingots / wafers – and integrate them with cells and modules. Further, we will invest in Glass and POE film manufacturing – both having natural synergies with our Chemical and Materials business. This will provide supply security, unparalleled cost advantage, and ability to capture chain margins with maximum recycling. We will continue to strive for manufacturing excellence and innovation through our technological collaborations and partnerships with leading start-ups globally.

As I talked about it last year, we see batteries as an integral part for providing long-duration energy storage for grid- scale renewable energy. They are also critical to promote Green Mobility and stationary applications for residential and commercial use. This has further reinforced our ambition to create an end-to-end battery ecosystem – from battery materials to cell manufacturing, leading up to packs and Battery Management System (BMS), to deliver safe and reliable batteries with high energy density and fast charging capabilities.

We have formed strategic partnerships with Lithium Werks, Faradion and Ambri, each of them being an industry disruptor with superior chemistry, leading to better performance. And most importantly, with less to nil dependence on noble metals, ensuring supply security.

Lithium Werks provides an integrated portfolio of high performance Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) solutions, with a unique history of 30+ years of battery experience and innovation.

Faradion, with its globally leading sodium-ion battery chemistry, provides us with a further opportunity to disrupt the battery markets.

Ambri is a world leader in long-duration energy storage solutions based on Liquid Metal technology, built for grid applications, and with 20+ years of lifespan with minimal fade.

Our deep understanding and knowledge of Chemistry and Materials will add to our competitive advantage in setting up our world-scale battery manufacturing facility. We aim to start production of battery packs by 2023 and scale up to a fully integrated 5 GWh annual cell to pack manufacturing facility by 2024, and further scale up to 50 GWh annual capacity by 2027.

Reliance is not new to Hydrogen. We are one of the largest producers of Grey Hydrogen globally.

We have partnered with Stiesdal to accelerate cost reduction and commercialisation of their Pressurised Alkaline Electrolyzer technology. In addition, we are in advanced discussions to partner with other leading electrolyser technology players globally to set up giga-scale electrolyser manufacturing facility at Jamnagar.

We will complement our partner’s technological innovation in stack manufacturing with our engineering skills, operational excellence, long-standing experience in efficient seawater desalination, digital twin expertise and indigenous balance of plant, with a singular aim to deliver Green Hydrogen at the lowest cost. We aim to progressively commence transition from Grey Hydrogen to Green Hydrogen by 2025, after proving our cost and performance targets.

As I briefed earlier, Reliance is actively working on bio-energy. We are one of the largest users of agro-waste as a fuel to meet our captive energy needs, and we aim to build on this further through use of newer and emerging technologies and innovation.

I am happy to inform you that Reliance has inaugurated Phase I of its Bio-Energy Technology (BET) Centre at Jamnagar on August 15, 2022. I will further update you on the progress in this area in the coming years.

Reliance’s captive energy requirement across businesses provides us with a large base-load demand to support our plans to set up giga-scale manufacturing. It will accelerate our commitment to invest Rs 75,000 crore towards establishing our fully integrated New Energy manufacturing ecosystem in Jamnagar.

We will also be establishing 20 GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2025. This will be entirely consumed for our captive needs of round-the-clock (RTC) power and intermittent energy for Green Hydrogen. Once proven at scale, we are prepared to double the investment to scale up our manufacturing ecosystem.

As always, we will develop our New Energy business by getting our First Principles right, and we believe that we have all the right ingredients in place.

First, we have over 2,500 scientists, engineers and professionals working passionately to deliver our New Energy vision, and we aim to expand it tenfold in next few years.

Second, we are expanding our partnerships with world’s leading start-ups and academic institutions to collaborate and innovate for future.

Third, our large captive requirement across our businesses enables us to scale rapidly.

Fourth, in collaboration with global EPC players, we will repurpose our proven capabilities in project management and combine physical and digital technologies to deliver lowest-cost green energy.

Fifth, our New Energy business model will be modular and replicable across the globe.

As a result of these combined strengths, our New Energy business will help India become a net exporter of energy. It will also strengthen indigenous R&D base and make India a reservoir of intellectual property.

Most importantly, Reliance aspires to make India a world leader in new energy manufacturing and a credible alternative to China. Of course, we have a long way to go. But we are approaching this business with utmost sincerity, dedication, commitment and focus. The work done over the past one year gives me immense confidence that we will make this ambition a reality in the shortest possible time.

India’s transition — as also the world’s transition — from fossil fuels to renewables will provide Reliance with an opportunity for continuous hyper-growth over many decades.