Reliance Powers Ahead: First Solar Giga Factory To Launch By Year-End

Reliance Industries is set to commission its first solar giga factory within the current fiscal year, as detailed in the company's annual report.

"We have made significant progress in establishing factories that will be part of our Integrated Solar PV Manufacturing," the firm said in the annual report, adding that the phased commencement of operations at the Solar PV Giga Factory is anticipated by the end of 2024.

"New Energy will be commissioning its first train of Module and Cell Manufacturing in FY25. Solar panels manufactured in Jamnagar have obtained BIS certification," the report stated.

The solar giga factory will include manufacturing of PV modules, cells, wafers and ingots, polysilicon, and glass at a single location.

Further, the company is targeting to scale Jamnagar giga factory up to 20GW in a phased manner over 2026, the energy major said in the annual report.

At the Reliance's Annual General Meet in 2021, chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of over Rs 75,000 crore ($10 billion) in building the most comprehensive ecosystem for renewable energy in India.

The Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, covering 5,000 acres in Jamnagar, is poised to become one of the world's largest end-to-end integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities. It will house five giga factories dedicated to solar PV, energy storage, electrolyser, fuel cell, and power electronics.

Apart from Solar PV, the company has made progress in developing a manufacturing ecosystem for cost-efficient wind power generation at a giga scale, focusing on the large-scale production of carbon fibre to reduce wind turbine costs.

In parallel, the company is also accelerating the commercialisation of its sodium-ion battery technology, aiming to industrialise production at a megawatt level by 2025 and transition to giga scale.

In addition, Reliance is working on establishing a giga factory for fuel cells, expected to gradually replace internal combustion engines, and investing in a power electronics giga factory to connect the entire green energy value chain.