Reliance Doubles Down On New Energy While Keeping Focus On Fossil Fuel Growth

 

Reliance Industries Ltd is doubling down its clean energy business with the planned start of a mega battery production factory in 2026, a solar electricity generation project spread over an area three times the size of Singapore, and 3 million tonnes of green hydrogen capacity by 2032. All this, while maintaining a laser-sharp focus on its core fossil fuel business, where it is investing Rs 75,000 crore to expand petrochemical capacity.

 

Making his debut at the company's annual general meeting, Anant Ambani, the youngest son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani and executive director of Reliance, said the company is building the world's most integrated new energy ecosystem, from sand to electrons to green molecules.

 

The company is investing in producing every single piece of clean energy—modules that will turn sunlight into electricity, batteries that can store the energy, electrolysers that can use such renewable energy to split water molecule to produce the fuel of the future—hydrogen, giga factories to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives like green ammonia and green methanol for domestic and export market, make sustainable aviation fuel, and produce biofuels from organic waste. Reliance, India's largest conglomerate whose interest spans from oil and petrochemicals to telecom and retail, had in 2021 unveiled a $10 billion plan spanning renewables, storage and hydrogen as it chased a net-zero emissions status by 2035.

 

The plan was to develop the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex at its integrated refinery complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Jamnagar, the world's biggest single-site integrated refinery complex, has two refineries and is the main hub for Reliance's oil-to-chemicals business. The company is using the same site to create platforms that will deliver a multi-pronged, gigawatt-scale clean energy ecosystem—solar, battery storage, hydrogen—all under one roof, he said. Products from the giga factories would be deployed for delivering round-the-clock renewable power and producing green chemicals, including green ammonia, e-methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. "Jamnagar will be the cradle of both the world's largest Conventional Energy complex and the world's largest New Energy complex.

 

Jamnagar is the face of New Reliance and New India," he said. Having started the first line for manufacturing of solar panels, the company is now looking to scale up to 20 GWp capacity in the coming quarters, which would be the largest solar manufacturing facility and the most integrated single-site solar complex globally, he said. "We have successfully produced our first 200 MW of HJT modules. These deliver 10 per cent higher energy yield, 20 per cent better temperature performance, and 25 per cent lower degradation," he said. "We are scaling rapidly." In parallel, it is rapidly constructing battery and electrolyser giga factories. "Our battery Giga factory will start in 2026. It will begin with 40 GWh per year capacity and expand modularly to 100 GWh per year," he said. The electrolyser giga factory will also be operational by the end of 2026, with the ability to scale up to 3 GW per year. "It will enable cost-competitive green hydrogen production at a global scale, backed by exclusive global technology partnerships, and strengthened by our in-house capabilities," he said. In Kutch, Gujarat, Reliance is developing one of the world's largest single-site solar projects spanning 5,50,000 acres of arid land -- three times the size of Singapore. "At peak, we will deploy 55 MW of solar modules and 150 MWh of battery containers every day.

 

This will be among the fastest installations globally. This single site could meet nearly 10 per cent of India's electricity needs within the next decade," he said. Reliance's marine and land infrastructure at Jamnagar and Kandla will connect seamlessly with solar and hydrogen at Kutch. "We will produce and export green ammonia, green methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. This will make India a global hub for cost-competitive green hydrogen and its derivatives," he said. While the initial focus will be to meet Reliance's own large captive demand, the company plans to scale up to 3 million tonnes of green hydrogen equivalent production capacity by 2032. Reliance, he said, is also building compressed biogas (CBG) plants with an annual capacity of 0.5 million tonnes. "Our target is to scale up to 500+ CBG plants by 2030," he said.

 

While doing clean energy, Reliance hasn't lost sight of its core oil and petrochemicals business. Ambani said the company is investing Rs 75,000 crore in a 1.2 million tonne PVC plant at Nagothane in Maharashtra, the expansion of a PTA facility at Dahej in Gujarat and a 1 million tonne speciality polyester facility at Palghar. "These projects are positioned to meet India's rising demand," he said. "Our Hazira carbon fibre facility will be one of the world's three largest, serving aerospace, Defence, and Advanced Materials." On Jamnagar refineries, it said the company was "on course to realise the autonomous refinery". He did not elaborate. At Jamnagar, the firm has set up the world's largest Bioenergy Technology and R&D centre.

 

Here, it is developing advanced enzymes, microbial consortia, and high-yield energy crops to boost biogas productivity. "We are also realising our Chairman's (Mukesh Ambani) vision of growing energy plantations on wastelands. This includes building the world's first integrated energy hub, combining smart farms, modular CBG and green hydrogen plants, agrivoltaics, and batteries," Anant said. "I am especially proud of our agrivoltaics business, where Compressed Biogas (CBG) and Solar PV are deployed on the same land. By capturing biogenic CO2 from CBG plants, these hubs will become platforms for green chemicals, aiming at fossil parity." This model creates triple value for Indian farmers -- green gas, green electricity, and higher rural incomes. It will be a powerful growth engine for India's clean energy future.