Venkatesh Ganesh 
Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries Limited
Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has acquired of 100 percent shareholding of REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group) from China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd., for an Enterprise Value of US$ 771 million,” Reliance New Energy Solar said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
The acquisition is key to RIL’s new-energy vision to become a global-scale photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing player, with access to heterojunction technology (HJT). This also takes Reliance one step closer to its goal of generating 100GW of solar energy by 2030, in line with India’s goal to produce 450GW of renewable energy.
RIL plans to use REC Solar’s industry-leading technology in its silicon-to-PV-panel gigafactory in the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, in Jamnagar, starting with 4GW per annum capacity and growing to 10GW per annum capacity over time, the company said.
Norway-headquartered REC, founded in 1996, has its operational headquarters in Singapore and regional hubs in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific. The company, with over 600 utility and design patents of which 446 have been granted and the balance is under evaluation, has always focussed on research and development.
REC Solar has 5,000 MW of installed capacity in the Indian subcontinent and its solar panels have been subject to rigorous testing in India by third parties, and the panels clocked an average of 0.68 per cent degradation in 3.8 years.
Ambri investment
In August this year, Reliance New Energy Solar had invested, along with Paulson & Co, Bill Gates and other investors, $144 million in Ambri. Ambri has patented technology for long-duration energy storage systems, which can be linked to the power grid with minimal maintenance and with the capability to survive a range of climatic conditions.
With its advanced interconnection technology and patented design, REC Solar’s panel is apt for commercial and industrial rooftop segment and ground-mount installations with space restrictions. This will align perfectly with RIL’s plan, as shared at its annual general meeting this June, of having most of the installations under its 100MW-solar-power production target placed as decentralised, rooftop ones and to power rural India.
