Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has spent around 55-60 per cent of the ₹75,000 crore that it has earmarked for investing in its new energy business, which will soon see the light of day with the launch of the first phase of the 20 GW solar factory in the first quarter of FY25.

Sources said that more than half of the committed amount has already been spent in getting the ecosystem ready. RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had announced the investment in 2021 at the company’s Annual General Meeting.

An email sent to RIL remained unanswered.

RIL has also been infusing equity into the business. For instance in FY24 its infused around ₹200 crore into the equity of Reliance New Energy, according to its annual report, as well as subscribed to debentures worth over ₹9000 crore.

New Jamnagar factory

Under its new energy vertical, the company is setting up a huge giga factory at Jamnagar for renewable energy development, starting from solar PV manufacturing, renewable energy generation, making electrolysers and lithium batteries. There is an option of doubling the company’s investment commitment on proof of scale.

The company will commission its first train of module and cell manufacturing in early FY25 while the fully integrated 20 GW facility will be established by FY27. It has also been forging tie-ups and making acquisitions to get access to newer technologies for better operational efficiency.

 It has also started work on renewable energy development, for which it has already obtained land in Gujarat. It has also signed its first power purchase agreement with the power utility in Maharashtra to supply 128 MW for 25 years.

In a recent note CLSA had valued the new energy business at $40 billion and the solar business at $30 billion in the next four to five years. It forecast annual EBITDA of the solar business at $1.7 billion over 4-5 years. At the company’s AGM this year, Ambani had indicated that over a 5-7 year time-frame, the new energy business would be scaled up to the size of its oil-to-chemicals business, that is around $6-7 billion EBITDA.

The company’s giga manufacturing complex in Jamnagar is spread over an area of 5000 acres and will comprise five giga factories for solar PVs, energy storage, electrolysers, fuel cells and power electronics.

RIL’s aim is to generate 100 GW of renewable energy by 2030.