Reliance is building a mega solar park in India to fuel its new energy plans

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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is building a solar park three times the size of Singapore to fuel its plans to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives as well as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Speaking at RIL’s annual general meeting on August 29, Anant Ambani, the company’s executive director said the solar park being built in Gujarat’s Kutch could meet nearly 10% of India's electricity needs within the next decade.

He, however, did not specify the total installed capacity planned for the solar project. Industry experts told Moneycontrol that the project would easily be upwards of 10 gigawatt (GW). To make the availability of renewable energy from the solar park round-the-clock, RIL is also setting up battery energy storage systems (BESS) at the site.

“In Kutch, Gujarat, we are 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,” Ambani said.

He stated that the renewable energy produced in this solar park will be used for RIL’s plans to produce green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol and SAF. All these products need pure renewable energy in their respective production processes.

In Kutch, RIL also plans to build facilities for production of green ammonia, green methanol, and SAF. “Our marine and land infrastructure at Jamnagar and Kandla will connect seamlessly with solar and hydrogen at Kutch,” Ambani said adding that the company will also export the three new energy products mentioned above.

“This will make India a global hub for cost-competitive green hydrogen and its derivatives. While our initial focus will be to meet Reliance's own large captive demand, we plan to scale up to 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of green hydrogen equivalent production capacity by 2032, thereby unlocking a powerful growth engine for global markets,” he said.

Reliance Industries is among the few companies that has secured incentives under India's National Green Hydrogen Mission for both green hydrogen production and electrolyser manufacturing.

Besides, RIL has also won incentives for solar module manufacturing under India's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in both the first and second tranches, securing allocations of over Rs 19 billion in the first round and Rs 30.98 billion in the second round to develop integrated poly-to-module manufacturing facilities.

The company did not provide any timelines for commissioning the solar park yet. But, the project is expected to start taking shape in phases, starting from the next financial year (FY27).