The fully-owned subsidiary- Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL) of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has bought a stake in the US Based startup, Ambri Inc, which primarily engages in producing molten salt batteries for energy storage in the wind and solar power systems. Along with RNESL, Paulson & Co. Inc. and Bill Gates have also financed the company. A sum total of $144 million has been secured by Ambri Inc for commercialization and growth of its daily cycling, long-duration system technology, and building a domestic manufacturing facility. Out of these $144 million, RNESL will invest $50 million against 42.3 million shares of preferred stock in Ambri.
”The investment will help the company commercialise and grow its long-duration energy storage systems business globally. RNESL will invest USD 50 million to acquire 42.3 million shares of preferred stock in Ambri,” RIL said in an exchange filing.
As per the communication by Ambri Inc, this strategic partnership with Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd will help them develop and manufacturing Ambri’s batteries in India.
Established on patented technology and designed to last for 4-24 hours, Ambri’s long-duration energy storage systems will advance and address the cost, longevity and safety barriers linked with lithium-ion batteries that are used in grid-scale stationary storage applications.
“They will enable a crucial energy storage solution capable of supporting the increasing amounts of renewable energy being integrated into electric power grids. RNESL and Ambri are also in discussions for an exclusive collaboration to set up a large-scale battery manufacturing facility in India, which could add scale and further bring down costs for Reliance’s green energy initiative,” said RIL in a statement.
In June this year, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani relayed to the shareholders that RIL is planning to build a Giga Factory in Jamnagar for purpose of storing intermittent energy, under the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex project. In a statement to Ambri Inc, Mukesh Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd stated “Reliance Industries sees this strategic partnership with Ambri as an important step in its journey of achieving its decarbonization goals. Our investment in Ambri is part of our broader plan to develop the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, which will be amongst the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world and the epicentre of India’s Green Economy movement.”
Ambri can help with projects requiring energy storage systems ranging from 10 MWh to over 2 GWh. The business wants to make calcium and antimony electrode-based cells and containerized systems that are less expensive than lithium-ion batteries. These can operate safely in any climatic state without the need to artificially create acceptable conditions, such as adding air conditioning and are expected to endure for more than 20 years with negligible deterioration.