[TusharK]

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) plans to set up a Fuel Cell Giga Factory as part of a larger Rs. 75,000 crore investment into new energy and new materials business.



Hydrogen fuel cells can be used to power automobiles in a sustainable and clean manner. A fuel cell uses oxygen from the air and hydrogen to generate electricity. The only by-product of the process is water vapour. Fuel cells can also be used to power data centres, telecom towers, emergency generators, microgrids and industrial equipment.

RIL will also set up solar power plants with an aim of generating 100 GW of solar energy by 2030. The company will be exploring advanced electrochemical technologies that can be used for large-scale grid batteries to store energy. These batteries will be produced at the Advanced Energy Storage Giga Factory.

RIL is also investing in an Electrolyser Giga Factory that will manufacture modular electrolysers. These can be used for the captive production of hydrogen.

These factories will be part of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex spread over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Source: LiveMint

Link to Team-BHP News

[rubicon]

Setting up a Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar

“Reliance will make its new energy business a truly global business. In 2016, we launched Jio with the aim of bridging the Digital Divide in India. Now, in 2021, we are launching our new energy business with the aim of bridging the green energy divide in India and globally,” Ambani said.

As part of this plan, RIL is setting up a Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar.

Four giga factories :

The first part of the plan is to build four giga factories. These will manufacture and fully integrate all the critical components of the new energy ecosystem.

1 - for the production of solar energy - we will build an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory.

2 - for the storage of intermittent energy - we will build an advanced energy storage battery factory.

3 - for the production of green hydrogen - we will build an electrolyser factory.

4 - for converting hydrogen into motive and stationary power - we will build a fuel cell factory,” Ambani said.

The first Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Giga Factory will create solar energy. “We will start with raw silica and convert this to poly silicon which we will then convert to ingot and wafers. These wafers would be used to make high efficiency solar cells and finally assembled into solar modules of highest quality and durability. We will target to achieve costs that are lowest in the world to ensure affordability of our solar modules."

[maddy42]

Interesting bet on hydrogen when the world is going with electric. The bitter pill to swallow is the direction taken by reliance will usually be the direction the govt and babus will want to take in our next gen mobility technology.

The solar factory is a interesting bet. India will see a explosion in solar installations for the residential segment in the next decade. It will be one of the extra fittings on your house which follows these items which is absent in the west:
Solar water heater - Works well and doesnt depend on electricity board.
Inverter backup/Generator - Works well when no power situations.
Water pump - Needed to store water in a sump or overhead storage

When power bills stop being subsidised solar will be a no brainer.

Maddy

[Jeroen]

Interesting initiative! It is good to see hydrogen getting the proper attention it deserves. Many western countries are also in the process of introducing hydrogen energy in parallel to all the electrical energy projects ongoing.

If a country has a good natural gas infrastructure it is fairly straight forward to convert the existing gas infra structure to transport hydrogen. Appliances such as gas boilers and gas central heating system can work on hydrogen with very little adjustment, not even modification.

Here in the Netherlands the first to convert from gas to hydrogen will be the heavy industrial users.

Jeroen

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Four giga factories :

1 - for the production of solar energy - we will build an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory.

2 - for the storage of intermittent energy - we will build an advanced energy storage battery factory.

3 - for the production of green hydrogen - we will build an electrolyser factory.

4 - for converting hydrogen into motive and stationary power - we will build a fuel cell factory,” Ambani said.

1 (solar) and 2 (batteries) will be very successful and they will scrap the plans for 3 and 4 and divert those funds to 1 and 2.

No matter how hard any company tries, Hydrogen is very inefficient compared to batteries. Battery technology improving at a rapid pace each year and costs are coming down with volumes at the same time. Reliance may justify initially with captive (internal operations) usage but it's not going to be cost-effective for customers compared to batteries.

[srini1785]

Setting up a Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar

“Reliance will make its new energy business a truly global business. In 2016, we launched Jio with the aim of bridging the Digital Divide in India.

=>MA 5th richest man in the world.

Four giga factories :
1 - for the production of solar energy - we will build an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory.

=> MA 4th richest man in the world.

2 - for the storage of intermittent energy - we will build an advanced energy storage battery factory.

=> MA 3rd richest man in the world.

3 - for the production of green hydrogen - we will build an electrolyser factory.

=> MA 2nd richest man in the world

4 - for converting hydrogen into motive and stationary power - we will build a fuel cell factory,” Ambani said.

=> MA UNQUESTIONABLY BIGGER THAN JEFF BEZOS AND TAKES COMPLETE CONTROL OF E COMMERCE IN INDIA.

I can already hear the cheer in the markets.

Me, Personally if this makes me get my e Scooter at the rate of Jio SIM then why not?. Bring it on!

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

1 (solar) and 2 (batteries) will be very successful and they will scrap the plans for 3 and 4 and divert those funds to 1 and 2.

I had similar thoughts, when I read the news.

Regarding 3, we need green hydrogen for other use cases like steel & Fertilizer production. Eventually project 4 will be scrapped or substantially downsized based on Hydrogen use case in shipping.

[srh]

There will be enough use cases for hydrogen in mobility - ships, aircraft, trains and even trucks. It is certainly more eco friendly than batteries and adoption needs to be encouraged.

And as someone explained earlier, hydrogen networks could be good replacement for gas networks too.

[alpha1]

Many gas pipeline operators are already checking the viability of using the existing infrastructure for hydrogen transportation (either blended into natural gas) or pure.

Hydrogen economy will definitely take off for industrial users.
Already there has been first shipment of blue ammonia (ammonia is more convenient to handle compared to hydrogen) https://www.aramco.com/en/news-media...monia-shipment

Similarly hydrogen and CO2 derived methanol is also being looked as a viable intermediate that could be reconverted into Hydrogen and consumed at end point.

[Thilak29]

Hydrogen as a fuel alternative is in news for almost five decades now. The complexities involved in storage , it’s fatal nature , technology, energy destiny involved make a poor case for it. I am not aware of any ground breaking technology in recent past which makes it a viable alternative now, unless I lived a rock for long !

[anoop_lamba]

IMHO,

1. Fuel cells, hydrogen that they intend to produce wont be only for automotive sector

2. Within automotive sector too, I believe FCEVs will offer more practicality as compared to BEVs and thus will have considerable market share once ICE vehicles become history

3. BEVs may not work out at all for medium/heavy commercial vehicles, interstate buses, long route cabs etc. FCEVs would be far more suitable for these sectors when thrust is there to switch to cleaner mobility.

I don't think the projects will get scrapped as predicted by few of the BHPians here.

[ZenMaster]

While I don't know about who is going to buy the FCs, Hydrogen already has a huge Industrial customer base who needs it to produce various industrial chemicals and in the production of various industrial materials.

The biggest producers of hydrogen is currently the Fossil Fuel Industry and I am sure Ambani already has customers ready. Even though Electrolysis is quite inefficient, Coupling it with Wind/solar energy will make it "Green"

Solar and battery is a no nonsense bet nowadays for anyone wanting to enter the renewables industry.

Regarding the Fuel Cells, without knowing what kind of product they are trying to produce and who they are aiming it at, its difficult to predict. We currently don't have any proper FCEV around anywhere

Looking at how Reliance is going head on into it, We can probably expect some sort of Govt. Scheme to support "Hydrogen Economy" I guess.

[landcruiser123]

I'm a firm believer that most future transportation powered by alternate fuel needs to be as simple & convenient as filling up your fuel tank today. Also, we can't put more strain on our powerplants if everyone owns a BEV. Only small cars will be BEVs. Most larger cars, SUVs, trucks, buses, trains, ships, etc will be powered by Hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen adoption will start with industries(already using gray hydrogen), followed by large ships, rail, and commercial trucks.

With natural gas, methane, biomass, renewable power, and solar farms, the process of producing green hydrogen should become much more efficient and cheaper in a decade or two.

I can safely say that I'll not be alive when humanity is dealing with the next cycle of challenges when all our systems put out a disproportionate amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. (There have to be some ill-effects no?)

[LivingCars]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

1 (solar) and 2 (batteries) will be very successful and they will scrap the plans for 3 and 4 and divert those funds to 1 and 2.

No matter how hard any company tries, Hydrogen is very inefficient compared to batteries. Battery technology improving at a rapid pace each year and costs are coming down with volumes at the same time. Reliance may justify initially with captive (internal operations) usage but it's not going to be cost-effective for customers compared to batteries.

My views on the new projects announced in this year's AGM of Reliance. There are primarily 3 core objective I can see behind the announcements:

1. Green and alternative energy push
2. Taking advantage of the 4.6 billion USD imcemtive announced by Government of India in September 2020.
3. Decarbonization of the overall group profile as it is a global gaint and sustainability in business operation will result in future investment and strategic tie up opportunities as the world will give higher valuation to carbon neutral businesses.

Also I completely agree on point 1 and 2 regarding solar module and battery manufacturing Giga factories being very successful. Will definitely help in bringing down the cost of EVs in the future.

Additionally with this kind of Gigafactories coming up in India I believe a lot of new business models will come up in future related to EVs in particular.

The Hydrogen fuel cell looks like a Moonshot project at present and Reliance may see some kind of a pivot on this depending on the evolving technologies in the future.

[hawkeye]

This is the new Jio for Reliance. If you have to go by the words of Mr. Ambani at the AGM, this will have all his focus for the next few years.

"Dear Shareholders,
Let me tell you, in all humility, that New Energy is the most exciting, most challenging and most purpose-driven mission I will be pursuing in my life. I seek your blessings and support for success in this mission."

And he rarely fails