Reliance ties up with Norway’s Nel to produce green hydrogen

INDIA’S Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with Norway’s Nel ASA to help generate green hydrogen as part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s pivot toward green energy.

The agreement with Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser AS, a fully owned subsidiary of Oslo-based Nel ASA, “provides Reliance with an exclusive license for Nel’s alkaline electrolysers in India and also allows Reliance to manufacture Nel’s alkaline electrolysers for captive purposes globally,” the Norwegian firm said in a statement.

Ambani, Asia’s richest man who built his fortune on fossil fuels, in 2022 announced plans to invest $75 billion (£59bn) in renewables infrastructure including generation plants, solar panels and electrolysers.

Green hydrogen - made by splitting water using clean electricity in an electrolyser - is seen as crucial in emissions reduction goals. Reliance is building a green energy business to meet a demand for such equipment in India. The company has committed to being a net zero carbon emission company by 2035, which is earlier than the target of any other energy company in the region.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate aims to turn net zero by 2035 and plans to produce 100 gigawatts of renewable energy, a fifth of India’s target for non-fossil capacity by the end of the decade. The Indian government has set a target of 500GW of installed renewable energy by 2030. Of this, solar energy is expected to account for the largest share, with 280GW.

“The signing of this agreement is a great milestone in Nel’s history. Reliance is an impressive company with enormous ambitions as a global producer of renewable hydrogen, and I am proud that they have selected Nel as their technology partner,” said Nel’s president and CEO, Håkon Volldal.

“In addition to supporting Reliance in achieving their global aspirations, Nel will through this agreement get a revenue stream from a rapidly growing market Nel could not have accessed on its own.”

The statement said Reliance, a Fortune 500 company and India’s largest private sector corporation, “is renowned for its capacity to execute large-scale projects and robust investments in technology and innovation.

It added, “Reliance is building a multi-GW fully integrated end-to-end new energy value chain, from photon to green molecules, paving the way for abundant and affordable access to sustainable energy for everyone.”

“Both partners will also collaborate on future performance improvements and cost optimization through research and development (R&D), value engineering, standardisation and modularisation to improve the competitiveness of the alkaline technology platform,” the statement said.

According to the agreement, Nel can procure equipment from Reliance for its own projects. Nel will continue to serve the Indian market with technology platforms that are not covered by the agreement.