Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited, has signed definitive agreements to invest in California-based Caelux Corporation. The agreement calls for the companies to collaborate on the development of perovskite-based solar technology. RNEL will invest $12 million to obtain a 20 per cent stake in Caelux.
This investment will help Caelux accelerate product and technology development, including the construction of a pilot line in the US to facilitate the commercialisation of its technology. In addition, RNEL and Caelux have signed a strategic partnership agreement for technical collaboration and commercialisation of Caelux’s technology. The transaction will not require regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of September 2022, subject to the satisfaction of any precedent conditions.
Caelux is a company that specialises in perovskite-based solar technology research and development. Its proprietary technology enables high efficiency solar modules to produce 20 per cent more energy over a solar project’s 25-year lifetime at a significantly lower installed cost. Reliance is constructing a global scale integrated photovoltaic giga factory in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Reliance will be able to produce more powerful and lower-cost solar modules by leveraging Caelux’s products as a result of this investment and collaboration.
REGlobal’s Views: Reliance, although a new player in the renewable energy landscape, has impressive plans for growth especially in the solar manufacturing space. Apart from a massive integrated solar manufacturing facility planned in the Indian state of Gujarat, the company was also successful in winning allocation in the government’s production-linked incentive scheme. Further, the company had also previously acquired the solar manufacturer REC Group in order to establish a firm presence in this space.
