RIL arm to buy Uk-based sodium-ion battery firm

FARADION IS THE DEVELOPER OF A PATENTED BATTERY TECHNOLOGY AND HAS AN EXTENSIVE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROFILE

MUMBAI: Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, has signed a definitive agreement to pick up a 100% stake in Faradion Ltd for an enterprise value of £100 million.

Based out of Sheffield and Oxford in the UK, Faradion is the developer of a patented sodium-ion battery technology. The company has a wide-reaching and extensive intellectual property portfolio on sodiumion technology.

Reliance New Energy Solar will also invest £25 million in growth capital to accelerate the commercial roll out.

Reliance said Faradion’s sodium-ion technology offers significant advantages over alternative technologies, such as lithium-ion and lead acid batteries.

Sustainable – There is no dependence and use of cobalt, lithium, copper or graphite. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element on the planet; Patented zero-volt safe transport and storage; Low cost – total cost of ownership already comparable to lead-acid with potential for further reductions in costs; Scalability – utilises existing lithium-ion manufacturing infrastructure and is already proven with multiple commercial manufacturing partners; Performance– energy density on par with lithium-ion phosphate and with wider operating temperature range of -30 to +60 and fast charge/ discharge ability.

“All of this combines to offer a next generation, high density, safe, sustainable and low cost energy storage technology solution,” the company said.

Reliance will use Faradion’s state-of-the-art technology at its proposed fully integrated energy storage giga-factory as part of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex project at Jamnagar.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, said, “This will strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated New Energy ecosystem and put India at the forefront of battery technologies. The sodium-ion technology developed by Faradion provides a globally leading energy storage and battery solution which is safe, sustainable, provides high energy density and is significantly cost competitive. In addition, it has wide use applications from mobility to grid scale storage and back-up power.”

“Most importantly, it utilizes sodium, which will secure India’s energy storage requirements for its renewable energy and EV market,” said Ambani.