Reliance Industries to enter solar energy market

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Updated: 30/04/2008 | 09:31 PM IST

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Shaili Chopra

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 (Mumbai)

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It is a new sunrise at the Reliance empire as the fuel to food conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani moves into solar energy.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's biggest listed firm, plans an investment of $25 billion over the next five years in solar energy acquisitions and greenfield projects for photovoltaic cells.

Contrary to popular belief, Reliance's recent investment in semiconductor fabrication plants is not for computer chips but mainly for solar panels.

RIL has submitted the proposal for setting up two units with a total investment of Rs 30,000 crore.

One unit will be for manufacture of semiconductor wafer fab with assembly, test, mark and packaging facility at an investment of Rs 18,000 crore. RIL is in talks with states of Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana to set up a unit.

Another solar project will be located in Jamnagar with an investment of about Rs11,000 crore.

Reliance is already experimenting with a pilot project in Maharashtra where it is electrifying 84 villages with solar power.

Sunlight may be free but producing solar energy is an expensive business with a unit cost at Rs 12-15, which is why RIL has sought a subsidy of Rs 3,394.5 crore for the semiconductor fab unit and Rs 2,326.2 crore for the solar project.

At the current pace of 20 per cent annual growth, experts expect India’s solar sector to emerge as the fourth largest generator of solar energy after Germany, Japan and China in the coming years.