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Reliance New Energy Limited, a subsidiary of the large Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, has paid USD 61 million for LFP battery company Lithium Werks. It is Reliance’s seventh investment for acquisition in the renewable energy industry since September.
It comes only two months after Reliance acquired Faradion, a sodium-ion battery technology firm, for a reported USD 135 million.
Reliance has agreed to purchase the entire asset portfolio of Lithium Werks, which manufactures lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. The assets include the company’s complete production facilities in China, patent portfolio, major commercial contracts, and the retention of current workers as a continuing concern.
The business indicated at the time that it may employ Faradion’s sodium-ion technology for its fully-integrated energy storage gigafactory in Jamnagar, India, but as of now, it wasn’t clear what it would do with Lithium Werks’ product.
The merging of the two, according to the Indian giant, improves its technological portfolio and establishes an end-to-end battery ecosystem with the fabrication of essential supply chain materials and cells.
Further, the company believes that this will enable it to manufacture batteries with multiple chemistries for a variety of applications such as energy storage, battery module systems, and mobility.
LFP is becoming more popular in the energy storage business, owing to lesser fire risk and lesser supply chain concerns compared to nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry.
The sector is expected to develop significantly in India in the future years, with the country’s Central Electricity Authority estimating that 27GW to 108GWh of battery storage would be required by 2029-30.
To help with this, the Ministry of Power announced new criteria for acquiring BESS as assets for generation, transmission and distribution, and ancillary services.
In January, a government initiative to assist local battery manufacturers received bids totalling 130GWh, more than double the 50GWh of capacity the incentive will promote.
