Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has signed an agreement to acquire Faradion Limited, a leading sodium-ion battery technology company. The deal is worth GBP 100 million in which RNESL has invested GBP 25 million in the company as development capital.
Based in Sheffield and Oxford in the UK, Faradion provides access to high density, sustainable and competitive cost battery technology. RNESL will utilize 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 in Jamnagar.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the deal will “further strengthen our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated new energy ecosystems and put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies.”
Traditional and widely used lithium-ion batteries are currently at the forefront of the development of electric vehicles. However, they are unstable at high temperatures and are expensive to manufacture. Sodium is a sustainable alternative to lithium. Sodium-ion batteries can offer some significant benefits such as affordability, stability, and safety. Also, sodium batteries have a low energy density, which Faradion accomplishes by providing a higher-energy-density battery.
“Faradian’s sodium battery provides a battery solution that is safe, sustainable and delivers high energy density and is highly cost-competitive,” said RIL’s chairman.
Faradion’s batteries have a wide range of applications ranging from mobility to grid-scale storage and backup power. Its batteries use sodium, which will secure India’s energy storage needs for renewable energy and the rapidly growing electric vehicle market, he said.
Chris Wright, President and Co-Founder of Faradion, said in a press release, “This deal with Reliance will continue to support Faradion’s sodium-based approach as an integral part of the global value chain for cheaper, cleaner, more sustainable energy for decades to come. The Ion installs the battery firmly in place.” release.
Lithium is a rare metal, but sodium is 1,200 times more abundant. Rather, sodium is the seventh most abundant substance on the planet. It is mined along with soda ash and is readily available, including seawater. This abundance makes sodium cheaper than lithium at a time when the price of lithium continues to rise.
The price of 99.5 per cent lithium has exceeded Rs 27 lakh per tonne, which is more than 450 per cent in the last one year. Experts said the prices are expected to increase substantially by the end of the decade. Also, as demand for lithium increases, electric vehicles may become more expensive, slowing the adoption of electric vehicles.
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