Reliance Industries Ltd announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to explore opportunities for establishing renewable energy and decarbonisation equipment factories in Australia.
The collaboration between Reliance and Brookfield aims to facilitate direct capital investment and assess the feasibility of setting up renewable energy equipment manufacturing or assembly operations in Australia. This investment in Australia will complement Reliance’s ongoing construction of giga-factories in Jamnagar, Gujarat, which are focused on producing solar cells, modules, energy storage batteries, fuel cells, and green hydrogen.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two companies aims to accelerate and support Australia’s energy transition by enabling local production of clean energy equipment, such as PV modules, long-duration battery storage, and wind energy components. Brookfield will work closely with Reliance to invest in and develop skills, knowledge, and expertise in Australia’s renewable energy sector, contributing to the nation’s journey towards a net-zero future.
Reliance possesses strong expertise in solar panel technology and long-duration battery storage and is currently in the process of establishing one of the world’s largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in India.
This collaboration with Reliance is one of Brookfield’s significant initiatives to bring global manufacturing technology and expertise to Australia. As part of their proposed acquisition of Origin Energy Markets division, Brookfield, along with institutional partners GIC and Temasek, plans to invest between A$20 billion and A$30 billion over the next decade to accelerate Australia’s energy transition.
By establishing onshore sovereign manufacturing capability for the energy transition, Brookfield estimates that around 18,000 direct and indirect jobs could be created. This initiative would help secure a consistent and sufficient supply of clean energy equipment necessary to develop up to 14 GW of new, large-scale generation and storage capacity in Australia.
Luke Edwards, Brookfield Renewable Head of Australia, emphasized that the energy transition presents an opportunity to bring advanced manufacturing processes to Australia, thereby supporting the nation’s emission reduction goals and fostering job creation. The aim is to kickstart a new era in local manufacturing, benefiting domestic renewables developers and communities across Australia.
Anant Ambani, Director of Reliance New Energy Ltd, expressed the company’s firm commitment to creating a global clean energy ecosystem that benefits humanity while being environmentally compatible. He expressed confidence that the partnership with Brookfield will explore green energy opportunities in Australia, accelerating the country’s transition to a net-zero future and contributing to the global green energy movement.
Brookfield’s track record of committing long-term capital to support the energy transition and its innovative approach to large-scale investments in re-shoring essential and strategic manufacturing processes and supply chains make it uniquely positioned to support these manufacturing initiatives. This includes their investment in the USD 30 billion Intel Chip plant in Nevada.
