The company plans to become ‘net carbon-zero’ by 2035 by developing carbon capture and storage technologies.
Eyeing the transition anticipated in the kinds of fuel that will be used in automobiles and other forms of transportation, Reliance Industries (RIL) said it will build full stack electrolyser and fuel cell solutions in India which will be required to run hydrogen fuel celled vehicles. “We will replace transportation fuels with clean electricity and hydrogen,” RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday.
The company plans to become ‘net carbon-zero’ by 2035 by developing carbon capture and storage technologies.
“We will build an optimal mix of reliable, clean and affordable energy with hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel cells and battery,” Ambani said while addressing the company’s 43rd annual general meeting, adding that ‘the energy industry must understand that fossil fuels and renewables are not mutually exclusive or contradictory’.
The Union government has been training its focus on increased use of hydrogen fuelled transportation for quite some time. Earlier this year, government officials had met an Italian delegation to discuss about new opportunities for collaboration and potential investment projects in hydrogen, fuel cells and electrolysers. A separate meeting on this issue was also carried out with the International Energy Agency. The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and state-run power generator NTPC has also agreed to jointly launch a project to promote emission-free hydrogen fuel celled buses in Leh.
Ambani also said that it will approach NCLT to spin off its oil-to-chemical (O2C) business arm into a separate subsidiary to facilitate the equity investment by Saudi Aramco, which it expects to complete by early 2021. In August 2019, RIL said that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell a 20% stake in its O2C business to Saudi Aramco. The O2C business, which has an enterprise valuation of $75 billion, includes RIL’s refining and petrochemical divisions, and RIL’s 51% stake in its fuel marketing business. “Due to unforeseen circumstances in the energy market and the Covid-19 situation, the deal has not progressed as per the original timeline,” Ambani said.
Source: financialexpress
