Reliance New Energy (RNEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has fully acquired Faradion, a UK-based sodium-ion battery technology company, by acquiring the remaining 7.99% equity shares.

Previously, RNEL held a 92.01% equity stake in Faradion following the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% shareholding in the UK company for an enterprise value of  £100 million (~$129.84 million) in 2021. The company also agreed to invest £25 million (~$32.46 million) as growth capital to accelerate the commercial rollout of its products.

In a regulatory filing, RNEL said Faradion had now become its wholly-owned subsidiary.

Sodium-ion batteries can avoid dependence on cobalt, lithium, copper, or graphite, lower battery manufacturing costs, and provide performance on par with lithium-ion phosphate technology.

Reliance plans to utilize Faradion’s state-of-the-art technology at its proposed fully integrated energy storage giga-factory, which is expected to be operational by 2026, as part of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex project at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

In 2022, RNEL acquired the assets of lithium iron phosphate batteries provider Lithium Werks for $61 million. The acquired assets include 219 patents of Lithium Werks, the manufacturing facility in China, key business contracts, and the hiring of existing employees. The patents are related to the LFP process and technology, cell design, proprietary carbo-thermal reduction manufacturing method, and several next-generation electroactive materials.

In September this year, Reliance Industries secured 10 GWh of Advanced Chemistry Cell battery storage manufacturing capacity under the Production Linked Incentive program by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

In the same month, Reliance Power won Solar Energy Corporation of India’s auction to set up 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone battery energy storage systems. The company won a capacity of 500 MW/1,000 MWh capacity.

In 2021, RIL formed RNEL, formerly Reliance New Energy Solar, investing ₹100,000 (~$1342) for 10,000 equity shares of ₹10 (~$0.13) each.