RIL, Brookfield tie up for renewable energy push in Oz

Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) and NYSE-listed Brookfield Asset Management have signed an agreement to explore opportunities to manufacture renewable energy and decarbonisation equipment in Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, Brookfield will work with RIL to explore avenues of direct capital investment and evaluate operations in Australia to make or assemble renewable energy equipment.
The agreement with RIL is one of the initiatives being undertaken by Brookfield to bring global manufacturing technology and expertise to Australia. According to a joint statement issued by the two companies, RIL has strong expertise in solar panel technology and long duration battery storage technology.
It is currently in the process of setting up one of the world’s largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in Jamnagar, Gujarat. In March, Brookfield said, it along with its institutional partners GIC and Temasek, will invest between A$20 billion to A$30 billion over ten years in renewable energy projects in Australia.
The agreement with RIL intends to support this investment to ensure consistent and adequate supply of clean energy equipment required to develop up to 14 GW of new, large-scale generation and storage capacity in Australia, the two companies said Tuesday.
Late last month, RIL announced an investment of Rs 378 crore for a 33.33% stake in an Indian data centre venture promoted by Brookfield and NYSE-listed Digital Realty. It will also infuse an additional Rs 622 crore in the venture to facilitate its growth in the future. As a result of the stake-purchase agreement, Brookfield and Digital Realty’s interest in the data centre venture will reduce to 33.33% each.
In 2020, RIL sold its telecom tower assets to Brookfield for Rs 25,215 crore.