Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani ’s Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd(a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd) recently bought United Kingdom’s Sodium battery maker Faradion for $136 million.
“Mukesh Ambani ‘s Reliance will use 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 at Jamnagar in western India.” statement from Faradian said.
About Faradion:
Faradion is an early mover in the sodium battery business with the state of the art innovations. Faradion is the world leader in Sodium-ion battery technology that provides low-cost, high-performance, safe and sustainable energy. The United Kingdom-based company has as many as 25 innovations registered against their name.
About Lithium-ion battery:
American scientist John B. Goodenough is widely credited with the identification and development of Lithium-ion batteries. From phones to cars all major technologies run on lithium-ion batteries as they are commercially viable. Some years ago when Sony launched a product with a lithium-ion battery, every other company started using the battery in their products.
Problem with Lithium-Ion battery:
A major issue with lithium-ion is the raw material cobalt which is only available in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Important to note here is that cobalt keeps the batteries, which power everything from cell phones to electric cars, from catching fire. There are major issues related to procurement as the mining of the material is not easy.
Sodium Battery Innovations:
Sodium is cheap compared to lithium-ion and is easily available. Major lithium-ion battery manufacturing company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Ltd. unveiled their first-generation sodium-ion battery, together with its AB battery pack solution which can integrate sodium-ion cells and lithium-ion cells into one pack.
Another company Bluetti Power has recently announced a new solar generator that uses a sodium-ion battery instead of a lithium one. It promises up to 3000W of solar input capacity.
These innovations are fueling the demand for sodium battery companies. As Faradian is an early mover in the segment Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd can greatly benefit from it and with their commitment to invest($35 million) more in the coming months’ sodium batteries can very well become a widely accepted technology with major innovations.
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