Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd has acquired Norway-based REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group) from China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd., $ 771 million.

REC has its operational headquarters in Singapore and regional hubs in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia-Pacific.

REC Group is a solar energy company with high efficiency and long-life solar cells and panels for clean and affordable solar power. The 25-year-old company has three manufacturing facilities – two in Norway for making solar grade polysilicon and one in Singapore making PV cells and modules.

"REC’s Alpha and Alpha Pure range of solar modules are recognized as among industry leaders in efficiency, reliability and long guaranteed life. The heterojunction (HJT) technology used by REC helps its modules surpass the performance of other commonly used technologies in the industry," said a press statement

REC has over 600 utility and design patents, of which 446 are granted and balance are under evaluation.

REC was the first to introduce half cut Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) technology, which is adopted by all major manufacturers today, while REC has moved on to its, next generation HJT technology. The company has more than 1,300 employees globally who will now become part of the Relinace group.

Reliance will strongly support for REC’s planned expansions including 2-3 GW Cells and Module capacity in Singapore, brand new 2 GW Cells and Module unit in France and another 1 GW Modules plant in the US.

In India, Reliance plans to use this industry-leading technology in their fully integrated, metallic Silicon to PV Panel manufacturing giga factory at Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, Jamnagar initially starting with 4 GW per annum capacity and eventually growing to 10 GW per annum. Reliance’s deep expertise of scale, project execution and operational excellence coupled with REC’s technology will facilitate the establishment of state-of-the-art next-generation fully integrated PV manufacturing facility at Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex and subsequently replicate such complexes around the world. The acquisition of REC will help Reliance with a ready global platform and the opportunity to expand and grow in key green energy markets globally, including in the US, Europe, Australia and elsewhere in Asia.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, said: “ It is in line with our strategy of investing in new and advanced technologies and operating capabilities aimed at achieving Reliance’s goal of enabling 100 GW clean and green energy before the end of this decade. "

"Together with our other recent investments, Reliance is now ready to set up a global scale integrated Photovoltaic Giga factory and make India a manufacturing hub for lowest cost and highest efficiency solar panels," he added.

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