India's Reliance injects EUR 25m in German wafer maker NexWafe

NexWafe GmbH, a German manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon wafers for solar panels, said on Tuesday it has received a EUR-25-million (USD 28.8m) investment from a unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (BOM:500325).

Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL) was a strategic lead investor in the German firm’s EUR-39-million Series C funding round. The funds from the Indian firm’s participation will help NexWafe speed up the development of its products and technology and complete the commercial development of its solar products on prototype lines in Freiburg, it said.

The list of other investors in the funding round includes InnoEnergy, Lynwood, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures.

Additionally, Reliance and NexWafe have signed a partnership agreement for joint technology development and commercialisation of high-efficiency monocrystalline “green solar wafers.” The pact will see Reliance gain access to NexWafe’s proprietary technology and processes and leverage the technology to build “giga-scale” wafer production plants in India.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.153)

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