Adani set to make world's cheapest green electron

New Delhi: Unveiling his infrastructure conglomerate's green vision, billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday said his group will invest $20 billion over the next 10 years in renewable energy generation and component manufacturing and will produce the world's cheapest green electron.

The port-to-energy conglomerate plans to triple its renewable power generation capacity over the next four years, foray into green hydrogen production, power all data centres with renewable energy, turn its ports into net carbon zero by 2025, and plans to spend over 75 per cent of capital expenditure until 2025 in green technologies, he said.

Speaking at JP Morgan India Investor Summit, Adani Group chairman said the $20 billion investment will be in renewable energy generation, component manufacturing, transmission and distribution.

"Adani Group's integrated value chain, our scale, and experience put us on the path to be the producer of the least expensive green electron anywhere in the world," he said.

The announcement came weeks after India's richest man Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs75,000 crore ($10 billion) in clean power and hydrogen fuel over three years. Many have seen the June 24 announcement as the petrochemical czar's direct competition with the India's second-wealthiest man, Adani who has had a strong presence in the renewables space for many years. This month, Ambani said hydrogen can be made from renewable energy at $1 per kilogram in a decade's time. Hydrogen has no carbon emissions and can be used as fuel in industry and automobiles.

And on Tuesday, Adani outlined his vision with an investment size of $20 billion and the cheapest green electron. He said no company in the world is building a renewable power portfolio on the scale the Adani group is doing. The group currently has 4,920 MW of operational renewable energy generation capacity and another 5,124 MW under execution. It has a confirmed pipeline of 9,750 MW and another 4,500 MW where it is likely to win contracts.

"Today, we are already the world's largest solar power player when we account for our generating, under construction, and contracted projects. We have done this in just two years and our renewables portfolio has reached our initial target of 25 Gigawatts a full four years ahead of schedule. This puts us well on track to be the world's largest renewable power generating company by 2030," he said.