Gautam Adani, India’s second-richest man who heads the Ahmedabad-based edible oils, infrastructure and energy conglomerate, threw a gauntlet at the country’s wealthiest person Mukesh Ambani by announcing a $20-billion renewable energy play, with the promise to produce the world’s cheapest “green electron”.
At the current exchange rate, the investment amounts to £15 billion and will be spent on building capacities for renewable energy generation and component manufacturing as well as transmission and distribution, Adani told the JPMorgan India Investor Summit. Adani’s outlay is double that of the $10-billion green energy foray Ambani had recently announced for his Reliance Industries, with the promise to produce green hydrogen - seen as the fuel of the future - for less than $1 per kg in a decade’s time.
Adani also hinted at getting into the green hydrogen space by saying his group’s “integrated value chain, scale and experience” places it well to become the “producer of the least-expensive green electron anywhere in the world”.
“Our actions clearly indicate that we are putting our money where our mouth is: Over 75% of our planned capex until 2025 will be in green technologies. Today, of our ebitda from utilities, 43% is already from the green business,” he added.
