Adani Green Energy, India’s largest renewable power producer, will invest an additional $22 billion to expand capacity by more than five times by 2030, counting on the country’s steadily growing electricity demand.
Focusing on the Indian market before exploring foreign expansion is both in the “national interest and economic interest” for the company, Chief Executive Officer Amit Singh told Bloomberg Television at the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Monday.
India’s electricity demand is growing 7% annually, dwarfing expansion in other economies, the CEO said. The steep climb led the government to mandate the addition of both renewable and thermal capacity to prevent blackouts.
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s clean energy unit saw its installed capacity more than double in the past two years, with profits riding on the expansion. That helped win back investors’ confidence after the tycoon’s wider group faced allegations of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud by a U.S. short seller in January, charges the group has vehemently denied.
India, which currently gets nearly 70% of its electricity from coal, is seeking to reduce its reliance on the fuel by reaching 500 gigawatt of clean capacity by 2030. The goal is being championed by the country’s business tycoons, including Adani, Mukesh Ambani and other state-run energy enterprises.
The nation’s dependence on fossil fuels casts shadow over its ability to meet its carbon neutrality target by 2070.
Adani Green plans to spend $4.5 billion and add 8 gigawatt of installed capacity over the two years through March 2025, eventually reaching 45 gigawatt by the end of this decade.
To get to that target, merely maintaining the current installation pace won’t be enough, Singh said. “We need to up the ante and increase our pace of installation,” he said.
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