By Business India Editorial

Close on the heels of Mukesh Ambani’s bold declaration of making India a global leader in producing green hydrogen, Gautam Adani has 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 hydrogen.

Speaking at JP Morgan Investor Summit, the chairman of port-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group said his company is planning to triple its renewable energy generation capacity over the next four years, move into green hydrogen production, power all data centres with renewable energy, make all its ports into net carbon zero by 2025, and spend over 75 per cent of capital expenditure until 2025 in green technologies.

He said: “(The company’s) integrated value chain, our scale, and experience puts us on the path to be the producer of the least expensive green electron anywhere in the world.”

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.

Reliance’s ambitious plans have been seen as its direct competition with Adani Group, which has had a strong presence in the renewables space for many years. Ambani said hydrogen can be made from renewable energy at $1 per kg in a decade’s time.

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.

Adani Group at present has 4,920 MW of operational renewable energy generation capacity and 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.

“Our actions clearly indicate that we are putting our money where our mouth is: Over 75 per cent of our planned capex until 2025 will be in green technologies. Today, of our EBITDA from utilities, 43 per cent is already from the green business.”