Richest Asian Gautam Adani on Friday announced a ₹65,000 crore investment in Rajasthan over the next 5 to 7 years in setting up a mega 10,000 MW solar power capacity, expanding cement plant and upgrading Jaipur airport.
The investment by ports-to-energy conglomerate that Adani heads also spans city gas infrastructure for retailing CNG to automobiles and piped gas to households and industries as well as laying transmission lines to carry renewable power.
Speaking at the Invest Rajasthan 2022 Summit here, he said the Adani group already has a sizeable presence in the state. It operates a thermal power plant, has set up a solar park and supplies coal to the state’s power-generating units.
Adani Group is investing ₹50,000 crore to add 10,000 megawatts of renewable power generation capacity. “This will be commissioned progressively over the next 5 years,” he said, adding the group just a week back achieved commercial operation of the world’s largest wind-solar hybrid power plant in Rajasthan.
Besides, it is looking to double its cement manufacturing capacity following its acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC.
“While we already have three cement plants and limestone mining assets, a significant part of our capacity expansion will continue to happen in Rajasthan. We anticipate investing another ₹7,000 crore to double our cement manufacturing capacity in the state,” he said.
The Group is also the operator of Jaipur airport which will be expanded, he said.
Adani would also develop a network to supply piped natural gas and CNG to accelerate cleaner fuel availability to industrial, commercial, transport and domestic consumers, and set up new transmission projects to move the renewable power being generated.
“Combining all ongoing and future investments, we anticipate investing an additional ₹65,000 crore in Rajasthan over the next 5 to 7 years and creating over 40,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
The Adani Group, which started off as a commodity trader in 1988 and expanded rapidly into ports, airports, roads, power, renewable energy, transmission, gas distribution, real estate, FMCG, cement, data centres and media business, is also making one of the world’s largest bets on energy transition.
It is looking to build capacities to produce green hydrogen – a fuel that can run automobiles as well as factories. It plans to use renewable power to split water to produce green hydrogen.
Adani said the group is betting on green hydrogen, given its ability to generate the most inexpensive solar and wind power. “I believe this opportunity to generate green hydrogen to transform Rajasthan’s deserts into ‘an oasis of jobs enabling energy transition’ is an opportunity that no other state has.”
His group has already invested over ₹35,000 crore across multiple industrial sectors in Rajasthan.
These investments have been across a 1,320 megawatt (MW) Kawai power plant and a 10,000 MW solar park that produces 1,500 MW of green power. Besides, it has invested ₹20,000 crore in commissioning over 4,000 MW of renewable projects.
Adani Group supplies coal to over 4,300 MW of state thermal plants.
It also operates high-voltage transmission lines, a dry port container terminal in Kishangarh and two edible oil manufacturing plants in Alwar and Bundi.