Adani Energy Solutions—controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani—will invest 40 billion rupees ($476 million) to build a 298-kilometre transmission line that will distribute electricity from the company’s renewable energy plant in the Khavda region in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The powerline project will transmit electricity from Khavda—where Adani Green Energy is building the world’s largest renewable park with a capacity of 30 gigawatts when completed by 2029—to the City of Bhuj, also in Gujarat. Adani is doubling down on his green energy investments after raising $1 billion from a share sale last month.
“This investment will not only establish the critical transmission network required to [transport] the planned 30 gigawatt of green power that Khavda will generate but also provide the much-needed grid stability,” Kandarp Patel, CEO of Adani Energy Solutions said in a statement on Monday. The company expects to complete construction of the power line within the next two years and operate it for 35 years under a build, own, operate and transfer scheme with the government.
The Khavda renewable energy park—which occupies an area of 538 square kilometers (nearly five times the size of Paris)—has already started generating two gigawatts of power and aims to triple production to six gigawatts by next year, and reach full capacity of 30 gigawatts by 2029.
The conglomerate’s quest for renewable energy also got another boost, as France’s TotalEnergies agreed to invest about $444 million in a new joint venture with Adani Green to develop solar projects in India, deepening the partnership between the French energy giant and the Adani Group. TotalEnergies holds a 19.8% stake in Adani Green
According to a separate exchange filing on Monday, TotalEnergies will own a 50% stake in the new joint venture that will hold a portfolio of operational and under construction solar farms with a combined capacity of 1,150 megawatts.
Gautan Adani, the chairman of the diversified Adani Group, has a net worth of $68 billion, which he shares with his family. This makes him the second wealthiest person in India, according to the Forbes Asia list of India’s 100 Richest published last October. Adani’s business empire extends far beyond just power generation, also encompassing airports, mining, ports, and cement.
This article was first published on forbes.com.
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