Sagar Adani, CEO of the Adani Group's Indian renewable energy company AGEL, is leading a project to turn barren salt deserts in the western Indian state of Gujarat into the Khavda Renewable Energy Park - a vast wind and solar power plant - at a cost of about $20 billion.
Adani Group's Khavda Renewable Energy Park under construction in the Indian state of Gujarat. Photo: AFP
The Khavda Renewable Energy Park, scheduled for completion in about five years, promises to generate enough clean electricity to power 16 million homes in India. The project’s success will help India reduce pollution, meet its climate goals and meet its growing energy needs. Currently, 70% of India’s electricity is generated from coal.
AGEL said the park would cover more than 200 square miles and be the largest power plant on the planet. “It’s such a vast area, such an unobstructed area, no wildlife, no vegetation, no habitat. There’s no other better use for that land,” Adani said.
The Adani Group is currently pouring billions of dollars into the clean energy sector. The group plans to invest $100 billion in the energy transition over the next decade, with 70% of the investment dedicated to clean energy.
The Adani Group’s clean energy pivot comes at a time when India has set some ambitious climate targets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that renewable sources such as solar and wind power will meet 50% of India’s energy needs by the end of the decade.
India has set a target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil fuel power generation capacity by 2030. AGEL aims to contribute at least 9% of that, with nearly 30 GW generated from Khavda Park in Gujarat state alone.
“India has no choice but to start doing things at a scale that has never been done before,” Mr. Adani said. India cannot rely on fossil fuels forever to meet its growing demand, given concerns about the impact on the climate crisis.
“Adding another 800 GW of coal-fired power capacity would kill all other sustainable energy initiatives going on around the world, in terms of carbon emissions,” Adani said.
Solar panels at Khavda Renewable Energy Park. Photo: AFP
The Adani Group is not only one of the largest developers and operators of coal mines in India, but also operates the controversial Carmichael Coal Mine in Australia, which has faced fierce opposition from climate change campaigners who say it is a “death sentence” for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
“Instead of pouring billions of dollars into new fossil fuel projects, India would be much better served if Adani devoted 100% of its efforts and resources to developing low-cost, zero-emission technologies,” said Tim Buckley, director of Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance.
But Mr Adani said activists in developed countries, which have historically emitted more greenhouse gases, often fail to understand the incredible challenge India faces in simultaneously developing its economy and clean energy sector.
“It is very important that every country has its own right to ensure that its people are well served from an energy perspective,” Adani said, adding that more than 600 million people in India will be middle- and upper-income earners in the next decade. They cannot be deprived of their basic energy needs.
In addition to being the CEO of AGEL, Sagar Adani is also the nephew of Gautam Adani, Asia's second richest man, who owns a fortune worth $100 billion from the Adani Group - India's largest coal importer. Founded in 1988, the group has businesses ranging from ports and thermal power plants to communications and cement.
Hoai Phuong (according to CNN)
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