The Race Is Between Asia’s First & Second Richest, The Prize Is One – Kingdom Of Green Energy

Is the business world going to witness a direct confrontation between Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, two of the greatest business minds the world has seen? In the plain sight, yes. Also, in the plain sight, the race to acquire the top-most position is definitely going to grow India’s economy and make the good old Earth a better place to live.

New Delhi: The fact that Mukesh Ambani, the eighth-richest man on Earth, who boasts a wealth of nearly $88 billion, entering the green energy arena is no more news. Even though Mukesh Ambani did hint about investments in the alternate energy sector during 2018, 2019 Reliance Industries Ltd’s Annual General Meetings (AGM), it was at the 43rd AGM of 2020 that the RIL chairman confirmed his entry into the space.

AT RIL AGM 2020

“We have a 15-year vision to build Reliance as one of the world’s leading New Energy and New Materials company. The New Energy business based on the principle of Carbon Recycle and Circular Economy is a multi-trillion opportunity for India and the world. It is also an opportunity to make clean and green energy abundantly available at an affordable price to every Indian, every Indian enterprise, and every Indian utility. More than a business, this is our seva to save Planet Earth from the ravages of climate change,” said Mukesh Ambani in 2020.

In the AGMs that followed, Mukesh Ambani made significant revelations about his company’s entry aimed at changing the dynamics of the green energy sector.

AT RIL AGM 2021

“Our world has only one option: rapid transition to a new era of green, clean and renewable energy. The COVID pandemic has further put the climate issue in the crisis bucket … in 2021, we are launching our new energy business with the aim of bridging the green energy divide in India and globally. And we will do it — like we have always done — by getting our First Principles right … I am happy to inform you that we have started work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. It will be amongst the largest such integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world”, said Mukesh Ambani in 2021.

AT RIL AGM 2022

“Last year, I had announced setting up of Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar. Our aim is to establish and enable at least 100GW of solar energy by 2030. The work done so far has reaffirmed my conviction in solar energy and has provided further impetus to our investment thesis to establish four Giga Factories … Reliance’s captive energy requirement across businesses provides us with a large base-load demand to support our plans to set up giga-scale manufacturing. It will accelerate our commitment to invest `75,000 crore towards establishing our fully integrated New Energy manufacturing ecosystem in Jamnagar. We will also be establishing 20 GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2025. This will be entirely consumed for our captive needs of round-the-clock (RTC) power and intermittent energy for Green Hydrogen. Once proven at scale, we are prepared to double the investment to scale up our manufacturing ecosystem”, said Mukesh Ambani in 2022.

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A report published today on Bloomberg said that Mukesh Ambani will be focusing his attention on Reliance Industries’ entry into green energy, after putting his children in charge of other businesses. According to the report that quoted people familiar with the matter, the 65-year-old billionaire chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd will oversee strategy, including the building of giga factories and blue hydrogen facilities, will assess acquisition targets, and is talking to potential investors.

This will open the stage for a head-to-head confrontation between Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, who is targeting a $70 billion investment in the clean energy sector by 2030. Gautam Adani-led Adani Green Energy also envisions to have 25GW of renewable energy projects by 2025.

Gautam Adani has also stated his dream to turn Adani Green Energy to become the world’s largest solar power company by 2025 and largest renewable power company by 2030.

“Our existing portfolio of renewable power generating assets stands today at over 2.5 GW. This is expected to more than double by 2022, with the implementation of 3.5 GW under construction capacity. The operational capacity is further set to increase to 18 GW by 2025. To make this happen, we have committed to investing over 70% of our budgeted capex of the energy vertical into clean energy and energy-efficient systems. As a testimony of our commitment our renewable power generation capacity saw a 30% rise to 2,545 MW in FY20, while total electricity supplied jumped 12.7% to 4,373 million units (MU) during the period under review,” said Gautam Adani in his message to the public on Adani Green Energy website.

Meanwhile, Reliance is seeking billions of dollars of investments in India’s energy sector and has approached potential investors including Middle Eastern funds, as per the Bloomberg report. His ambition is to disrupt the sector just like he did with his mobile phone company Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., one of the people said, the report added.

Reliance, with a market value of $206 billion, has a 2035 target for turning carbon net-zero. India’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables will provide an opportunity for Reliance’s continuous “hyper-growth” over many decades, Ambani told shareholders last August. Adani, on his part, has committed $70 billion to become the world’s largest renewables player.

Is the business world going to witness a direct confrontation between Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, two of the greatest business minds the world has seen? In the plain sight, yes. Also, in the plain sight, the race to acquire the top-most position is definitely going to grow India’s economy and make the good old Earth a better place to live.