AGEL to invest ₹1.5 trillion in developing world’s largest RE park in Khavda

Adani Green Energy Ltd plans to invest about ₹1.5 trillion through 2030 to develop the world’s largest renewable energy plant with 30-gigawatt capacity at the Khavda renewable energy park in Gujarat, the company’s honcho Vneet Jaain said at a media interaction on Saturday.

The project, part of the Adani Groups renewable energy flagship’s plan to achieve 45 gigawatt (GW) installed renewable energy capacity in the country by 2030, will see 26 GW of solar and 4 GW of wind generation capacity coming up.

Currently, AGEL has an operating renewable portfolio of 10.93 GW—7.39 GW solar, 1.4 GW wind, and 2.14 GW of hybrid—across 12 states.

Jaain, managing director of AGEL, informed media persons that the company has already commissioned 2 GW solar capacity at the park and another 4 GW would be installed in the ongoing financial year (FY25), with a larger share of solar.

"In this financial year, we are planning about 4 GW (addition) in Khavda. We have already commissioned 2 GW. So, it will be 6 GW by March 2025. Then every year we have a plan of setting around 5 GW. Beside Khavda, we have some plans for setting up in other parts of the country also," he said.

The Adani project would also make Khavda the largest renewable energy park in the country, with a cumulative capacity of about 45 GW. The other developers in the park include state-run NTPC and Gujarat Industries Power Company (GIPC). Currently, the biggest renewable energy park in India is Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan, with a capacity of 2.24 GW.

Jaain said the financing strategy for the project has been worked out. “We have a complete capital outlay of that, how much we will get in terms of internal accruals, how much will be the equity requirement. If there is some shortfall of the equity, how this will come...How the financial process will happen, the loan part. How we will go for the domestic loan, how we will go for the ECBs, up to the next 7-8 years, up to 45 GW....”

On average, Jaain said the cost of installation of solar capacity is about ₹4.5-4.6 crore per megawatt (MW), and in the case of wind, ₹6.5 crore per MW.

Spread across 538 sq. km of barren land in Kutch, AGEL's project started power generation this February.

Jaain, who is also a director at Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL), which is involved in manufacturing of renewable energy components, said that the investment towards manufacturing of solar module and related products and wind turbines would be over ₹30,000 crore over the next four years.

The company, which is already present in solar modules and cells, has also recently forayed into production of wafers and ingots.

Noting that a complete manufacturing ecosystem for solar power generation is required, Jaain said that in about three-and-a-half years, Adani New Industries will also develop polysilicon, thereby ensuring its presence across the entire supply chain for solar modules.

“We are going ahead for the expansion of our manufacturing facilities. Right now, we are having 1.5 GW of wind turbine manufacturing. We have started work for an additional 1 GW. Similarly, on the solar side, we are just finalizing how much we should go (for expansion) immediately. The ultimate aim is going to be 5 GW at least (for wind), and the solar (manufacturing) complete ecosystem (would be) 10 GW,” he said.

In the current financial, the company would add 1 GW wind turbine capacity, taking the overall wind turbine manufacturing capacity to 2.5 GW and another 2.5 GW may be added by the end of the financial year 2027 (FY27).

Currently, the company largely exports from its existing solar module manufacturing capacity of 4 GW. Both its solar modules and wind turbine manufacturing capacities are located at Mundra in Gujarat.

Talking on its plans for power storage capacity, the AGEL MD said that the company is going ahead with pumped hydro projects and that the company is “very serious about it”.

In terms of battery energy storage systems, he however said: “As far batteries are concerned, we are just having a lot of evaluation of that. We have not decided anything on the battery front.”

The push for renewable energy comes in line with the government's ambitious 500 GW installed non-fossil power capacity target in the country by 2030.

The company has made massive investment commitments across the new energy and energy transition ecosystem including green hydrogen and e-mobility.

Apart from Adani, other large enterprises are also making big moves in the renewable energy space. In August last year, Reliance Industries announced it would its investment target for renewable energy to ₹1.5 trillion. State-run ONGC has also announced it wants to achieve 10 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 with an investment of ₹1 trillion.

(Rituraj Baruah was in Khavda and Mundra on the invitation of Adani Green Energy Ltd.)