BRINGING HOME THE SUN
THE HEADLINE OF this story could well have been “The Great Disruptors”. But even that would probably not have fully conveyed the extent of the tectonic shift that two canny industrialists have seeded within months of each other. They have not partnered. They probably won’t compete directly either. Yet, the impact of their moves could serve to spark long-term change in an area of national and global interest—renewable energy as a source of electric power, with attendant benefits for our planet’s environmental health. The two gentlemen in question—Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, two of India’s richest men, both ambitious to the point of leaving you incredulous—can sniff out a business opportunity years ahead of the curve. Co-relate the two aspects, and it would appear that renewable energy’s time has truly come. It is good for the planet. It is good for business. And now, it is good business.
On June 24, addressing Reliance Industries share-holders at the company’s annual general meeting, now a regular jamboree of big announcements, Ambani made public a plan to invest ₹60,000 crore to set up four giga factories, which “will manufacture and fully integrate all the critical components of the new energy ecosystem”. In some detail, the plan is to make solar photovoltaic modules, advanced energy storage batteries, electrolysers and, finally, fuel cells. The investment, he said, “will create and offer a fully integrated, end-to-end renewable energy eco-system”. Another ₹15,000 crore is to be invested in the value chain, partnerships and future technologies. That adds up to ₹75,000-crore ($10-billion) investments in the new energy business over three years. Ambani further said that Reliance will “establish and enable at least 100 GW of solar energy by 2030”.
In a late-night statement on November 19, Reliance said the proposed investment to be made by Saudi Arabia’s Aramco in its O2C (oil-to-chemicals) business would be re-evaluated. Importantly, this has been at-tributed to the “evolving nature of Reliance’s business portfolio”. The deal, announced over two years ago, envisaged Aramco picking up a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business
