India's Reliance to invest $10.1 billion in green energy by 2024

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries is to invest more than $10 billion dollars in green energy over the next three years in a bid to meet its commitment to become net-zero emissions by 2035.

Speaking at an investor conference on Thursday, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the group, said the company will spend 60 billion rupees ($8 billion) on building a solar module factory, an energy storage battery factory, a fuel cell factory and an electrolyser factory, which it will use to make green hydrogen.

He added a further 15 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) would be spent on infrastructure and future technologies in upstream and downstream industries.

"The world is entering a new energy era, which is going to be highly disruptive. The age of fossil fuels, which powered economic growth globally for nearly three centuries, cannot continue much longer," Ambani said.

The company, which owns the largest refinery complex in the world in Jamnagar, said the four "giga factories" would be on the existing complex in Gujarat.

Ambani said it would be among "the largest such integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world."

The company's plan is to enable at least 100GW of solar power capacity by 2030, largely through small installations on rooftops of businesses and buildings.

India is expected to have a total of 450 GW by the end of the decade.

It also plans to use green hydrogen to produce low carbon and carbon-free chemicals and fertilisers.

The plan will transform the 7,500-acre, 1.2 million bpd Jamnagar refinery and chemical complex into a green hub.

"Jamnagar was the cradle of our old energy business, it will also be the cradle of our new energy business," Ambani said.

Reliance's goal to become net-zero by 2035 is more ambitious than other big oil refiners, who plan to reach that goal by the middle of the century.

Ambani is Asia's richest man with an estimated net worth of $80 billion.

He is the chairman, managing director and biggest shareholder in Reliance Industries, which had a market capitalisation of over $200 billion and is the biggest company in India.