Billionaire Gautam Adani plans to invest Rs30,000 crore ($4.21 billion) in the world’s largest solar hybrid park, in Khavda, Gujarat. The huge commitment was part of the Rs50,000 crore investment he announced at the ninth Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Ahmedabad last week.

“Over the next five years, our investments will include the world’s largest solar hybrid park, in Khavda,” said the industrialist. “The anticipated investment in this park is Rs30,000 crore. We also plan to establish an integrated lithium battery manufacturing complex and expand our photovoltaic manufacturing capabilities.”

Adani Group’s investments in Gujarat in the past five years exceed Rs50,000 crore and the company reiterated its promise to “further accelerate our investments”.

During the three-day Vibrant Gujarat Summit, some 548 memoranda of understanding were signed for the supply of power – including renewables – and oil and gas.

Dholera will fire Gujarati golden years

“The next five years are going be the golden years for renewable energy in Gujarat,” said Saurabh Patel, the state’s minister for energy. “The government is in the process of developing hybrid parks of 30 MW [capacity] in Kutch, and will export this energy to other states. Gujarat has already announced it will set up a unique 5,000 MW ultra-mega solar park in Dholera. An expression of interest has already been carried out and GUVNL [state electrical services company Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited] will issue request for price proposal for first 1,000 MW capacity at Dholera.”

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Adani Group has an operational solar capacity of 1.2 GW with 810 MW under various stages of implementation. Besides PV plants in Punjab, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, the company has also set up a 1.2 GW solar cell and module manufacturing unit in Mundra, Gujarat.

Adani has set a target to install 10 GW of renewable power capacity by 2022.