Adani Group to invest $7.17bn in power projects in India’s Assam state

NEW DELHI: India’s Adani Group said on Friday it will invest about 630 billion rupees ($7.17 billion) in two major energy projects in the north-eastern state of Assam, including what will be the region’s largest privately built coal-fired power plant.

Reuters last month reported that Adani Power had emerged as the lowest bidder for a 3.2 gigawatt (GW) coal power supply tender floated by the state.

Adani said on Friday that its coal power plant operating unit will spend about 480 billion rupees ($5.46 billion) to build the facility.

The plant is expected to start commissioning in phases from December 2030, the company said.

The investment marks the acceleration of private investment in India’s greenfield coal-based power projects after more than a decade of lull.

In August, Adani Power announced investments of about $5 billion in two coal-powered plants. The company aims to expand capacity to 42 GW from 18 GW by fiscal 2032 at an investment of 2 trillion rupees.

India, the world’s second largest coal producer and consumer, still generates about three quarters of its electricity from coal annually, unlike top coal user China, which has progressively reduced its dependence on the polluting fuel.

Adani’s clean energy entity, Adani Green Energy plans to invest about 150 billion rupees in two pumped storage projects in Assam, with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW), including 500 MW of energy storage awarded in a recent tender, the statement said.

Earlier this year, the group’s Chairman Gautam Adani had pledged to invest 500 billion rupees in the north-eastern region.

Adani Green has overall 16.7 GW of renewables and aims for 50 GW by 2030. Separately, the group said it will invest 1 trillion rupees in southern state of Andhra Pradesh over the next decade in various sectors.