Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) is making strides in renewable energy by constructing the world’s largest clean energy plant in Gujarat. The plant, reportedly five times the size of Paris and potentially visible from space, is set to generate enough electricity to power the entirety of Switzerland.
The Khavda Renewable Energy Park, once operational, could meet the power needs of 16 million homes. This comes at a time when coal still accounts for 70% of India’s energy needs. The plant, located 12 miles from the India-Pakistan border, will span 200 square miles and is expected to be operational within the next five years.
AGEL, part of the Adani Group – India’s largest importer of coal, claims that the Khavda Renewable Energy Park will be the world’s largest power plant, irrespective of the energy source. “A region so large, a region that is so unencumbered, there’s no wildlife, there’s no vegetation, there’s no habitation. There is no better alternative use of that land,” said Sagar Adani, Executive Director of AGEL and nephew of Gautam Adani, Asia’s second-richest man.
The Adani Group’s clean energy initiative aligns with India’s climate goals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that renewable sources like solar and wind power will meet the country’s energy requirements by the end of the decade. “There is no choice for India but to start doing things at a previously unimagined size and scale,” Sagar Adani told CNN.
India is the world’s third-largest energy-consuming nation. However, its energy use and emissions per person are less than half the world’s average, according to data from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). Since 2000, India’s energy demand has doubled, with 80% of energy needs met by coal, oil, and solid biomass. The IEA predicts that India will become the world’s largest energy consumer over the next three decades.
Sagar Adani warns of a bleak climatic future if India follows the energy consumption patterns of China, Europe, and the US. The IEA forecasts that by 2050, India’s total electricity demand from residential air conditioners alone could exceed the total energy consumption of the entire African continent today.
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