Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), India’s largest industrial conglomerate, announced in the middle of January that it will be investing around INR 5.95 trillion (or around USD 8 billion) in various green energy projects across the state of Gujarat. A related MoU was signed between RIL and the Gujarat government at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2022, which was an event to promote investments in the local economy. RIL stated that the mega investment program will support the efforts of the Indian government in reducing CO2 emissions and creating a green economy. This story was first reported by various local and international news agencies.
Among the green energy projects that RIL will be developing in Gujarat, the ones that are being prioritized include a 100GW renewable energy project and a green hydrogen project. RIL plans to commit INR 5 trillion (USD 67.6 billion) over a period of 10-15 years to build the 100GW project and has started to search for potential sites in the districts of Kutch, Banaskantha, and Ahmedabad. The 100GW project will likely comprise several smaller projects that are to be developed in phases. RIL is touting that the construction of green energy facilities will create at least 1 million jobs in the state.
Apart from green energy projects, RIL will also set up an ecosystem for helping small and medium enterprises adopt or develop renewable technologies that include green hydrogen. Hopefully, other local companies will be able to innovate or procure the necessary solutions that will allow them to produce or consume various forms of green energy.
RIL formally crossed into the green energy sector in the middle of 2021 with the announcement that it will invest around INR 6 trillion (or around USD 8.1 billion) over a three-year period to develop manufacturing capacity for a wide range of related products. These include PV modules, electrolyzer units, fuel cells, and lithium-ion batteries. In particular, RIL is in the process of building a vertically integrated production base for PV modules with the aim of installing at least 100GW of PV generation capacity by 2030. The PV module base is located in the port city of Jamnagar, which is also within Gujarat.
Besides the proposed investment program in Gujarat, RIL will also inject INR 250 billion (USD 3.38 billion) into various new and existing ventures over the next three to five years. Moreover, the conglomerate will work on migrating its mobile communication network to 5G and strengthening its retail businesses. Even though RIL is making a huge expansion into the green energy sector, it will probably remain as a major supplier for petroleum-based products, which have long been a part of its core businesses.