Adani Group to invest USD 100 bn in energy transition: Gautam Adani
New Delhi (PTI): Adani Group will invest more than USD 100 billion (around Rs 8.34 lakh crore) in energy transition projects and manufacturing capability to produce every major component required for green energy generation, its chairman said on Wednesday.
Besides building solar parks to produce electricity from sunlight and wind farms that do the same from wind, the conglomerate is building major facilities to manufacture electrolyzers for making green hydrogen, wind power turbines and solar panels.
Green hydrogen, which is made by splitting hydrogen from water with the help of electrolyzers powered by clean energy, is seen as a potential panacea for decarbonizing the industry as well as transportation.
Speaking at 'Infrastructure - the Catalyst for India's Future' event of Crisil, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said energy transition and digital infrastructure are trillion-dollar opportunities which will transform India both at a local and at a global scale.
"The next decade will see us invest more than USD 100 billion in the energy transition space and further expand our integrated renewable energy value chain that today already spans the manufacturing of every major component required for green energy generation," he said.
The coal-to-ports group wants to produce the "world's least expensive green electron" that will become the feedstock for several sectors that must meet the sustainability mandate.
"And to make this happen, we are already building the world's largest single-site renewable energy park in Khavda, in the district of Kutch (in Gujarat). Just this single location will generate 30 GW of power, thereby taking our total renewable energy capacity to 50 GW by 2030," he said.
Adani said the energy transition space will fundamentally change the global energy landscape forever. "The global transition market was valued at approximately USD 3 trillion in 2023 and is expected to grow to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, and thereafter double every 10 years till 2050."
"As many of you know, in the case of India, our country aims to install 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. This ambitious target will require annual investments of over USD 150 billion dollars. The transition to green energy in India is expected to generate millions of new jobs in sectors such as solar and wind, energy storage, hydrogen and its derivatives, EV charging stations, as well as grid infrastructure development," he said.
On digital infrastructure, he said data is indeed the new oil and at the heart of all the action is the Data Centre - the critical infrastructure needed to power all forms of computational needs, especially AI workloads for machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, computer vision, and deep learning.
All of this is dependent on the ability to process data at an unprecedented speed and scale which are the precise capabilities that data centres provide. However, this will need massive amounts of energy, making the data centre business the largest energy consuming industry in the world, he said.
"This makes the energy transition even more complex and is raising electricity prices, thereby adding to the already high prices because of the combined impact of climate change and demand growth," Adani said.
The billionaire said the infrastructure required for energy transition and the infrastructure required for digital transformation are now inseparable as the technology sector becomes the largest consumer of the precious green electrons.
Adani group's digital footprint will span industrial clouds across each of its businesses that it will productize and then take to market, operational technology cybersecurity offerings, super apps to leverage its B2C businesses across wide variety of consumer facing businesses, Artificial Intelligence labs to capitalize on India's fast emerging expertise to provide AI services to the world, and Data Centres that will form the backbone of the energy intensive digital revolution.
"In fact, it is anticipated that by the year 2030, the world will need 100 to 150 GW of additional green energy just for the AI data centres. We already have India's largest order book for data centres and are now in discussions for additional gigawatt-scale green AI data centres which we are uniquely positioned to deliver," he said.
VIDEO | Adani group will invest more than USD 100 billion (around Rs 8,340 crore) in energy transition projects and manufacturing capability to produce every major component required for green energy generation, its chairman said on Wednesday.
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MP HC sets up judicial commission to probe water contamination in Indore
Indore (PTI): The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday set up a commission of inquiry comprising a former HC judge to probe the issue of water contamination in city's Bhagirathpura, saying the matter requires probe by an independent, credible authority and "urgent judicial scrutiny".
It also directed the commission to submit an interim report after four weeks from the date of commencement of proceedings.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi constituted the commission while hearing several public interest litigations (PILs) filed simultaneously regarding the deaths of several people in Bhagirathpura due to the consumption of contaminated water.
The HC reserved the order after hearing all the parties during the day, and released it late at night.
The state government on Tuesday told the HC that the deaths of 16 people in Indore's Bhagirathpura area was possibly linked to a month-long outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.
The government presented an audit report of 23 deaths from the current gastroenteritis epidemic in Bhagirathpura before the bench, suggesting that 16 of these fatalities may have been linked to the outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.
The report, prepared by a committee of five experts from the city's Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, stated that the deaths of four people in Bhagirathpura were unrelated to the outbreak, while no conclusion could be reached regarding the cause of death of three other people in the area.
During the hearing, the high court sought to know from the state government the scientific basis behind its report.
The division bench also expressed surprise at the state government's use of the term "verbal autopsy" in relation to the report, sarcastically stating that it had heard the term for the first time.
The HC expressed concern over the Bhagirathpura case, stating that the situation was "alarming," and noted that cases of people falling ill due to contaminated drinking water have also been reported in Mhow, near Indore.
In its order, the HC said the serious issue concerning contamination of the drinking water supply in Bhagirathpura area allegedly resulted in widespread health hazards to residents, including children and elderly persons.
According to the petitioners and media reports, death toll is about 30 till today, but the report depicts only 16 without any basis or record, it said.
It is averred that sewage mixing, leakage in the pipeline, and failure of civic authorities to maintain potable water standards have led to the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Photographs, medical reports, and complaints submitted to the authorities prima facie indicate a matter requiring urgent judicial scrutiny, the HC said.
"Considering the gravity of the allegation and affecting the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the need for an independent fact-finding exercise, the Court is of the opinion that the matter requires investigation by an independent, credible authority," it said.
"Accordingly, we appoint Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta, former judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, a one-man commission of inquiry into the issues relating to water contamination in Bhagirathpura, Indore, and its impact on other areas of the city," the HC added.
As per the order, the commission shall inquire into and submit a report on the cause of contamination -- whether the drinking water supplied to Bhagirathpura was contaminated; and the source and nature of contamination (sewage ingress, industrial discharge, pipeline damage etc).
The panel will also probe the number of actual deaths of affected residents on account of contaminated water; find out the nature of disease reported and adequacy of medical response and preventive measures; suggest immediate steps required to ensure safe drinking water as well as long-term infrastructural and monitoring reforms.
It will also identify and fix responsibility upon the officers and officials found prima facie responsible for the Bhagirathpura water contamination incident, and suggest guidelines for compensation to affected residents, particularly vulnerable sections.
The commission shall have powers of a civil court for the purpose of summoning officials and witnesses; calling up records from the government department, hospitals, laboratories and civic bodies; ordering water quality testing through accredited laboratories; conducting spot inspections.
All state authorities involving district administration, Indore Municipal Corporation, public health engineering department and Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board shall extend full co-operation and provide records as sought by the commission, it said.
The state government shall provide office space, staff, and logistical support to the commission, it said.
During the hearing in the day, the state government also presented a status report to the court in this matter.
According to reports, a total of 454 patients were admitted to local hospitals during the vomiting and diarrhea outbreak, of whom 441 have been discharged after treatment, and 11 are currently hospitalised.
According to officials, due to a leak in the municipal drinking water pipeline in Bhagirathpura, sewage from a toilet was also mixed in the water.
