Adani Group invests $7.17 billion in power projects in India’s Assam State

Adani Group, an Indian company, announced on Friday that it would invest approximately 630 billion rupees (7.17 billion dollars) in two major projects in Assam in the state's north-eastern region. One of these will be the largest coal-fired plant in the region.

Adani Power was reported as having been the lowest bidder in a state-issued tender for coal power of 3.2 gigawatts (GW).

Adani announced on Friday that the coal power plant unit of its company will invest about 480 billion rupees (5.46 billion dollars) in building the facility.

The company stated that the plant will be commissioned in phases starting December 2030.

After a lull of more than 10 years, private investment has accelerated in India's coal-based greenfield power projects.

Adani Power announced in August that it would invest $5 billion into two coal-fired plants. The company plans to increase capacity from 18 GW to 42 GW in fiscal 2032, at a cost of 2 trillion rupees.

India, the second-largest coal consumer and producer in the world, generates around three quarters (75%) of its annual electricity using coal, unlike China, the top coal user, which has gradually reduced its dependence on this polluting fuel.

Adani Green Energy, Adani's clean-energy entity, plans to invest 150 billion rupees into two pumped storage project in Assam with a combined power of 2,700 Megawatts (MW), 500 MW energy storage was awarded recently in a tender.

Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Group, had earlier this year pledged 500 billion rupees to be invested in the North-Eastern Region.

Adani Green is targeting 50 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Separately the group announced that it would invest 1 trillion rupees over the next 10 years in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in different sectors. Reporting by Sethuraman N.R.; Editing and proofreading by Eileen Soreng.

(source: Reuters)