French energy giant Total will invest $510 million (about Rs 3,628 crore) in an equal joint venture with Adani Green Energy Ltd that will hold solar energy assets.
Adani group chairman Gautam Adani had said that his diversified conglomerate will become India’s largest renewable energy player within the year. He added that the Adani group would be the largest solar power producer in the world by 2025 and the biggest renewable energy firm globally by 2030.
Adani Green stands unaffected by this reversal of fortunes in the Indian renewable energy sector, as it looks to increase its operational capacity by 2021 to 5.3 gigawatt from 2.5 GW at present. And in January, the company said it had won a bid for a 700-megawatt wind-solar hybrid project that would take its total capacity to 6 GW by 2022-23.
Adani Green has seen an exponential rise in its valuation since it listed on the stock exchanges. In the five months since the beginning of September last year, shares of Adani Green moved from Rs 45-46 levels to a record high Rs 243.25, in January this year.
Adani Green has stormed into the club of India’s top 100 listed companies, leaving several stock market analysts bemused with such steep valuations.
Total’s investment, one of the biggest to-date, in India’s renewable energy sector comes at a time when the country struggles to meet its ambitious target to set up 100GW solar capacity, of which 40GW will be in the solar rooftop space.