Mukesh Ambani’s US$75 billion plan to turn India into a hydrogen hub
- Asia’s richest man is likely to opt for hydrogen in a bid to avoid India’s wholesale electricity market, analysts say
- Ambani has vowed to produce green hydrogen at US$1 per kilogram, a more than 60 per cent reduction from today’s costs
Ambani, Asia’s richest man, announced plans earlier this month to invest US$75 billion in renewables infrastructure including generation plants, solar panels and electrolysers. There is growing speculation that the strategy entails transforming all of that clean power into hydrogen, one of the largest endorsements in the next-generation fuel.
“Reliance is preparing itself to capture the entire value chain of the green hydrogen economy,” said Gagan Sidhu, director at the Centre for Energy Finance at New Delhi-based think tank CEEW. “They clearly have seen the writing on the wall.”
While Reliance has not broken out how much will be devoted to hydrogen, the US$75 billion investment in clean energy is by far the biggest in the country. Other companies such as Adani Enterprises Ltd. and state-run energy firms NTPC Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. also have set plans for green hydrogen.
The number of countries with a hydrogen strategy doubled last year to 26, and expected plans from the US, Brazil, India and China could reshape the global market, according to Bloomberg research. But the sector is still experimental and far from commercially viable. India is relying on the country’s billionaires, including Ambani and his rival Gautam Adani, to lead the way.