With 8GW of SECI contracts, Adani Green is largest solar power developer globally

The 8 gigawatt solar energy contract that Adani Green Energy won from the government in June has propelled it to become the world’s largest solar developer by capacity.

According to a ranking renewable energy consultancy Mercom Capital Group, Adani Green is currently the top global solar developer with 2.3 GW of operational projects, 2 GW under construction, and 8 GW of awarded projects (with contracted PPAs) for a total capacity of 12.3 GW. Hong Kong-based GCL New Energy is the second largest global solar developer with 7.1 GW, followed by SB Energy, Enel Green Power, Brookfield Renewable, First Solar, AES Corporation, Invenergy, Lightsource bp, and ENGIE.

In June, Adani Green Energy Ltd bagged a manufacturing-linked solar contract from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to develop 8 GW of projects. The transaction is valued at ₹45,000 crore, or $6 billion.

Based on the awarded agreement, the 8 GW of solar projects will be implemented over the next five years. The first 2 GW of generation capacity will come online by 2022 and the subsequent 6 GW capacity will be added in 2 GW annual increments by 2025.

By operational capacity in utility-scale solar, the top developer was GCL New Energy with 7.1 GW, followed by Enel Green Power with 4.2 GW. Adani ranks eighth globally on this list. However, Adani has the most capacity awarded and under-construction globally, with a pipeline of 10 GW.

Adani Green is the only Indian developer among the top 10 globally. The company has operational solar projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Karnataka besides 65 megawatts in Rugby Run, Australia.

In a press statement, Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group said: “Achieving this ranking is a direct result of our commitment to creating the infrastructure needed for a clean powered future. While we are pleased to be ranked the largest solar player in the world, we recognize that there is a lot more that remains for us to do as the world transitions into an increasingly decarbonized energy landscape. We anticipate that over the next decade several existing business models will be impacted as a result of the disruption caused by the intersection of plummeting cost of renewable energy and the ability of technology to rescale industries.”

He added: “We expect our renewable energy platform will create new possibilities for our core business and we will be able to address some of the most intractable problems that humankind has faced, including affordable decentralized energy, availability of distributed clean water, green hydrogen as an alternate fuel, and micro agriculture, among others.”