Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani said his Reliance Industries Ltd. will expand into wind power equipment with the help of more established firms to boost the conglomerate’s suite of clean energy products.
Reliance will partner with “global leaders” in the renewable technology to offer cost-efficient turbines, Ambani told shareholders Monday at the company’s annual general meeting. The firm is building a carbon-fiber plant in Gujarat to reduce raw-material expenses for blades, he said without naming the partners for the wind project.
“With climate crisis looming large, the world is going through a multi-decade era of transformation from fossil fuels to green energy,” he said. “This provides strong tailwinds to our new materials and new energy businesses.”
The global energy transition is offering significant opportunities for Reliance, both domestically and on international markets, Ambani said. The billionaire, along with rival Gautam Adani, has emerged among the leading champions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for energy independence through a switch to clean energy.
Besides wind turbine manufacturing, the oil and gas explorer will also harness its experience of working in deepwater fields to build offshore wind projects, Ambani said.
India has the potential to become a key player in global wind supply chain, with an already existing manufacturing base and relatively lower cost of labor, the Global Wind Energy Council and MEC+ said in a report earlier this week. To realize that potential the country needs to have enabling policies to support the domestic growth of wind power industry, help technology innovation and lower cost of raw materials.
