(Ahmedabad / India) – The Indian Adani Group and the French energy group Total Energies SA want to cooperate on hydrogen. As part of a strategic alliance, Total Energies will acquire a minority stake of 25 percent in Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL) from Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL). The purchase price was not mentioned.
One million tons of hydrogen per year by 2030
ANIL, which was only founded at the beginning of this year, wants to invest over 50 billion dollars (47,6 billion euros) in green hydrogen over the next ten years. In the initial phase, ANIL will reportedly build a production capacity of one million tons annually by 2030. The company will focus its business activities primarily on the production of green hydrogen, including downstream products and derivatives, the production of green electricity using wind and solar, the production of electrolysers and wind turbines.
“The entry of Total Energies into ANIL is an important milestone in the implementation of our 
Renewable hydrogen strategy,” said Patrick Pouyanné, CEO and managing director of Total Energies. The aim is also to do pioneering work in the mass production of green hydrogen.
Adani brings its knowledge of the Indian market, while Total Energies knows the European market and contributes, among other things, its financial strength to reduce financing costs and its expertise in the underlying technologies.
Business relationships since 2018
This is not Total Energies' first entanglement with Adani. The companies agreed to cooperate in the gas business back in 2018. In 2020, Total founded Adani Green Energy Ltd. with solar project developer. (AGEL) is a 50/50 joint venture that brings together solar power plants with an output of more than 2.100 megawatts under its roof, spread across eleven Indian states. Total Energies invested $510 million for this.
At the beginning of 2021, Total acquired a 2,5 percent stake in AGEL itself for 2,38 billion dollars (20 billion euros). AGEL is currently operating a renewable energy project with an output of more than seven gigawatts - by 2030 it should be 45 gigawatts and within the next ten years, hydrogen production capacities of two gigawatts per year are to be built with investments amounting to 20 billion dollars.
Sustainable business model
Overall, according to Adani's own information, it only has hydrogen projects Capital expenditure of more than $70 billion by the end of this decade. It is therefore hardly surprising that other well-funded companies are also waving money and smelling profits. The Abu Dhabi-based industrial conglomerate International Holding Company PJSC (IHC), for example, also sees sustainable business models at Adani and pledged capital of two billion dollars in April. Adani Green Energy Ltd and Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) will each receive around $495 million (€471 million), and Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) will receive more than $990 million (€944 million).
The Adani Group is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, founded in 1988 as a commodities trading company by Gautam Adani. The business areas include raw materials, logistics, the agricultural sector and energy supply.
Photo above
Adani photovoltaic power plant in Bathinda, Punjab state, with an output of 648 megawatts. © Adani Group
Photo middle
Gautam Adani (left) and Patrick Pouyanné (Total Energies). © Adani Group
