Gurgaon-based renewable energy firm ACME Group will invest Rs52,000 crore ($6.7 billion) in Karnataka over five years to set up a green hydrogen and ammonia plant, the state government said.
The investment comes as the country aims to manufacture five million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030 to meet its climate targets and become a production and export centre for the fuel.
The company’s chief operating officer Sandeep Kashyap signed the MoU with Dr. E.V. Ramana Reddy, additional chief secretary to the Karnataka Government’s Commerce Industries Department. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other officials were also present at the signing.
The green hydrogen and ammonia plant, which will create about 2,000 jobs, will have the capacity to produce 1.2 million tonnes per annum. It will also have a solar power unit attached.
ACME Group founder and chairman Manoj Kr Upadhyay said: “We are delighted to partner with the State of Karnataka in developing one of the largest and earliest green ammonia projects in the world. We will be a formidable player in accelerating the adoption of green fuel globally.”
“We are grateful to the Government of Karnataka for their vision in building the state as a green hydrogen hub and extending their full support to this project,” he added. Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, has some of the best environmental credentials among cleaner-burning fuels. The zero-carbon fuel is made using renewable power from wind or solar sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
While green hydrogen is not currently made in India on a commercial scale, businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have announced plans to produce it.
Earlier in May, Karnataka signed a $6.4 billion agreement with U.S.-listed ReNew Power RNW.O over a seven-year period on energy projects in the state.
Last year, ACME Group signed an agreement with Scatec to co-develop a 900MW solar power plant in Rajasthan, India. The company has agreed to provide turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction services for the project, which holds a 25-year power purchase agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India.