Adani Green Becomes World's Top Solar Power Generator With Portfolio Exceeding The Entire Solar Capacity Of The US

India-based Adani Green Energy has emerged as the top solar PV developer in the world based on its operational, under construction, and awarded (contracted) projects.

According to a report by research firm Mercom that ranked top 10 global large-scale (utility-scale) solar PV developers, Adani was the #1 global solar power generation asset owner with a solar portfolio of 12.32 Gw at the end of 2019. GCL New Energy (7.1 GW), a Hong Kong-listed independent solar power producer, ranked second, followed by Tokyo-based renewable energy developer, SB Energy (7 GW).

The top 10 large-scale solar developers account for 33 GW of operational projects globally. For under construction and awarded (contracted) projects, the top large-scale solar developers accounted for 28.7 GW.

Mercom report noted that Adani’s solar portfolio exceeded the total capacity installed by the entire United States solar industry in 2019 and will displace over 1.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the life of its assets.

Adani Green established its first solar project in 2015 and even as recently as 2017 it had completed just two solar projects. In a short span of 5 years, the company as catapulted to the largest solar player in the world . The group is now one of the most fully integrated solar players in the world, manufacturing solar cells and modules, undertaking project development, construction, financial structuring and owning and operating its assets through its robust internal asset management platform.

Adani Green aims to achieve a target of installed generation capacity of 25 GWac of renewable power by 2025. Currently, their online solar and wind projects make up a total of 14.62 GW, after starting operations in 2015.

In response to rankings, Chairman of the group Gautam Adani said that it will accelerate growth of its clean energy business by building partnerships with global integrated energy players, data center providers and industrials. He added that the group is looking to generate new core business from renewable energy sector and aims to venture into decentralised affordable energy, availability of distributed clean water, micro-agriculture and green hydrogen as alternative fuel.

Adani also said that he expects current business models to be disrupted due to intersection of declining renewable energy prices and ability of new technologies to rescale industries.

In June this year, Adani Green won a bid to develop solar photovoltaic power projects of 8 GW, the world’s biggest award of projects in the sector, involving a total investment of about $6 billion

Solar PV is one of the fastest growing markets with 15 per cent growth in year 2019. China leads the market, followed by USA, India and Japan with cost of energy by PV is drastically dropping along while growing demand, making solar, cheapest source of energy in several parts of world.