Total to invest $12.5 bn in Adani arm in green hydrogen partnership

TotalEnergies is expected to invest around $12.5 billion for a 25 per cent stake in the new clean energy services company Adani New Industries Ltd., according to an exchange filing by Adani Enterprises on Tuesday. 

Adani New Industries proposes to invest over $50 billion over the next 10 years in green hydrogen and associated ecosystem, said a statement by Adani. 

The partnership will create the world’s largest green hydrogen ecosystem, according to the stock exchange filing.

ANIL will target production of one million metric tonnes of green hydrogen per year (Mtpa) by 2030, underpinned by around 30 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power generation capacity, as its first milestone.

ANIL plans to integrate along the value chain, from the manufacturing of equipment needed to generate renewable power and produce green hydrogen, to the production of green hydrogen itself and its transformation into derivatives, including nitrogenous fertilisers and methanol, both for the domestic market and export, in order to control green hydrogen production costs.

To start with, ANIL plans to develop a project to produce 1.3 Mtpa of urea derived from green hydrogen for the Indian market, as a substitution to current urea imports, and will invest around $5 billion in a 2 GW electrolyzer fed by renewable power from a 4 GW solar and wind farm.

The partners' complementary strengths will help ANIL deliver the largest green hydrogen ecosystem in the world, which will enable the lowest green hydrogen cost to the consumer, says the company.

The investment in ANIL marks another major step in the strategic alliance between TotalEnergies and Adani Group – India’s leading energy and infrastructure platform – whose operations across India include LNG terminals, gas utility business, renewable power generation, and now green hydrogen production, the company added. 

“We are also very pleased with this agreement, which further strengthens our alliance with the Adani Group in India and contributes to the valorization of India’s abundant low-cost renewable power potential. This future production capacity of 1 Mtpa of green hydrogen will be a major step in increasing TotalEnergies’ share of new decarbonized molecules – including biofuels, biogas, hydrogen, and e-fuels – to 25% of its energy production and sales by 2050,” Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, said.

“The partnership with TotalEnergies adds several dimensions that include R&D, market reach and an understanding of the end consumer. This fundamentally allows us to shape market demand. This is why I find the continued extension of our partnership to hold such great value. Our confidence in our ability to produce the world’s least expensive electron is what will drive our ability to produce the world’s least expensive green hydrogen. This partnership will open up a number of exciting downstream pathways,” Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said.

TotalEnergies and Adani Group entered into an energy partnership with the development of a joint LNG business in 2018 – from regas terminals to LNG marketing – and an investment by TotalEnergies in Adani Total Gas Limited, a city gas distribution business. In 2020, TotalEnergies and Adani Group deepened their relationship with the acquisition by TotalEnergies of a 20 per cent minority interest in Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), then the largest solar developer in the world, along with a 50 per cent stake in a 2.35 GWac1 portfolio of operating solar assets owned by AGEL, for a total investment of $2.5 billion.