French super major TotalEnergies will buy 25% stake in Adani new Industries Ltd. (ANIL), as part of a deal with Adani Enterprises Ltd. (ADEL.NS) to develop the world’s largest green hydrogen ecosystem, the companies announced on June 14.

ANIL will be the exclusive platform for AEL and TotalEnergies for the production and commercialisation of green hydrogen in India. It plans to invest $50 billion over a decade in green hydrogen and associated ecosystem.

In order to control green hydrogen production costs, ANIL will be integrated 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 fertilizers and methanol, both for the domestic market and export.

In the initial phase, it plans to develop green hydrogen production capacity of one million tonnes per year by 2030, powered by 30 GW of new renewable power generation capacity. 

India, the third-biggest carbon dioxide emitter in the world, aims to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by 2030 to reach net-zero by 2070. 

The country has incentive schemes and companies including Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) and Adani Group have pledged to invest billions of dollars to develop clean energy projects in India. 

Speaking as the deal was signed, Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, said: “TotalEnergies’ entry into ANIL is a major milestone in implementing our low carbon hydrogen strategy, where we want not only to decarbonize the hydrogen used in our European refineries by 2030, but also to pioneer the mass production of green hydrogen to meet demand, as the market will take off by the end of this decade.

“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.” 

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said: “The strategic value of the Adani-TotalEnergies relationship is immense at both the business level and the ambition level. In our journey to become the largest green hydrogen player in the world, 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.”