The Ruias of the Essar group is planning to invest $3.6 billion in green energy ventures in the UK and India over the next five years.
Essar Energy Transition (EET) has unveiled grand plans for what it terms “green transition activities” over the next five years — joining the scramble among several conglomerates, including the Ambanis and Adanis to suss out opportunities in what promises to be the new El Dorado.
Essar Global Fund Ltd — the group’s holding company — will have a majority stake in Essar Energy Transition. For starters, the Ruias have floated a new entity to take up the energy transition business in the UK around its refinery in Stanlow.
In India, the Essar group plans to build a green hydrogen and green ammonia plant focused on the export market. It aims to locate the unit on the west coast, probably in Gujarat.
The funds for the green transition ventures will be raised through a mix of debt and equity. The group is also in talks with bankers to raise loans. EET may also rope in a strategic partner to pump in a part of the money.
Out of the $3.6 billion proposed, a sum of $2.4 billion will be sequestered for the UK. Investment here would include blue and green hydrogen, ammonia, biofuels, and the decarbonisation of the refinery.
EET’s business in the UK is going to include Essar Oil UK, the company’s refining and marketing business in North West England; Vertex Hydrogen, which is developing 1 gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with the follow-on capacity set to touch 3.8GW; Stanlow Terminals Ltd, which is developing enabling storage and pipeline infrastructure; and EET Biofuels, which is investing in developing 1 MT of low carbon biofuels.
In a statement, the Group said EET’s decarbonisation plan will enable Stanlow refinery to reduce carbon emissions by 75 per cent by the end of the decade. Commenting on the development, Prashant Ruia, director of Essar Capital, said, “We are excited about the opportunity to drive the UK’s energy transition by producing low carbon future fuels which will help eliminate around 20 per cent of the industrial carbon dioxide in Northwest England.”
