Going green could bring huge benefits for India’s economy

Every day 1,000 trucks jostle along a single-lane road to Khavda, near India’s border with Pakistan, to build the Adani Group’s 730 square kilometre solar and wind farm. When completed, the project, with 30 gigawatts (gw) of capacity, could provide 4% of India’s current electricity consumption.

In all, Gautam Adani plans to build 45gw of renewable-energy capacity by 2030. Between them, he and Mukesh Ambani, India’s biggest tycoon, will together invest $150bn over the next decade in renewables. Over the past five years, over 80% of the newly installed generating capacity in India has been in the renewable sector. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, wants to increase renewable capacity to 500gw by 2030.