02/04/2017
Speaking at the Energy and resources: megaprojects event, Mr Janakaraj said the story of India is an important one to understand.
“A small country with 1.2 billion people and growing; India has roughly 17 per cent of the world’s population, four per cent of the world’s land, two per cent of the world’s water (and) 800 million people less than the age of 35,” he said.
“Twenty-one million people are getting urbanised every year, roughly the size of Australia,” Mr Janakaraj said.
“Today an average consumer (in India) will use 900 units per person per capita… nearly one fourth of the world average, which is around 3600 per person per capita.
“China consumes around 5000 per capita.
“Australia’s consumption of energy is around 10,000 plus units per person.
“To put things in context, if Indians want to consume the world average… they would need to quadruple their energy production.”
Watch the full address
To help meet this demand, Mr Janakaraj said Adani imported 77 million tonnes of coal from Australia in 2016.
“(India) does have resources but those resources are limited, they have their own challenge(s) because they also have to feed 1.2 billion people and this is exactly where countries and vast areas like Australia play a very strategic role in terms of the food security, the energy security and long term strategic partnership between large countries,” he said.
“India’s demand in terms of gigawatt and in terms of coal will continue to grow and that is something that, as a market, we will need to be extremely well prepared to take on.”
Mr Janakaraj also discussed an evolving energy mix.
“We are the largest power generator in the private sector and in India the mix of energy is always a very interesting one to see,” he said.
“The balance of energy mix will shift and that’s a very important thing and a very good thing as well.
“There will always be a very large chunk of coal that will play a role and it’s very important for us to get high efficient coal into the Indian market to suit the boilers.
“We have a large portfolio in the renewable space and the largest in India and if you compare those numbers, the wind pipeline is close to 350 plus megawatt, and if you look at the solar roadmap, we have a roadmap of 10,000 megawatts. We right now run projects close to 2000 megawatt plus.
“We have a large solar ambition in Australia as well.”
Mr Janakaraj said Adani’s first solar plant will be in Moranbah, Queensland, with the intention of operating in the solar space in Australia before 2022.
“It is extremely important for us to keep this strategy in the right direction… we are an energy player so we play in the long-term sustainable economic growth of renewable energy,” he said.
“We are about balance and we will do what is right and what is needed and what is affordable and what is technically feasible at the point in time of when we are conducting business – so it’s not just about where the policy is going, it’s about what is technically feasible and we will adopt the technology that is best in the world.”