Billionaire Gautam Adani fights back from 'fraud' row with 'world-record' 20GW renewable energy mega-complex

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani said his Adani Group will build the world’s largest hybrid renewable energy plant at 20GW in record time as the conglomerate battles back from a controversy over financial malpractice allegations.

Adani told the group he founded and chairs' annual general meeting that its renewables unit Adani Green is “building the largest hybrid renewable park in the world right in the middle of the desert” covering 72,000 acres in Khavda in Gujarat state.

The project will have a capacity of 20GW as part of a push by Adani as it focuses “on producing the lowest cost electrons at scale”.

The company plans to build the vast project “faster than any in history”, added Adani, who reaffirmed the group’s target to have 45GW of renewables in place by the end of the decade, up from 8GW now.

The vast project is seen as s a statement of intent by Adani, one of Asia's richest people, who earlier this year suffered a shares rout that wiped up to $100bn from the value of his conglomerate’s companies.

Adani has consistently denied any malpractice and on Tuesday again labelled the Hindenberg report a "deliberate and malicious attempt aimed at damaging our reputation and generating profits through a short-term drive-down of our stock prices", adding that official reports had exonerated the group.