Multinational conglomerate Essar Group has launched the Essar Energy Transition (EET) initiative with an investment of $3.6 billion to develop a range of low-carbon energy transition projects over the next five years in the United Kingdom and India.

Under the EET initiative, Essar will take measures to support the UK government’s decarbonization policy by investing $2.4 billion across its sites at Stanlow oil refinery which produces over 16% of the UK’s Road transport fuels annually.

Through EET, Essar targets achieving 75% mitigation of carbon emissions in the  Stanlow refinery by 2030.

EET will include Essar Oil UK, Vertex Hydrogen, which is developing 1 GW of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8GW and EET Future Energy, which is developing 1 GW of green ammonia in India.

Essar said EET’s strategy is founded on the fact that hydrogen and biofuels are fast becoming globally significant fuels of the future and that the UK is positioned strongly to spearhead the rapid growth of the European low carbon fuels market.

Director of Essar Capital Prashant Ruia said, “The launch of EET is a major milestone in Essar’s long-standing commitment to put the UK at the forefront of low carbon energy. 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% of the industrial carbon dioxide in Northwest England.”

Investment in India

Essar will invest $1.2 billion to develop India as a cost-efficient global supply hub for low-carbon fuels, comprising green hydrogen and green ammonia.

As part of this investment, ammonia will be shipped globally from India, including to the UK and Europe, to meet the growing market demand for green fuels.

Recently, European Investment Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with India Hydrogen Alliance to provide €1 billion (~$1.1 billion) to develop large-scale green hydrogen hubs across India.

In 2021, Essar had announced plans to enter the Indian renewable energy market by setting up a 90 MW open access solar power project worth ₹3 billion (~$41.4 million) in Madhya Pradesh.