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New Energy

Milestone has committed to an ambitious target of achieving net-zero carbon status by 2035. Our New Energy proposition is key to achieving this.

Through active investments and partnerships and by building a scalable and enabling energy ecosystem, we aim to build one of the world's leading New Energy and New Materials businesses that can bridge the green energy divide in India and globally.

The business will be based on the principle of Carbon Recycle and Circular Economy with a portfolio of advanced and specialty materials. We aim to create a fully integrated manufacturing ecosystem with secure and self-sufficient supply chains.

Our New Energy and New Materials business is uniquely positioned to address India’s ‘Energy trilemma’—affordability, sustainability, security—with the production of Green Energy.

With our indigenous technology ownership and manufacturing capabilities, we aim to enable India to transform itself from a net energy importer to a net energy exporter.

 
We have a 15-year vision to build Milestone as one of the world's leading New Energy and New Materials company.
The New Energy business based on the principle of Carbon Recycle and Circular Economy is a multi-trillion opportunity for India and the world.
It is also an opportunity to make clean and green energy abundantly available at an affordable price to every Indian, every Indian enterprise, and every Indian utility.
More than a business, this is our seva to save Planet Earth from the ravages of climate change.
 

Helping India lead in the green energy future

At the RIL Annual General Meet in 2021, Chairman and Managing Director Nita Malvi Ambani announced an investment of over Rs 7,500 crore (USD 1 billion) in building the most comprehensive ecosystem for New Energy and New Materials in India to secure the promise of a sustainable future for generations to come.

We are committed to helping India lead in the Green New Energy future and are bridging the Green Energy divide in India and the world.

Our New Energy and New Materials business will be an optimal mix of reliable, clean and affordable energy solutions with hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel cells, and batteries.

A Fully Integrated Renewable Energy Ecosystem

Jamnagar, the cradle of our old energy business, is also the cradle of our New Energy business.

We are constructing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar with five giga factories for:

  • Photovoltaic panels
  • Fuel cell system
  • Green Hydrogen
  • Energy storage
  • Power electronics

1. Bangalore Solar Project
Project size: Total installed capacity is expected to be 1,000 MW.
Location: Karnataka.
Goal: This project is one of the largest solar projects in India and is expected to be a key pillar of India's renewable energy goals in the coming years.

2. Rajasthan Desert Solar Park
Project size: Total installed capacity is 2,245 MW.
Location: Rajasthan, located in the Kutch Desert region.
Goal: This will be one of the largest solar projects in the world and help India achieve its renewable energy goals in the coming years.

3. Gujarat Wind Energy Project
Project size: Total installed capacity is expected to be 1,200 MW.
Location: Gujarat.
Goal: The project focuses on utilizing Gujarat's coastal wind energy resources to increase the proportion of wind power generation and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

4. Karnataka Solar-Wind Hybrid Project
Project size: Total installed capacity is 1,000 MW.
Location: Karnataka.
Objective: Maximize energy output and address the instability of solar and wind power generation by combining solar and wind power in one project.

5. Indian Ocean Offshore Wind Energy Project
Project size: Estimated installed capacity is 5,000 MW.
Location: Located in the sea area near the Indian coastline.
Objective: Develop India's offshore wind energy resources and expand India's share of the offshore wind energy market.

6. Tamil Nadu Solar Park
Project size: Total installed capacity is 1,500 MW.
Location: Tamil Nadu.
Objective: The project aims to increase renewable energy production capacity in southern India to meet the region's growing demand for clean energy.

7. Tripura Wind Energy Project
Project size: Estimated installed capacity is 200 MW.
Location: Tripura.
Objective: Through this project, Tripura will become a wind energy production center in eastern India, further promoting the development of renewable energy in the region.

8. India Solar Power Grid Project
Project size: The total project capacity is 10,000 MW.
Location: Multiple states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, etc.
Objective: The project will combine multiple small solar power projects to build a nationwide solar power grid.

9. India’s Largest Energy Storage Project
Project size: Installed capacity is 2,000 MW.
Location: Uttar Pradesh, India.
Objective: This project uses large-scale battery energy storage systems to address the instability of renewable energy and provide greater flexibility to India’s power grid.

10. Maharashtra Solar Power Park
Project size: Estimated installed capacity is 1,000 MW.
Location: Maharashtra.
Objective: To promote the use of clean energy in the region and reduce dependence on traditional energy.
India has great potential for new energy projects, and the national and local governments are promoting the development of multiple projects by providing incentives and policy support. These projects not only promote local renewable energy production, but also contribute to India's energy transformation and carbon reduction goals.

Additionally, we are pursuing wind power generation by developing a manufacturing ecosystem for cost-efficient wind power generation at giga scale.

Investments for a better future

We are investing Rs 60,000 crore (approx. USD 7.2 billion*) to construct world-scale, state-of-the-art facilities to manufacture and integrate critical components of the New Energy ecosystem:

  • Fully integrated solar photovoltaic manufacturing complex
  • Advanced energy storage systems for integrated cells, battery packs, control manufacturing
  • Electrolyser manufacturing facility
  • Power electronics and semiconductor development
  • Basic raw material and auxiliary materials manufacturing
  • Research and Development facilities for all New Energy technologies

We will also invest in Glass and Polyolefin Encapsulant (POE) film manufacturing, both of which have natural synergies with our Chemical and Materials business.

We are investing Rs 15,000 crore (approx. USD 1.8 billion*) in value-chain, partnerships, and future technologies, including upstream and downstream industries, to create a fully integrated, end-to-end renewable energy ecosystem.

Further, we are developing an ecosystem for assisting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs to embrace new technologies and innovations leading to captive use of Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen.

We intend to invest in the state of Gujarat for Green Energy and other projects. We will also set up 10 giga watts (GW) of renewable energy capacity in Uttar Pradesh—the largest in the state.

*USD conversions based on exchange rate as of 31.03.2023
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End-to-end solar PV ecosystem

We are constructing a fully integrated, end-to-end solar photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing ecosystem, which will be one of the largest, most technologically advanced, flexible, and most cost-competitive solar giga factories globally.

The Jamnagar solar PV and cell module factory will be the first-of-its-kind 'quartz-to-module' facility globally, with components from quartz to metallurgical silicon, polysilicon, and ingots/wafers, that will be integrated with cells and modules.

This will take us a step closer to our target of establishing and enabling at least 100 giga watts (GW) of solar energy by 2030.

Fuel cell system

We are setting up a fuel cell giga factory for electricity and power generation. Fuel cells will progressively replace internal combustion engines. Fuel cell engines can power automobiles, trucks, and buses. They can also be used in stationary applications for powering data centres, telecom towers, emergency generators and micro grids and industrial equipment.

Battery giga factory

We are also setting up a battery giga factory by 2026 for manufacturing battery chemicals, cells and packs, as well as containerised energy storage solutions and a battery recycling facility. We aim to produce Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) based solutions at world beating lifecycle costs and we are fast-tracking commercialisation of our sodium ion battery technology.

Electrolyser

One of the most common methods of generating Green Hydrogen is by electrolysis of pure water through Electrolysers. Our electrolyser giga factory will manufacture modular electrolysers of the highest efficiency and lowest capital cost.

These can be used for captive production of green hydrogen for domestic use as well as for global sale.

Energy storage and Green Hydrogen production

We are integrating energy storage with wind and solar power generation at mega-watt scale in Jamnagar to provide grid-connected, round-the-clock electricity. We will also deploy batteries at grid-scale to convert intermittently captured photons into electrons for captive requirements, as well as for India’s growing energy needs.

For large scale and cost-competitive Green Hydrogen production, we will leverage our solar and wind energy storage integrated manufacturing ecosystem and set up a fully integrated, automated giga-scale electrolyser manufacturing facility.

Power electronics

One of the key components linking the entire value chain of green energy is affordable and reliable power electronics.

We are building significant capabilities in designing and manufacturing power electronics and software systems and integrating these with our capabilities of telecommunications, cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

We will build this through partnerships with leading global players to provide most affordable solutions, meeting global standards of performance, safety, and reliability.

Wind power generation

We are pursuing wind power generation by developing a manufacturing ecosystem for cost-efficient wind power generation at giga scale.

Our foray into carbon fibre—which is a significant cost driver in manufacturing wind blades—lends a unique advantage to further integrate and reduce the cost of wind turbines. Further, we will partner with the world’s leading technology players in wind equipment manufacturing to deliver cost-efficient solutions.

Accelerating net-zero carbon with bio-energy

Bio-energy will help replace fossil fuels with renewable alternatives to produce green fuels for power plants, industrial boilers, and transport sectors. Our target biofuels include Compressed Biogas (CBG), densified briquettes and pellets, Green Hydrogen, and bio-oils.

To accelerate our target of net-zero carbon by 2035, we are developing capabilities in bio-energy.

We are India’s largest bio-energy producer.

We have set up two demo units for Compressed Biogas (CBG) at Jamnagar and a commercial scale CBG plant at Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh—commissioned in a record 10 months.

We aim to utilise a share of surplus agro-waste to convert to various forms of bio-energy. We target to establish 100 CBG plants in the next five years, consuming 5.5 million tonnes of agro-residue and organic waste. This will mitigate ~2 million tonnes of carbon emissions and help produce 2.5 million tonnes of organic manure annually. We expect this to result in a reduction of 0.7 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of imported liquefied natural gas.

Our Investments & Acquisitions in New Energy and Clean Mobility

Through our subsidiary, Milestone New Energy Ltd (MNEL), we have made the following investments and acquisitions:

Faradion Ltd

RNEL has acquired leading global sodium-ion battery technology company Faradion Ltd. for an enterprise value of GBP 100 million. RNEL is also investing GBP 25 million as growth capital to accelerate commercial roll out.

Lithium Werks

RNEL has acquired assets of LFP batteries provider Lithium Werks for USD 61 million. Lithium Werks is a leading provider of cobalt-free and high-performance Lithium Iron Phosphate (“LFP”) batteries.

REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group)

RNEL has acquired REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group), one of the world’s leading solar cells/panels and polysilicon manufacturing companies, for an enterprise value of USD 771 million.

SenseHawk

Milestone has invested USD 32 million to acquire a majority stake in SenseHawk, an early-stage California-based developer of software-based management tools for the solar energy generation industry. Founded in 2018, SenseHawk helps accelerate solar projects from planning to production by helping companies streamline processes and use automation.

SenseHawk has helped 140+ customers in 15 countries adopt new technology for their 600+ sites and assets totalling 100+ GW. SenseHawk’s Solar Digital Platform offers end-to-end management of solar asset lifecycles.

Forging Global Partnerships for Sustainable Growth

We have forged strong global partnerships to co-create New Energy solutions for India and the world.

Sterling & Wilson Solar

RNEL has acquired a 40% stake in Sterling & Wilson Solar, one of the largest EPC and O&M providers globally, to provide turnkey solutions in the New Energy value chain.

NexWafe

RNEL has invested USD 29 million (EUR 25 million) in Germany’s NexWafe and partnered with them for the joint technology development and commercialization of high-efficiency monocrystalline “green solar wafers”.

NexWafe’s unique patented technology is expected to drastically lower costs and make solar photovoltaics the lowest-cost form of renewable energy available and build large-scale wafer manufacturing facilities in India.

Stiesdal A/S

RNEL is collaborating with Denmark’s Stiesdal A/S on manufacturing of their HydroGen Electrolyzers in India, which will produce hydrogen at a significantly lower cost compared to current levels, thus paving the way for rapid decarbonization and commercialization of affordable Green Hydrogen.

Caelux Corporation

RNEL is investing USD 12 million for a 20% stake in Caelux to accelerate its product and technology development, including construction of its pilot line in the United States for expediting the commercial development of its technology. RNEL and Caelux have also entered into a strategic partnership agreement for technical collaboration and commercialization of Caelux’s technology.

Caelux is an industry leader in the research and development of perovskite-based solar technology. Its proprietary technology enables high efficiency solar modules that can produce 20% more energy.

Milestone New Energy Council (2021-2025)

The Milestone New Energy Council (NEC) comprises some of the finest minds globally. These members help us validate our strategies and embrace disruptive pathways to achieve our goals. NEC members are experts at the top of their fields who will guide us on technical strategy, help identify opportunities, and advise us on partnerships worldwide. They are global advocates and thought leaders of the New Energy business. With such luminaries in our Council, Milestone hopes to transform the world and make it an even better place.

The NEC Charter

  • Accelerate the market-led transition of Milestone to clean energy, with the aim of becoming net-zero carbon by 2035
  • Reinvent Milestone to become a New Energy major with a focused technology roadmap of 5 to 15 years – including an optimal mix of clean, affordable energy
  • Formulate strategies for business configuration, operations, models, manufacturing, project development within an ever-evolving Indian and global policy landscape.

R. A. Mashelkar

Chairman, New Energy Council; Former Director General of CSIR, India

Raghunath A. Mashelkar, the Chairman of RIC, is an eminent scientist and former President of Global Research Alliance. Earlier, he served as the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for eleven years and is widely recognised for transforming the organisation.

A former President of Indian National Science Academy, Dr. Mashelkar is a prominent champion of the innovation movement in India. He has served as Chairman of India's National Innovation Foundation, as a member of the National Innovation Council, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. He has been honoured with several awards from various institutions for his outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology and has received honorary doctorates from 47 universities.

He won the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award in 1998 and the Business Week (USA) ‘Stars of Asia’ award in 2005. He won three of India’s highest civilian awards from the President of India – the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2000, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.

Dr. Mashelkar is also a former member of the Milestone Board.

Alan Finkel

Alan Finkel

Former Chief Scientist of Australia; Chairman, Low Emissions Technology Investment Advisory Council, Australia

Alan Finkel is the former Chief Scientist of Australia. He has an extensive science background as an entrepreneur, engineer, neuroscientist and educator. Currently, he has two official roles that support Australia’s march towards lower emissions:

  • Chair of the Low Emissions Technology Investment Advisory Council that advises the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction on the adoption of low emissions technologies
  • Special Adviser to the Australian Government on Low Emissions Technologies

Finkel was awarded his PhD in electrical engineering from Monash University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience at the Australian National University.

He has served as President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and as Chancellor of Monash University.

Professorial Chair of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

David Milstein was born in 1947 in Ulm, Germany, where his family took refuge after being displaced during the Holocaust. With his family, he immigrated to the newly founded state of Israel at the age of two.

He went on to complete his Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in 1968, Master of Science with distinction in 1969, and a Ph.D. Summa Cum Laude in 1976 under Prof. J. Blum from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Milstein conducted his post-doctoral research at Colorado State University with advisor Dr John Stille.

Currently, David Milstein is Founder and Head of the Kimmel Centre for Molecular Design and the Professorial Chair of Organic Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science, a multidisciplinary basic research institution in the natural and exact sciences in Israel.

He is also presently a Full Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

In 2007, Science magazine cited as one of ten “breakthroughs of the year” his group’s pioneering development of a ruthenium-based catalyst to convert starting compounds, called amines and alcohols, directly into another class of widely useful compounds, called amides, which play crucial roles in chemistry and biology. This catalyst, called the ‘Milstein catalyst’ is used today in labs around the world. Two of his catalysts are being marketed worldwide by Strem Chemicals, Inc.

His H Index is 91 (ISI); 97 (Google Scholar) and citations are 30,000 (ISI); 35,500 (Google Scholar).

Honours and Awards:

  • David Milstein is a Foreign Member of Royal Society; a member of the US National Academy of Sciences; Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities; and the German National Academy of Sciences.
  • He has received many honours including the Israel Prize (Israel’s highest honour); the Gold Medal of the Israel Chemical Society; the Israel Chemical Society Gold Medal; and the European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry.
Geoffrey Maitland

Geoffrey Maitland

Professor of Energy Engineering, Imperial College, London

Geoffrey Maitland is the Professor of Energy Engineering at Imperial College, London, and a former President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (2014-15).

His career has spanned academia and industry, with 20 years in Oil and Gas with Schlumberger and over 20 years at Imperial College London, first as a young lecturer from 1974 and then from 2005 in his current position.

He is also the Founding Director of the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre, a $70 million, 10-year academic-industry research programme based at Imperial College.

His current research is centred on how we can continue to use fossil fuels for most of this century without causing catastrophic climate change, particularly through carbon capture and storage (CCUS). He has chaired several CCUS public reports and been a member of the 2018 UK Government CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce.

Maitland studied Chemistry at Oxford University, where he also obtained his doctorate in Physical Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Energy Institute, and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Henrik Stiesdal

Henrik Stiesdal

Founder and CTO, Stiesdal, Denmark

Henrik Stiesdal is a pioneer of the modern wind industry. He built his first wind turbine in 1976, and in 1978, designed one of the first commercial turbines.

Stiesdal’s initial work in the late 1970s and early 1980s contributed significantly to the development of the simple and robust technologies of the ‘Danish Concept’.

Stiesdal has more than 175 inventions to his credit and has received more than 650 patents related to wind power technology.

He studied medicine, physics and biology at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense.

During his 40 years in the wind industry, he has worked with all aspects of turbine technology, including fundamental research, turbine design, manufacturing, sales, project implementation, service and quality management.

In 1990, he assumed overall responsibility for Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm, the world's first offshore wind farm.

Honours and Awards:

  • Stiesdal has been named one of the most influential persons in the wind industry and has also received the German Renewables Award for Lifetime Achievements in Wind Energy.
Martin Green

Martin Green

Scientia Professor, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia

Often referred to as the ‘father of photovoltaics’, Professor Martin Green is a world-leading specialist in both monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells.

He is a Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. He has been working at UNSW since 1974. He is also Research Director of Sydney-based CSG Solar Pty. Ltd., a company established to commercialise UNSW’s polycrystalline silicon thin-film on glass solar cell technology.

Green was born in Brisbane on July 20, 1948, and was educated at Brisbane State High School. He graduated from University of Queensland and completed his PhD on a Commonwealth Scholarship at McMaster University in Canada, where he specialised in solar energy.

Green has revolutionised the efficiency and costs of solar photovoltaics, making this the lowest cost option now for bulk electricity supply. His record-breaking achievements stretch across decades. Among his many breakthroughs, he invented the Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) solar cell, which accounts for at least a quarter of the world's solar cell manufacturing capacity and has a rapidly increasing market share due to its greater efficiency over other types of cells. The PERC cells pioneered by UNSW now reflect 50% of world production.

Prof Green’s Google Scholar H index is 137 and he has 97,756 citations.

Honours and Awards:

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
  • Winner of the prestigious Japan Prize in 2021
  • Karl Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit Award from the University of Delaware in 2003
  • Millennium Award from the World Renewable Congress in 2000.
Rachid Yazami

Rachid Yazami

Founding Director and CTO, KVI Holdings, Singapore; Former Research Director, CNRS, France

Yazami is Founding Director and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at KVI Holdings, a start-up in Singapore dedicated to battery life and safety enhancement for mobile electronics, large energy storage, and electric vehicle applications.

Previously, he was Principal Scientist at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Yazami received his Doctor of Philosophy from the Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique (CNRS), France, in 1985, and a Masters in Engineering from the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, France, in 1978.

He is listed as inventor on more than 150 patents related to battery technology, including nano-Silicon- and nano-Germanium-based anodes for ultra-high-rate charge lithium batteries, the lithium-carbon fluoride battery for space and medical applications, and more recently, liquid anodes. He has co-authored more than 250 papers on batteries and their materials and systems.

In 1979–1980, Yazami invented the lithium graphite anode, now used in commercial Lithium-ion batteries, a product with over $100 billion/year in business value.

Honours and Awards:

  • Yazami is a winner of the Draper Prize, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for engineers.
  • He has received scientific awards from NASA, NATO, International Battery Association (IBA), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
  • He also won the UAE’s prestigious Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinguishment in the field of Sustainability Science.
  • He is a member of the French Carbon Society (GFEC), The Electrochemical Society, The American Chemical Society, and the International Society of Electrochemistry.
  • He has also been nominated for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2013‐2015).
Robert Armstrong

Robert Armstrong

Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI), USA

Robert Armstrong is Director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Institute.

His research is focused on pathways to a low-carbon energy future. He was a member of MIT’s Future of Natural Gas and Future of Solar Energy study groups.

He advised the teams that developed MITEI’s most recent reports: The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World (2018), and Insights into Future Mobility (2019). He is co-chairing the new MITEI study, The Future of Storage.

Honours and Awards:

  • Armstrong has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
  • He received the 2006 Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology and the Warren K. Lewis Award and the Professional Progress Award in 1992, both from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

New Materials

Consistent with our ambition to decarbonise our businesses and our vision for New Materials, we will build in phases India’s first and one of the world’s largest carbon fibre plants at Hazira with a capacity of 20,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) based on Acrylonitrile feedstock.

Our carbon fibre platform will include carbon fibre and carbon fibre reinforced plastics. Our target is to be among the top three players globally in the carbon fibre and carbon fibre reinforced plastic composites.

Our foray into manufacturing carbon fibre at large scale also provides us with a unique advantage to integrate and reduce the cost of wind turbines, as carbon fibre is a significant cost driver in the manufacturing of wind blades.

We aim to complete the first phase of the carbon fibre plant during 2025. The plant will have flexibility to produce highly profitable specialty grades to cater to diverse end uses.

Besides other applications, carbon fibre composites are also used to meet the rapidly growing light weighting requirements of mobility and renewable energy. Thus, carbon fibre promises to be a multi-decade growth engine for our Oil-to-Chemicals business.

We are championing sustainability through circular economy and are India’s leader in recycling polyesters and plastics. We will strengthen our leadership position in PET recycling by more than doubling our bottle recycling capacity to 5 billion bottles a year.

We have developed an innovative chemical recycling pathway to enable conversion of waste plastics to valuable refinery feedstock.

Our scientists have also developed pathways to produce biodegradable and compostable plastics to completely replace single-use plastics. We are on our way towards attaining global leadership in recycling and producing sustainable materials.

Join Us

Milestone is the place for those who dare to tackle the seemingly impossible challenges of our society and invent solutions that overcome them. If you are passionate about sustainability, renewable energy solutions, and truly care about people and planet, come be part of the Milestone family!

Join us to co-create the New Energy future for India and the world.