What’s behind Mukesh Ambani’s sudden love for green energy?

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Editor's note: The announcement had Mukesh Ambani written all over it. It came unannounced, involved a whopping $10 billion outlay and held the promise of making Reliance Industries Ltd the biggest player in the sector. We are talking about Ambani's plans for renewable energy, which he announced at the company's annual general meeting last month. Even though Reliance has hired the odd executive or two in the renewable energy space over the last 18 months, no one had an inkling as to what was in store. Even senior executives within the company, who usually come to know when Ambani is excited about a new business, were taken by surprise. At the meeting, Ambani disclosed that Reliance would set up 100 gigawatt of solar energy capacity over the next decade and build four “giga” factories in Jamnagar, Gujarat, where its refinery—the world's largest—is located, to manufacture components for solar and hydrogen-based energy generation.  Ambani’s business ideas, like his father Dhirubhai’s, have always been rooted in simplicity and aimed at disrupting rivals. He usually zeroes in on a tearing need of the Indian market …