PM sees Rs 19,500 crore thrust on solar energy in Union Budget as a game-changer

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Rs 19,500 crore  green energy package announced in the Union Budget will help in making India a global hub for manufacturing high-efficiency solar modules and carrying out R&D in solar products. </p>
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Addressing a webinar on 'Energy for Sustainable Growth,' the Prime Minister also pointed out that the recently announced National Hydrogen Mission would go a long way in achieving a breakthrough in the production of green hydrogen which has an inherent advantage in the form of abundant renewable energy power. He asked for private sector efforts in the area.</p>
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PM Modi flagged the challenge of energy storage which has received significant attention in the budget.  “Provisions have also been made in this year's budget regarding battery swapping policy and inter-operability standards. These will reduce the problems faced in the use of electric vehicles in India,” he explained.</p>
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He also highlighted coal gasification as a clean alternative to coal. In this year's budget, for coal gasification, 4 pilot projects have been announced which will help in firming up technical and financial viability of these projects. Similarly, the government is continuously promoting ethanol blending, he added.</p>
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Recalling recent inauguration of Gobardhan Plant in Indore, the Prime Minister said that the private sector can establish 500 or 1000 such plants in the country over next two years.</p>
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Pm Modi reiterated his commitment made at the Glasgow summit to reach Net Zero emissions by 2070.</p>
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In this regard he mentioned India’s target of achieving 500 gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity and achieving 50 per cent of installed energy capacity through non-fossil energy by 2030. “Whatever targets India has set for itself, I do not see them as a challenges but as opportunity. India is moving with this vision in last few years and the same has been taken forward at policy level in this year’s budget”, he said.</p>
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He also pointed out that India is providing leadership in global collaborations like International Solar Alliance to give a big push to green energy.</p>
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The Prime Minister emphasized that along with energy production, energy saving is equally important for sustainability. “You should work on how to make more Energy Efficient A/C, Efficient heaters, geysers, ovens in our country”, he exhorted the participants.</p>
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Stressing the need to prioritize energy efficient products, the Prime Minister gave the example of promotion of LED bulbs at large scale. He said that first the government brought down the cost of LED bulbs by promoting production and then 37 crore LED bulbs were distributed under Ujala scheme. This has led to saving of 48,000 million Kilo Watt Hour electricity and saving of about 20 thousand crore rupees in the electricity bills of poor and middle class families. Furthermore, annual carbon emission saw a decline of 4 crore tonnes. Local bodies are saving 6 thousand crore rupees every year due to adoption of LED bulbs in street lights, he added.</p>
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The Prime Minister talked about the future upsurge in the energy demand in India and underlined the criticality of transition towards renewable energy. He listed a series of steps in this direction such as clean-cooking in 24-25 crore households of India; solar panels on canals, solar tree in household gardens or balconies to, possibly, get 15 per cent energy for the household from the solar-tree. He also suggested exploring micro hydel projects to enhance electricity production. “World is witnessing depletion of all types of natural resources. In such a scenario circular economy is the demand of the hour and we have to make it a mandatory part of our lives”, he said.</p>
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This is the ninth webinar in the series of post-budget webinars addressed by the Prime Minister.</p>
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<strong>Also read:</strong>  <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/india-news/union-budget-will-boost-domestic-defence-manufacturing-industry-says-pm-modi-152972.html">Union Budget will boost domestic defence manufacturing industry, says PM Modi</a></p>