India has clocked one of the fastest rates of growth in renewable energy capacity to emerge as world leader in energy transition., Union Minister of Power RK Singh said on Friday.
He pointed out that while India had pledged at United Nations COP-21 conference in Paris that 40% of its power generation capacity will be from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, the country had already reached the 38.5% mark. If the capacity that is currently under installation is added the figure works out to 48.5%.
Addressing a conference of the confederation of Indian industry (CII), the minister said that India proposes to continue to be a world leader in the coming years as well and has set a target to achieve 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
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He also observed that India had achieved the goal of providing universal access of electricity to all its citizens by connecting every village under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana Scheme and connecting every household under Saubhagya Scheme. It was the fastest and the largest expansion of access in the world. This had also resulted in the demand for electricity going up rapidly, he added.
Singh informed that India has already touched 200 GW of demand even when the effects of COVID-19 was still there. The demand had crossed what it was during pre- COVID time and it is expected that electricity demand will continue to rise. This gives us the space for adding more renewable energy capacity, he explained. The Minister further said that Government is determined that the job creation due to this capacity addition must be located in India and that is why Aatmanirbhar Bharat is important.
The Minister also pointed out that some countries had been dumping solar cells and modules at very low price and harming our local industry. He said that to prevent dumping it was decided to impose customs duty on imported cells and modules so as to provide protection to Indian Industry from dumping.
He also referred to the mechanism of Approved List of Models and Manufacturers which will provide protection to Indian industry.
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The minister said that India will also emerge as a leader in green hydrogen and green ammonia.
Singh informed that Government proposes to come out with rules and regulations providing for easier open access for those industries which want to rely on green energy for their functioning. Industry will be able to either set up green energy manufacturing capacity itself or through a developer and draw power from it through open access. The surcharge on open access will also be rationalized so as to ensure that open access is not saddled with unfair levies.
