Cabinet Approves MoU With Saudi Arabia for Cooperation in Renewables

The Union Cabinet has approved the MoU signed between MNRE and Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for cooperation in the field of Renewables

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of the Government of India and the Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for cooperation in the field of Renewables.

The MoU aims at setting up a framework for cooperation between the two parties in the field of renewable energy in the following areas:-

• Upgrading the level of technologies and their applications in the field of renewable energy.
• Contributing to the field of renewable energy to raise its efficiency in the national energy combination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Developing renewable energy projects in solar, wind, biogas, geothermal and other fields of renewable energy.
• Development and localisation of the value chain in the field of renewable energy.
• Developing and boosting uses of solar energy small applications for buildings, homes and others.

Recently, Minister of State for New & Renewable Energy and Power, RK Singh had said that India will need an investment in the region of approximately Rs 4 lakh crore to achieve the balance target of its ambitious 175 GW renewable energy generation capacity by 2022 target.

In response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the Government has set a target for installing 175 GW of Renewable Energy capacity by the year 2022 which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from Biomass and 5 GW from Small Hydro. And that a cumulative renewable energy capacity of 83.38 GW has already been installed in the country up to October 2019.

“To achieve the balance target of 91.62 GW, an investment of approx. Rs 4,14,581 Cr has been estimated as capital cost,” the minister stated in his written response.

In April, according to the report ‘Middle East Wind Power Market Outlook, 2019-2028’,  recently released by consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie, developers in Saudi Arabia are expected to build 6.2 GW of wind capacity – 46 percent of the region’s total wind capacity addition – between 2019 and 2028.