India Committed to 175 GW Clean Energy Target: MNRE

India is committed to its renewable energy target of having 175 GW capacity by 2022 to provide equitable sustainable development

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), organized a panel discussion on ‘Innovative Financing and Market Evolution to achieve 175 GW renewables by 2022’ at the India Pavilion at Conference of Parties (CoP), in Bonn, Germany on November 16.

“India has been pursuing its goals of setting up renewable energy capacities and changing its energy mix, and will continue to do so to provide equitable sustainable development,” said C.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change said in a statement.

The panel also included P C Maithani, Adviser, MNRE, Ajay Mathur, DG, The Energy and Resources Institute, K.S. Popli, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) among others.

Speaking at the event, P C Maithani, Adviser, MNRE said policies are being drafted on a continuous basis to address challenges as the market evolves.

To meet India’s growing storage needs, Ajay Mathur, DG, TERI, emphasized upon the need to push for higher research in storage technology that could complement variable renewable power. “There is an imminent need to look at bringing down storage costs,” he said.

K S Popli, Chairman and MD, IREDA pushed for cheaper finances in renewable energy. He said the markets have matured and one indicator of that is seen in how the bond markets have progressed.

India’s renewable energy journey has come a long way since it set its ambitious target of 175 GW by 2022. Prices of solar and wind have dramatically reduced to 3-4 cents per Kwh as against 9 12 per unit in 2013, even as capacities have scaled up to 47.5 GW. Policymakers and industry are now confident of accelerating this growth trajectory to provide electricity, along with storage, at an estimated Rs 5 per unit before 2025.

Explaining the scope of the renewables market, Rahul Munjal, MD, Hero Futures Energy said: “There has been an exponential expansion of the industry, with almost 10,000 firms operating in the ecosystem. This is a result of the market being conducive to business and investments.”

Echoing a similar view, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, MD, CLP India said renewables are becoming more an imperative for economies like India that have to take power to a wider section of people.

Source: PTI