RE Investment Coming, Era Of Huge Growth For Renewable Energy: RK Singh

Union Power Minister RK Singh has said that the era of huge growth for renewable energy is coming as more and more people are going to come and invest in the RE sector in the country. 

While speaking at the 4th international conference and exhibition on clean energy, he said that the UAE wants to make investments here since they see the future here. 

Singh added that getting investment for green transition is not an issue, investment is coming since we have de-risked the system and made the whole system transparent. Every generator’s power bills are totally up-to-date. Legacy dues of discoms have been reduced to less than half of what they were, and this too will be wiped out in the next two to three years. 

"Every genco is now profitable. AT&C losses have come down and the system is totally viable now. Everything has been made conditional on prudential norms," the minister added.

The minister informed that 5.8 million tonne of green hydrogen at various stages of capacity is already being set up, under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. 

“We will be the biggest exporter since our green hydrogen and green ammonia cost is going to be the lowest in the world. And we will come up with another bid for grid-scale storage. All that you have to do is to take advantage of the growing demand," he stated.

He further said that future renewable energy purchase obligations are going to be issued under the revised Energy Conservation Act. If any obligated entity falls short, they will have to pay a huge penalty, the minister informed.

The minister assured the industry that this is an era of huge growth for energy.

“I believe all of you are fully confident and capable of the huge opportunities lying there for you. We want to Make in India and manufacture in India. But if you are not competitive and up-to-date, you will not succeed. I want all of you to be world-scale," he stated.

Speaking of the rapidly growing energy demand, the minister said that the energy demand of the country will continue to grow rapidly since our economy is growing fast. 

“We need energy demand as fast as possible to meet this demand. We will make the electricity required for our growth. If our price for round-the-clock renewable energy is anything to go by, then we will not have to go the thermal way, we will adopt the renewable path. About 42 per cent of our capacity is from renewable sources already," Singh mentioned.

The minister pointed out that India is emerging as a manufacturing powerhouse of renewable energy. Around 88,000 MW of renewable energy capacity is under construction and our plan is to add 50,000 MW of renewable energy capacity every year. 

"We are already emerging as an exporter. The world will come to rely on us more and more. So, all those who are setting up capacity have made a good bet. At the same time, we need to keep ourselves at the leading edge of technology," he said. 

The minister added that India is going to emerge as the biggest exporter of solar cells and modules and that more grid capacity is being added.