Renewable Energy To Get A $400 Million Boost

In an effort to boost the country's renewable energy sector, the government is all set to launch a number of policy measures.

Upendra Tripathy, new and renewable energy secretary, said that the government is in the process of instituting a $400 million fund sourced from the World Bank that will be used to protect clean energy producers from payment delays by distribution firms.

The proposed payment guarantee fund will help renewable power produces from payment delays of up to 12 months by making available the amounts due to them from distribution firms for the period.

The fund will be administered either by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency or the Solar Energy Corp of India.

Tripathi, who was present at the Renewable Energy India Expo in Greater Noida, also announced that the government is also exploring new possibilities to pass the controversial net metering concept.

He said that the government is working on a scheme that will compensate state-owned power distribution companies that lose their prime commercial consumers once they become producers of energy by setting up rooftops.

He said, "It is important to find a mechanism to compensate distribution firms for loss of market share. We are now studying which entities are losing revenue and the extent of their loss in different cities arising from rooftop power projects."

The government under its National Solar Mission has set a target of achieving 40 GW of rooftop solar power capacity by 2022. Its overall solar power target is 100 GW.

Discoms till now have been reluctant in adopting the concept of net metering as they will lose their commercial and industrial buyers. It will impact the financials of the already debt hit discoms.

The Renewable Energy India Expo, now in its 10th year, saw the participation of more than 600 companies.

Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India said, "India, home to 18 per cent of the world’s population, uses only 6 per cent of the world’s primary energy. India’s energy consumption has almost doubled since 2000 and the potential for further growth is enormous."