The government was all for creating a viable and competitive domestic production base and incentivise use of clean energy in the country, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at the fourth Clean Energy Ministerial here on Wednesday.
Efforts were on to encourage domestic production and usage. “We are interested in incentivising the use of clean energy. We are also interested in creating a viable and competitive domestic production base,” he said.
The big push for use of clean energy would come from wind, solar and biomass and the Union government would have to take the difficult decision by incorporating them into the integrated energy policy. “China has invested 10 times more than us in clean energy. We have to increase the percentage of clean energy and need to integrate all forms of clean energy.”
The focus on a clean energy policy should not be on resolving issues on a short-term basis but to make the globe a better place to live say from 20 years from now. “Many countries were putting forward their experiences and we are studying them and after that we will put forward our experience also.”
On the shale gas policy, he said its potential and implications were needed to be examined. “We don't have a plan for that as yet, but that would not stop us from putting in place regulatory framework for shale gas.”
Referring to price pooling for coal, he said the government and power producers did not have much of a choice as various sectors faced coal shortage. “You can either pool prices or allocate [domestic fuel] in certain quantities and then import coal at a higher price and then pass on the additional cost in the tariff.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said with energy produced being as dirty as it was 20 years ago, the progress on clean energy was not fast enough. He called for higher efficiency devices. “Despite our efforts, progress on clean energy is not fast enough.” Favouring collaboration between the developed and developing nations for leveraging strengths and resources, he said the Delhi meet should lay the groundwork for faster progress.
“In power-starved economies like India, higher efficiency devices help investments in new generations to go further — expanding access to reliable power rather than using limited supply to run inefficient product,” he said.
