Cutting across party lines, MPs from the coastal States have decided to nudge the Central government on taking immediate measures for the development of wind energy in India.
The multi-party Parliamentarians meet organised recently by Climate Parliament on the ‘Wind Power Industry in India: Enabling Future Growth’ has impressed upon the government for the immediate implementation of GBI (Generation Based Incentive) and reintroduction of AD (Accelerated Depreciation).
The MPs’ ‘key recommendations and suggestions’ include re-assessment and validation of wind potential at the national level, adequate planning for transmission infrastructure including inter-state transmission, specific policy on repowering wind sites, long-term policy vision and implementation mission, alignment of national renewable energy deployment targets as per National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) recommendations, enforcement of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets and finalisation of a strong off-shore wind energy policy.
Wind energy, being the most mature technology in the sector, has a huge potential.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) should step up its effort to provide an enabling framework for the wind energy investors, it was felt.
Among the prominent MPs who took part in the meeting included Jhansi Lakshmi Botcha (Vizianagaram), Gundu Sudharani (Rajya Sabha), Govardhan Reddy (Munugode), T. Ratna Bai (Rajya Sabha), Vasanthi Stanley (Rajya Sabha), Dr. K. P. Ramalingam (Tiruchengode), Dhruvnarayan Rangaswamy (Chamarajanagar), Mansukh Mandaviya (Rajya Sabha), Vandana Chavan (Rajya Sabha) and Anup Kumar Saha (Bardhaman Purba).
Climate Parliament, a global network of cross-party parliamentarians working to promote renewable energy, brought together parliamentarians, experts, representatives from governments, renewable ministry officials, regulatory bodies and industry, to discuss in detail recent issues and challenges facing the wind energy sector, so that policy dialogues and parliamentary interventions could take place in the near future.
The wind energy sector has been undergoing some critical issues after key financial incentives were withdrawn from the sector. The investments in the year 2012-13 were almost half of the investments in 2011-12.
Alok Srivastava, Joint Secretary of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, spoke about the various steps being taken by the government to mitigate these issues.
