Modi underlines opportunities from renewable energy sources

Modi said that India’s future development would be based on three pillars for green growth and energy transmission

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the post-budget webinar on ‘Green Growth’ via video conference on Thursday. | Photo Credit: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the potential of solar, wind and biogas in India is no less than any gold mine or oil field for our private sector.

Addressing a webinar, Mr. Modi said that India’s future development would be based on three pillars for green growth and energy transmission. Increasing the production of renewable energy; reducing the use of fossil fuel in the economy and finally, moving towards a “gas-based economy” in the country, he added.

This approach undergirded the announcement of schemes such as ethanol blending, Pradhan Mantri Kisaan Urja Suraksha Evam Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM, a scheme for solarising agriculture), incentives for solar manufacturing, rooftop solar scheme, coal gasification, and battery storage in the Budgets of the past few years.

The ‘green growth’ webinar was the first of a series of 12 post-budget webinars organised by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.

 “This Budget will play a key role in establishing India as a lead player in the global green energy market. That is why, today, I invite every stakeholder of the energy world to invest in India”, the Prime Minister said. Referring to the global efforts for diversification of the energy supply chain, the Prime Minister said that this Budget provided a great opportunity to every green energy investor to invest in India. This will also be very useful for the startups in the sector, he added.

India’s track record, Mr. Modi said that demonstrated its capability to achieve the objectives before time when it comes to renewable energy resources.  India achieved the target of 40% contributions from non-fossil fuels in the installed electricity capacity 9 years before the target date, the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol five months before time and emphasised that the country strived to achieve 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26 instead of 2030. India would install electric capacity worth 500 GW, from non-fossil sources, by 2030.

Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India aimed to produce five million metric tonnes of green hydrogen. An allocation of ₹19,000 crore had been made to incentivise the private sector in this field, he added.

He elaborated on India’s plans to efficiently harness biogas. “The Gobardhan Yojana is an important component of India’s biofuel strategy. In this budget, the government has announced plans to set up 500 new plants under the Gobardhan Yojana. These are not like old-fashioned plants. The government will spend ₹10,000 crore on these modern plants”, he added. The private sector is getting attractive incentives for producing compressed biogas from agri-waste and municipal solid waste, said Mr Modi.