Minister of Power Shri Sushilkumar Shinde has
reassured the international community about the conducive policy
environment and an enabling regulatory framework that exist in India, to
secure a sustainable energy future. He was addressing the World Energy
Leaders Summit in Istanbul in Turkey. Touching upon the theme of the
meeting, “Overcoming the Energy trilemma to secure prosperity”, Shri
Shinde said every national government has to face three main energy
policy challenges which it has to address effectively including security
of energy supply; social equity and access to affordable modern energy
which should also be environmentally sustainable.
Stating that a common vision for the energy sector was
developed by the Indian Government in 2008 itself through the adoption
of Integrated Energy Policy, the Minister said that it covered all
sources of energy and addressed all aspects of energy use and supply
including energy security, access and availability, affordability and
pricing, as well as efficiency and environmental concerns. He said
though India is the 5th largest energy consumer in the world, its per
capita primary energy consumption is only 580 kgoe against the world
average of 1800 kgoe. He pointed out that the energy requirement in
India is expected to grow in the coming years and it is projected that
India would become the 3rd largest energy consumer by 2020 after the USA
and China. The Minister said a two pronged strategy has been adopted
to meet this challenge by augmenting the domestic sources of supply
including renewable energy and by placing emphasis on demand side
management and energy efficiency measures.
Shri Shinde said that the domestic capacities for building power plants
with super critical and ultra-super critical technologies are also being
established to reduce the coal requirement of electricity production.
He shared that the international majors like Mitsubishi, Toshiba,
Hitachi, Alstom and Ansaldo have already started the process of
partnering with Indian manufacturers to set up Super Critical
Manufacturing facilities in India.
The Minister elaborated on the initiatives taken in the area of
renewable energy and said that 20,000 MW of solar power is targeted by
2022. He said that the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs)
are mandating a minimum Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) to Discoms
and a mechanism of trading of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
through power exchanges has also started working in India. On the
measures undertaken by India to increase energy efficiency Shri Shinde
said the Government National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency was
launched in 2008 and as a result of energy conservation efforts
avoided generation capacity of 10GW has been achieved in the last 5
years. Shri Shinde informed about the initiatives such as Rajiv Gandhi
Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) to extend access of electricity to
all households.
Stating that though India has not created the problem of climate change
as on a per-capita basis, India is one of the lowest Greenhouse Gas
(GHG) emitters in the world with emission of 1.37 tonnes of CO2
equivalent per capita in 2009 which was nearly one-fourth of the
corresponding global average of 4.29 tonnes, Shri Shinde assured that
India stands ready to be a part of the solution. He said India has
already announced that it will reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP
by 20-25 percent over the 2005 levels by the year 2020 through pursuit
of proactive policies. The Minister welcomed the delegates to the World
Energy Leaders Summit to be hosted by India in February next year.
Shri Shinde is on a visit to the USA and Turkey to enhance India’s international cooperation in power sector.
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