Commerce Minister Addresses Valedictory Session of the 2^nd Edition of Aatmanirbhar Bharat- Self-Reliance for Renewable Energy Manufacturing

Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles Mr. Piyush Goyal on 16 July, 2021 addressed the Valedictory Session of the 2^nd edition of Aatmanirbhar Bharat- Self-Reliance for Renewable Energy manufacturing”.

The Minister said that we are fully confident that India will play a leadership role in the area of renewable energy in the years to come. Dwelling upon the progress made in the country in the area, he said that from the hydro-power in the initial stages, we are already looking at the future & have started engaging in Hydrogen technologies. A Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources has been launched. He said that LED Mission was another success story led by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. LED Lights have saved the country billions of dollars in electricity bills. As a nation, it brought down our carbon emissions by over a 120 million tonnes every year: “We were able to bring scale and rapidly roll it out all over the country”, he added.

Mr. Goyal said that we will encourage automobile users of electric cars to recharge their batteries using renewable energy or solar energy during day hours, for which we are looking at a big rollout of charging stations across gas stations in the country.

He said that battery technologies are going to be very important for our sustainability mission & for renewable energy to progress more, and we are investing heavily on batteries now.

The Minister said that by 2023-24, India is going to be 20% blending ethanol in our petrol products. He said that our ultimate target is to also have vehicles which can take up to 100% ethanol. “Our idea is to make India conscious of its electricity needs being met in a more sustainable fashion & balancing the cost of electricity in such a manner that our developmental goals do not get affected. From an overall renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, India is now looking at 450 GW by 2030”.

Talking about the progress made by the country in renewable energy, Mr. Goyal said that several decades ago, India was amongst the initial countries to promote hydro generation of power- 1st small hydro power plant started functioning in Darjeeling way back in 1897. He said that visionaries like Baba Saheb Ambedkar laid the foundation of an All-India policy with regards to the development of water & electric power. Next, India moved on to harness power from wind in a big way. Wind equipment was imported initially but as the volumes went up, we became one of the biggest manufacturers of the wind equipment. Mr. Goyal said that solar was the 3rd tryst with renewable energy. Initially, the prices were very high & most people were not willing to engage with it. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, then CM of Gujarat, was one of the few leaders who recognised its potential & the fact that the world needs to move away from carbon. He said that India decided consciously to go for high volumes, which gradually led to making of equipment in India. “As Import component kept reducing, and this brought down prices significantly. Because of the huge scale, we were able to get the world's best companies in India, invest in India, get competitive pricing & we allowed imports.”

Mr. Goyal said that historically, Indian has always respected nature. For us, environmental care is important because it is intrinsic to every Indian. He said that our culture, our traditional practices, our way of living reflects this consciousness. Waste is unacceptable to Indian households, and recycling & reuse comes naturally to an Indian family. The Minister said that our country is also endowed with the blessings of nature in terms of rivers, sunshine, wind, monsoon etc.