India’s installed renewable energy capacity increased by 2.5 times in last six years

New Delhi, Nov 27 (Bureau) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the country’s Installed Renewable Energy Capacity has increased by two-and-a-half times in the past six years. Mr Modi, who inaugurated the virtual third Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020) through video-conferencing, expressed happiness that the country’s annual renewable energy capacity addition has been exceeding that of coal-based thermal power, since 2017.

The Prime Minister said investing in renewable energy early on, even when it was not affordable, has helped in achieving the scale, which is bringing the costs down. ‘We are showing to the world that sound environmental policies can also be sound economics,’ he said. ‘We have ensured that energy efficiency is not limited to one ministry or department, instead it has been made a target for the entire government. All our policies have a consideration of achieving energy efficiency,’ he added. The Prime Minister expressed happiness over the fact that within a short time, the renewable energy sector has witnessed progress from megawatts to gigawatts in generation capacity. The ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’ is becoming a reality, all of which were discussed in the earlier editions, he added, claiming that in the last six years, India is travelling on an unparalleled journey. He pointed out that the country’s generation capacity and network is being expanded to ensure every citizen of India has access to electricity, to unlock his full potential. The Prime Minister showcased that today, India’s renewable power capacity is the fourth largest in the world and growing at the fastest speed among all major countries. The renewable energy capacity in India is currently 136 Giga Watts, about 36 per cent of the total capacity.

‘After the success of Performance Linked Incentives (PLI) in electronics manufacturing, we have decided to give similar incentives to high efficiency solar modules,’ he said. Mr Modi stressed that ensuring ‘Ease of doing business’ was the utmost priority of his government and that dedicated Project Development Cells have been established to facilitate the investors. Huge renewable energy deployment plans for the next decade were likely to generate business prospects of the order of around 20 billion dollars per year, said Mr Modi. He invited the investors, developers and businesses to join the country’s renewable energy journey. The three-day summit is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’.