Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that India has the potential to grow into a global supplier of renewable energy equipment.
He made the remarks while addressing a session themed 'Making India a global manufacturing hub in renewable energy manufacturing' at the 3rd edition of the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) renewable energy conference, his ministry said in a statement on Monday evening.
Minister Goyal noted that atmanirbharta or self-reliance in renewable energy is integral to India's economic and national security.
He said that having achieved power for all, India must now aspire to achieve the goal of sustainable power for all, adding that there is a need to maintain the entire renewable energy supply chain in India to the best of our ability, right from the equipment stage up to innovation and new technology, so that the country can lead the world rather than being dependent on other countries, the statement said.
He added that this is a great time to protect and nurture this industry so that India may also grow into a world supplier in the renewable energy sector.
He pointed out that India had been dependent on imports of machinery and equipment in both the renewable energy and conventional energy sectors and the imports of fuels like oil and coal, which continues to the day. He said that the prices of these products were subject to geopolitical uncertainties.
The Minister emphasized that the pandemic and conflict had taught us that ultimately, we would have to be self-sufficient in the sources of equipment and machinery for the energy sector and said that due to the supply chain disruptions caused by Covid, many renewable energy projects had suffered setbacks. He urged the Indian industry to draw from international collaborations and learnings and make India atmanirbhar in renewable energy and achieve twin advantages of sustainability and energy security.
For the record, at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in late 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to an ambitious five-part "Panchamrit" pledge, including reaching 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, to generate half of all energy requirements from renewables, to reduce emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030.
India also aims to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent. Finally, India commits to net-zero emissions by 2070.
( With inputs from ANI )
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