India to remain the fastest and largest market for investments in renewables: Power Minister

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Power &amp; New and Renewable Energy has said that with India witnessing the most rapid renewable energy capacity addition globally, the country will remain the fastest-growing market for such investments. <p></p> <p> ?In addition to the vision of 450 GW installed renewables capacity by 2030, India has a plan not only for grid-connected solar and renewables, but also an ambitious vision for mobility, followed by electricity-based cooking. As a result of the government?s measures to achieve Aatmanirbhar Bharat, already expressions of interest (EoIs) for 20 GW of module and cell manufacturing have been issued. India will continue to be the fastest and largest-growing market for investment in renewables,? said Singh.</p> <p> The minister made these observations at a symposium a symposium on solar photo voltaic (PV) manufacturing, ?India PV Edge-2020?, organised by the government think-tank NITI Aayog, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Invest India to inform the global PV industry of opportunities in India on Tuesday.</p> <p> Around 60 prominent Indian and global CEOs attended the event, along with a number of global PV manufacturers, developers, investors, think tanks and top policymakers. An investor?s roundtable was also organised after the pitching sessions to deliberate on ways to mobilise affordable capital into solar manufacturing.</p> <p> The event discussed the potential of making India a global hub for solar photo voltaic PV manufacturing with breakthrough technologies and providing an ecosystem for setting up giga-scale factories by local and global firms. The participating companies also had the opportunity to interact with Indian policymakers involved in developing manufacturing schemes.</p> <p> India now has the third-largest solar installed capacity in the world. It is one of the few countries on track to meet its three key nationally determined contribution (NDC) targets, viz. achieve 40 per cent non-fossil-fuel-based installed power capacity, reduce 33-35 per cent emissions, and create a carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030. India is likely to achieve these goals much earlier.</p> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Solar PV Manufacturing a Strategic Champion Sector</span><br /> Solar deployment has been the flagship green growth story of the last decade, and will be instrumental in building a climate-resilient world. Solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic champion sectors announced by the government as part of its Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan or self-reliant Indian programme.</p> <p> The symposium consisted of three sessions. India?s leading policymakers highlighted the country?s strong impetus on renewable energy, the investment climate and opportunities in solar manufacturing.</p> <p> ?India, with its huge market and relevant manufacturing advantages, can be a giga-scale manufacturing destination for cutting-edge PV technologies across the entire value chain. It is the perfect time under the current leadership to bring together global technology providers, equipment makers, and champion PV companies to present their technologies to Indian industry,? said NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant.</p> <p> Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi said, ?India?s installed renewables capacity has gone up by 2.5 times and installed solar capacity by 13 times in the last six years. We expect 30 GW of solar capacity to be added every year over the next few years. Boosting domestic manufacturing would be crucial to reduce our import dependence and the government is looking at implementing various supply and demand side interventions for manufacturing of solar cells, wafers and ingots.?</p> <p> Invest India MD and CEO Deepak Bagla emphasised that special cells have been set up by the Government of India to handhold investors through their investment journey. He said, ?One of the largest solar projects has been established in under eight months in India, the fastest anywhere in the world. This is a great example of a change in the policy framework, which has made the investor?s journey easier. Special cells have been set up in every ministry. One of the roles of these cells is to facilitate investments and remove roadblocks, if any. The second is to create ready, on-the-shelf projects. Third, is to create plug-and-play infrastructure facilities for investors.?</p> <p> The second session included three parallel pitching sessions on wafer and cell manufacturing, module and production equipment and supply chain and bill of materials (BoM). Over 20 R&amp;D companies and experts from across the world provided a snapshot of the future of solar manufacturing and presented their unique technologies to Indian stakeholders. The sessions even brought forward new indigenous technologies, which are patented by Indian companies.</p> <p> During the third session, ?Investment Conclave?, officials from the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh shared their efforts to attract investments. The session highlighted what makes India?s solar manufacturing sector attractive to global institutional investors and included a high-profile panel discussion with executives from international finance corporations, major developers and Coal India Ltd (CIL) on how to catalyse investment momentum in breakthrough PV technologies.</p> <p></p>