Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a webinar on ‘Energy for Sustainable Growth’ in New Delhi on March 04, 2022. (Photo/PIB)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 4, 2022, addressed a webinar on ‘Energy for Sustainable Growth’. This was the ninth webinar in the series of post-budget webinars addressed by the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said that ‘Energy for Sustainable Growth’ not only resonates with the Indian tradition but is a pathway to achieve future needs and aspirations.
He said that sustainable growth is possible only through sustainable energy sources.
The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment made at Glasgow to reach Net Zero by 2070. He also mentioned his vision of LIFE pertaining to an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. India is providing leadership in global collaborations like International Solar Alliance. He also talked of the target of achieving 500-gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity and achieving 50 percent of installed energy capacity through non-fossil energy by 2030.
This budget has announced Rs 19,500 crore for high-efficiency solar module manufacturing which will help in making India a global hub for manufacturing and R&D of solar modules and related products, PM Modi said.
Referring to the recently announced National Hydrogen Mission, the Prime Minister said India can become a hub of green hydrogen given its inherent advantage in the form of abundant renewable energy power. He asked for the private sector’s efforts in the area.
PM Modi also pointed towards the challenge of energy storage that has received significant attention in the budget.
“Provisions have also been made in this year’s budget regarding battery swapping policy and interoperability standards. These will reduce the problems faced in the use of electric vehicles in India,” he said.
The Prime Minister emphasized that along with energy production, energy-saving is equally important for sustainability. “You should work on how to make more Energy Efficient A/C, Efficient heaters, geysers, ovens in our country,” he exhorted the participants.
Stressing the need to prioritize energy-efficient products, the Prime Minister gave the example of promotion of LED bulbs at a large scale and how the LED bulbs saved 48000 million Kilo Watt Hour electricity and Rs 20,000 crore under the Ujala scheme.
Coal gasification is a clean alternative to coal, the Prime Minister noted. In this year’s budget, for coal gasification, 4 pilot projects have been announced which will help in firming up technical and financial viability of these projects. Similarly, the government is also continuously promoting ethanol blending.
The Prime Minister told the gathering about the extra differential excise duty for unblended fuel. Recalling the recent inauguration of Gobardhan Plant in Indore, the Prime Minister said that private sector can establish 500 or 1000 such plants in the country over the next two years.
The Prime Minister talked about the future upsurge in the energy demand in India and underlined the criticality of the transition towards renewable energy. He listed a series of steps in this direction such as clean-cooking in 24-25 crore households of India; solar panels on canals, solar tree in household gardens or balconies to, possibly, get 15 percent energy for the household from the solar tree.
He also suggested exploring micro hydel projects to enhance electricity production. “World is witnessing depletion of all types of natural resources. In such a scenario circular economy is the demand of the hour and we have to make it a mandatory part of our lives,” PM Modi said. (Press Release)
