The Andaman & Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands will be using renewable energy to meet their total requirement under the goals set by the centre, according to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the third RE-Invest conference, Singh said: “We have given target to our Islands (Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep) to become totally green, that means their energy needs should be met from Renewable Energy.”
In an earlier session at the RE-Invest summit, Singh had also extended cooperation to Maldives for switching to renewable energy. He also reiterated that India is one of very few countries to have met its commitments made under climate change mitigation goals.
Singh said that India has installed about 1,36,000 megawatts (MW) of Renewable Energy capacity with capacity addition of another 57,000 MW under implementation. The target is now to achieve 450 gigawatts of Renewable Energy capacity by 2030.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said that India is in the midst of a major transformative shift in its energy sector, to end energy poverty in India.
“While doing so, our twin objectives are to enhance availability and affordability of clean fossil fuels and green fuels, and to reduce the carbon footprint through a healthy mix of all commercially-viable energy sources,” Pradhan said.
“We have launched the National Biofuel Policy (NBP) in 2018 to promote biofuels in mass scale with a target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol and 5 per cent of bio-diesel by 2030. We are setting up twelve 2G Ethanol Bio-Refineries in 11 States with an overall capacity of 1100 Kilo Litre per Day (KLPD),” he said.
Pradhan also invited the participants to look at the investment opportunities in Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) initiative. “The SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative targets to setup 5,000 compressed biogas plants with a target of 15 million metric tonnes per year with an investment potential for $ 20 billion. Indian oil marketing companies are offering to private entrepreneurs assured price and offtake guarantee.”
Pradhan said that 1,500 CBG plants are at various stages of execution.