Piyush Goyal, Minister for Power (independent charge),urged the States to meet their renewable purchase obligation commitment.

“Renewable energy is not a burden on your State, it’s a jewel. Besides the various other benefits, this will provide low cost energy for decades. We are looking at the ways to bring down energy costs. But we see that some States are not fulfilling their legal obligations. It started with wind and now we see that happening in solar as well. There should be stricter penalties for States not fulfilling their RPO commitment,” said Goyal addressing the Conference of Power, Renewable Energy and Mines Ministers of States and Union Territories in Vadodara on Friday.

By not fulfilling their RPO obligations, the States are hurting India’s global image, he said.

Goyal further urged States to utilise domestic coal for their power plants. “In the coal sector, we are looking at import substitution. We ask all the States to stop importing coal as we have surplus coal available in the country,” he said.

The Minister also highlighted the digital initiatives by the departments under his Ministry and the upgradation of the Garv portal.

“We are moving towards intensive electrification. We have only one-and-half years left to electrify all the households in the country. The work is on fast-track and we look at 100 per cent electrification of households by December 2018,” said Goyal.

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