India set to achieve 450 GW renewable energy installed capacity by 2030: MNRE

Addressing the MNRE-FICCI - SECI event at Expo 2020 Dubai today, Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy, emphasized that the world is on the cusp of transformation, and immediate corrective steps are needed to mitigate climate change. He highlighted that energy transition needs to be the first step in this direction.

He said that India is already ahead of what we pledged in our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) saying that, "Already 39% of our capacity is from non-fossil based sources. By 2022 we will reach our target of 40%."

Highlighting that transmission is a challenge and getting it into place is a work in progress, he said, "We are launching the Green Corridor Phase 2 and we are generally expanding transmission to put in place renewable power evacuation systems from where irradiation is high, or wind speed is high."

Shri Singh also said that intermittency of renewable power is another challenge for the entire world highlighting that battery storage per unit currently is high at USD 200 per Megawatt-hour and needs to come down. "We are coming out with a huge bid of 1,000 Megawatt-hours by the end of this month of storage. We will come out with three more bids of 1,000 Megawatt-hours each and thereafter we are planning to come out with a bid for 13-14 Gigawatt-hour for Howrah", he added. MNRE is also setting up a 10 Gigawatt RE capacity and is proposing to set up 14 Gigawatt-hour storage capacity in Ladakh.

There is a Production Linked Incentive for battery storage already in place and demand needs to be encouraged to bring down the prices of storage, Shri Singh added, and called on other developed countries to ramp up battery storage capacity to Gigawatt scale volumes to bring down prices.

Speaking on the opportunities for green hydrogen in India, Shri Singh said, "We are coming out with huge bids for electrolysers. Our first bid for hydrogen will require 8,800 Megawatt of electrolyser capacity. We are also putting mandates on green hydrogen for refining, fertilizer, piped natural gas."

He also announced that, "We will first have a Production Linked Incentive for putting in electrolyser capacity in place and then we will come out with bids for green hydrogen." "We also plan to put out bids for conversion of ships to run on green ammonia and fuel cell", he added.

MNRE is coming out with a new policy on green tariff where the rules for green tariffs are being regularised and will open up free transmission for anyone that sets up green energy capacity with a future of prosumers where people generate and consume their own green energy.

Shri Singh also said that SECI has had promising growth and is expected to continue this momentum as new and emerging areas in the clean energy space are set for a boom and stated his vision of SECI becoming an energy conglomerate of the new world. India has embarked on an exciting journey and is treading where no one has ventured before, and SECI will continue to work towards meeting the ambition of 450 GW by 2030.

Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State, New and Renewable Energy, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India said on the first day of the event, that the energy sector is set to undergo a drastic transformation across the globe and the future belongs to the renewable energy. "This is going to be a collective effort and our energy transition will be inclusive and equitable so that no one is left behind. We welcome all our partners to come and invest in India and join us in this incredible journey," he added.

He further said that in view of the 175 GW installed RE capacity by 2022 announced in 2015 by the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India surpassed 100 GW milestone (excluding large hydro) in 2021. He also added that as of now India has only tapped a fraction of the vast potential for renewable energy and, therefore, India has raised the target to 450 GW RE installed capacity by 2030.

Inviting global stakeholders, on day two of the events, Mr Khuba reiterated the benefits of investing in India's RE sector and highlighted that ensuring Ease of Doing Business has been India's utmost priority. "We have established dedicated Project Development Cell (PDC) and FDI Cell in all ministries for handholding and facilitating domestic and foreign investors. 100 percent FDI is also permitted through direct automatic route," he emphasized.

Giving the Keynote Address on the theme of Renewable Energy in India: Emerging Areas and Opportunities, Shri Khuba added that India is set to tap into more than 70 Gigawatt of off-shore wind potential. "India now has decided to ramp up its solar module manufacturing capacity. The Government of India has recently launched the Production Linked Incentive scheme for the manufacture of High Efficiency Solar PV Modules. We expect to add 10 Gigawatt of solar PV manufacturing capacity over the next five years", he said

He further added, "Green hydrogen is going to play an important role in decarbonizing our economy especially in the hard-to-decarbonise sector. India is developing the National Green Hydrogen Energy Mission to scale up green hydrogen production and utilization across multiple sectors." India is targeting initially approximately 1 million tonnes annual green hydrogen production by 2030, he said.

"Green hydrogen will be key to our energy transition goals. We intend to increase our electrolyser manufacturing capacity and undertaking process re-engineering to accommodate green hydrogen in key sectors. The green hydrogen economy in India is an excellent rewarding opportunity for global investors", Shri Khuba added.

Shri Khuba also proudly said that for the RE sector, USD 5.6 billion equity inflow has been received in the last five years which speaks volumes about India's emergence as one of the most attractive destinations for investment into RE.

India's ambitious target of 450 GW opens up investment opportunities to the tune of USD 221 billion by 2030. This will be a long-term investment into sustainable development for our future generations, he added. "I invite partner countries and busines leaders of the world to come and join us in this unprecedented journey we are undertaking", said Shri Khuba.

Mr Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India said that the current RE capacity additions in India is a result of public policy to a large extent and the private sector has played a key role in achieving this. "Going forward, more and more firms in the renewable energy and storage space will also come in a big way to support the generation projects or as part of transmission projects," he added.

He further stated that the government is making policy ecosystem more favourable to the RE sector which makes it obligatory for the discoms to buy renewable energy. The market mechanisms will also be further strengthened, and energy exchanges will see more prominence.

On the topic of the general investment climate in India's RE sector and new and emerging areas of opportunities for investors, Mr. Chaturvedi said yesterday that MNRE is making continuous efforts towards ease of business reforms and issues are addressed on a regular basis. Some of these are a set of robust RE bidding guidelines, dispute resolution mechanism, among others due to which investment in the sector has increased exponentially in the last seven years to about USD 70 billion.

Mr. Chaturvedi listed three new areas of emerging opportunities for investors - green hydrogen, off-shore wind, and solar PV manufacturing. The mandatory purchase obligations are intended to increase use of green hydrogen in sectors like fertilizers, petroleum refining, and city gas distribution. Creating this scale will keep prices low for consumers, he said. Large investments will be required to meet the demand for 8 GW of electrolyser capacity for green hydrogen by 2030.

"On-shore wind potential is about 695 GW in addition to the 70 GW off-shore potential", he added noting that Government support and investments from domestic and foreign players will be required over the next few years. This will give a fillip to already robust market for wind power manufacturing in India. Led by bids from the PLI scheme for solar PV modules, Mr. Chaturvedi also said that 55 GW of capacity will require over INR 80,000 crore of investment. A large amount of this investment will be directed towards the production of polysilicon modules and wafer-ingots.

During the MNRE-IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency) event today, Mr. Chaturvedi further added that RE being a continuously evolving area for India would require investment of over USD 230 billion and, therefore, the role of special funding agencies like IREDA become crucial for fulfilling this requirement.

Speaking on SECI's role in India's energy transition, Mr. Chaturvedi praised SECI's successful journey so far in clean energy deployment and stated that SECI will evolve to foray into emerging areas like green hydrogen, battery storage and solar PV manufacturing.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) in partnership with FICCI, organised a series of events, from October 6^th-8^th, 2021at Expo 2020 Dubai. The events covered the themes of India's Renewable Energy Achievements and Ambitions, Emerging Areas and Opportunities for renewable energy in India including focussed events anchored by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)'s journey highlighting the success and achievements on the road to 450 GW by 2030.

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MV/IG