New Delhi: Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh has said the government is likely to bring the amendments to the Electricity Act in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Addressing the ‘India Energy Transition Summit 2022’ organized by FICCI, jointly with the Ministry of Power, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy and NITI Aayog, Singh said that the amendment will have 2-3 added provisions one of them is increasing the penalties on the renewable purchase obligations. The demand has increased, and the market is not an issue currently. “The market is going to become more vibrant because of the increase in size of our product,” he added.

Talking about the future of renewable energy Singh added, “We are the largest and the fastest growing RE capacity and fastest rate of transition in the world. I am certain that we will be able to sell renewable energy with storage at Rs 6.5 -7 and there will be demand for round-the-clock renewable energy even at that rate.” Speaking on the storage, he said that the government will bring down the price of storage and further add storage. “By and large, our future bids will transform to round-the-clock energy,” he emphasized.

Dr AK Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India, said that in the energy transition of India where 85 per cent of the total energy consumed comes from fossil fuels and calls for complete reorganization of public finances, subsidy programs, and regulatory set-up along with the infrastructure. We are working on all these issues. “India has to be conscious of its short-term and medium-term energy needs. Renewable energy has recorded over 50 percent growth in the last 2 years which is very encouraging,” he added.

Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, said that bringing down the import dependency is the prime motive of India’s energy transition goal, and we can't grow until we diversify our energy resources. The ministry is working on bundling of renewable energy power with thermal power in the same PPA. He further stated that the government plans to continue the grid expansion project in a big way. “Coal is going to be the backbone of our energy generation for the next 20 years or so,” he added.

Sanjiv Mehta, President, FICCI and CEO and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever Limited, said that that with the target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based capacity and net-zero by 2070, the energy sector continues to witness immense positivity with the setting up of clean energy projects.

“It is important to strengthen and ensure ease of doing business for attracting large investments into the sector, especially from the private sector. Availability of long-term finance including deepening of the bond market and separate bank exposure limits for renewable energy projects would improve access to debt financing and we hope to see movement in these areas,” he added.

Shivanand Nimbargi, Co-Chair, FICCI Renewable Energy CEOs Council and MD and CEO, Ayana Power said that India has emerged as a big destination in terms of attracting investments in the renewable energy sector. “PLI scheme for the solar sector should be accelerated as it will help in increasing the capacity. We need to add more storage to kick start the green hydrogen program,” he added. /BI/