India achieves 4,000% growth in solar capacity
Addressing the 11th India Energy Storage Week (IESW) in the capital on Thursday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India may well be the first G20 nation to have achieved its Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. Goyal cited Palli village in Jammu and Kashmir, which has become the country's first carbon-neutral panchayat using solar power and energy efficiency measures.
The IESW venue, Yashobhoomi, he pointed out, is itself designed as a sustainable complex with rooftop solar panels, wastewater treatment and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Outlining the scale of India's clean energy manufacturing push, the minister said the country's solar photovoltaic module capacity has expanded nearly 38-fold in the last decade, while photovoltaic cell capacity has grown 21 times. He highlighted flagship schemes like the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, which aims to install rooftop solar panels in one crore homes, and the PM Kusum Yojana, which supports the use of solar pumps in agriculture. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cells is also expected to boost domestic manufacturing, he added.
Goyal stressed that energy storage will be critical to India's plan to meet its future energy needs through renewable sources. He said technologies such as batteries, pumped storage, hydro storage and even nuclear power would play a role in ensuring round-the-clock clean energy.
Calling for a four-pronged strategy to advance India's clean energy ambitions, Goyal listed innovation, infrastructure development, supply chain resilience and an integrated value chain as key priorities. He said India must lead in research and development for next-generation battery technologies, including solid-state and hybrid storage, while also developing circular supply chains. He referred to the recent Cabinet approval of a ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund, which he said would help India match the scale of R&D spending in advanced economies due to its cost advantages.
Goyal urged industry players to ramp up efforts to build charging and battery-swapping infrastructure to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles. He also stressed the need to cut dependence on limited geographies for raw materials and components by investing in resilient supply chains and new technologies.
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