Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said India understands the importance of forming a low carbon strategy to carry sustainable growth and will double renewable energy capacity by 2017. The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the Fourth Clean Energy Ministerial in Delhi.
Greater use of clean energy adds to the sustainability of the development and their importance will further increase in the coming years, he said.
"We are also taking steps to exploit non-conventional clean energy sources such as solar and wind power, and also energy from the bio mass. It is proposed to double the renewable energy capacity in our country from 25,000 MW in 2012 to 55,000 MW by the year 2017," he said.
The prime minister said the rate at which the country can increase its dependence on these new energy sources is confined by the fact that they are more expensive than conventional energy but costs are expected to fall.
"The cost of solar energy for example has nearly halved over the last two years, though it remains higher than the cost of fossil fuel based electricity. If the cost imposed by carbon emissions is taken into account, then solar energy is more cost effective, but it is still more expensive," he said.
"We have launched a Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with the objective of developing 22,000 MW of solar capacity by the year 2022 covering both solar photovoltaic and solar thermal," he said while discussing the probability of falling costs in this area.
"The cost differential is being covered by different forms of subsidy and cross subsidy. A solar capacity of about 1,500 MW has already been installed in the country, and an additional 10,000 MW will be implemented by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan, ending in 2017," he added.
The government was dedicated to ensure introduction of the best technology and also supports domestic production of the equipments required, he said.
"India is potentially a large market for production of such equipment. It is also a potentially competitive and attractive production base for supplying other countries. We therefore strongly encourage global manufacturers to set up production facilities in this area," he said.
-With inputs from IANS
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