New Delhi: Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan said “Today, we are meeting in the backdrop of a major oil and gas crisis, resulting from attacks on Saudi oil processing plants at Abqaiq and Khurais. The price volatility and concerns about sustained oil supplies have made consuming countries vulnerable given the fact that India, along with most South Asian countries, have a major dependency on crude oil and gas imports. So securing affordable and sustainable energy figures as a top agenda for all these countries, including India.” He was speaking at the session on ‘Re-energizing India’ at the India Economic Summit here in New Delhi.
The Minister said that it is only natural that the global energy deliberations pay close attention to the developments in energy sector in India. This has a lot to do with the emergence of India as third-largest energy consumer in the world, and the fact that India is playing a leading role globally by implementing several transformative initiatives to reduce energy poverty in the country.
Pradhan said “As we seek to transform India into a 5 trillion dollar economy, it is imperative to increase energy availability to 1.3 billion people, whose per capita energy consumption is lower than the global average. The energy demand, thus, is estimated to grow at 4.2 percent per annum up to 2035.Our approach to re-energize India will be guided by the Energy Vision of India, as enunciated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, covering the four pillars of energy access, energy efficiency, energy sustainability and energy security. As part of our integrated approach towards energy planning, energy justice will also be a key objective in itself.”
The minister expressed the Government’s determination to end energy poverty in the country, which is evident from the outcomes of path-breaking policies and initiatives taken during the last five years, and also those set in motion since June this year. He said that in this pursuit, we are paying close attention to innovation and clean energy.
Pradhan said that India is now leading the global movement in embracing renewable energy sources. India’s energy diplomacy resulted in the establishment of the International Solar Alliance. “We are leading by example, with a rapid growth in installed solar generating capacity targeted to reach 100 GW by 2022. This is made possible with significant improvements in technology, price and performance. Moreover, creative business models have spurred investment in this sector. We are well on our way to achieve this target. India has more than doubled the renewable power installed in the country to 82 GW in 2019 during the last 5 years. To gear up for significant expansion of RE power, apart from MNRE, institutions such as IREDA, SECI, as well as state and central regulators would be promoting their relative roles.”, he added.
The Minister said that another testimony of success in major path-breaking initiatives is evident from the fact that India recorded the highest growth of foreign energy investments anywhere in the world, which touched 85 billion dollars.
