Asserting that the India-Australia energy dialogue had been a productive exchange, Indian High Commissioner to Australia Navdeep Suri said that energy was a very crucial part of India's diplomatic equation and also commended the role of Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal's role in the dialogues.
"I think it's been a really productive exchange particularly now that it's taking place at the ministerial levels. Piysh Goyal has brought a lot of energy and creative ideas to the round table. Australia has abundant reserves of coal, gas, uranium. India on other hand is a net importer of energy," Suri told ANI.
He added that there have been some 'wonderful' developments at the recently concluded round-table where some of ideas discussed in last couple of days are going to hold lot of potential for India.
While speaking today at a Round table on Renewable Energy Challenges for Grid Integration at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) here, Shri Goyal said India can use Australian expertise in rooftop solar as almost a third of Australian homes in some states are using rooftop solar.
During the discussion, Goyal stressed the need for Australian technology to be affordable and that it is crucial for the prices of renewable energy to be comparable to coal based thermal power to be viable in India.
He said that India is interested in benefitting farmers through usage of solar technologies to optimize gas usage for fertilizer production and recycling processes for rice husk technologies.