"We support India's renewable energy plans, the building of solar industry hub in the country and its approach to nuclear as a civic energy source," International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol told PTI after launching the 2015 medium term market report for coal in Singapore.
Paris-based IEA is an autonomous intergovernmental organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond.
Birol said that India with its right safety policies will work out nuclear energy deal with the rest of the international community.
"The low oil price environment will not last forever and as such I am hopeful India will continue its programmes to develop renewable energies," he said.
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The IEA executive director noted the urgent need for India to increase electricity generation while facing strong power demand from industrialising economy.
"India also needs to provide full electricity access to the 240 million people still without it. But for all this demand, India needs to have a balanced energy mix coal, natural gas, renewables and nuclear," he said.
The IEA executive director also applauded India's imports
of higher grade coal for its electricity generating plants.
Birol noted India's need to manage electricity demand by increasing production of local coal which though was of a lower grade, but pointed out how the country has become the world's largest coal importer especially of a higher grade.
The development of solar technologies is not only important for domestic use but also for India to play an important role in the global solar industry, he said.
"This support can be in many different ways including incentives and subsidies and facilitate investments in the solar energy," he said.
India's coal imports was 239 million tonnes in 2014, up by a massive 26.8 per cent or 51 million tonnes over the previous year, surpassing Japan and becoming the second largest coal importer in the world.