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RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND TRANSPARENCY TO MAKE POWER AFFORDABLE FOR EVERY CITIZEN OF INDIA, SAYS POWER MINISTER

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RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND TRANSPARENCY TO MAKE POWER AFFORDABLE FOR EVERY CITIZEN OF INDIA, SAYS POWER MINISTER

The Prime Minister has set a target to achieve Affordable Power for All by 2022. The Power Ministry is working hard to achieve it much before that", said Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal , New & Renewable Energy & Mines at a media event here today. During the interaction, he touched upon various achievements and future challenges in achieving this target.

Speaking on the increasing share of renewable energy in Indias energy mix the Minister said that the Government has set a target achieving 40% of installed capacity through renewables and reduce the carbon intensity of the GDP by 30-35% by 2030. The energy requirements of the growing economy would triple by then and hence making the role of research, innovation and development key in addressing issues in a holistic manner. Modern technologies like clean coal, carbon capture and reuse, smart grids are some novel solutions to make power affordable to the common man, the Minister added.

India has its own development imperatives like bringing around 40% of its population out of poverty, feeding the hungry, creating jobs and physical infrastructure, inter alia. India, though on the path of reducing the carbon intensity of its economy, would require some room in order to give a boost to its manufacturing sector which in turn would ride on the back of coal generated power in the near future. The Minister further said that the developed nations need to honour their commitments on helping developing nations with technology transfer and funding to achieve a sustainable, green growth profile.

Informing the media about the achievements in the power sector, the Minister talked about the success of UDAY scheme and said that by 2019 no State Discom would be making losses. The Ministry is capturing data about the functioning of various state discoms and analysing it to know where the fault lies so that it can be corrected soon, Shri Goyal added. Further the Minister said that in the federal structure of government the Centre cannot impinge its reform agenda on the states, rather cooperates with them in the form of technological and financial support, surplus power so as to bring them on board and perform efficiently.

Sighting the important role of transparency in making the power sector efficient, Shri Goyal said that today information regarding each and every facet of the sector is on the fingertips of the people, whether it is e-auctions of the coal blocks, efficient price discovery through competitive bidding or giving data about power prices through Vidyut Pravah App. The Minister said that the private sector is intelligent enough to discover the economically viable price and the Government does not believe in interfering in this process. He cited the success in the solar power sector where the prices of solar panels have come down by 40%. The wind power sector is soon to follow this path, Shri Goyal added.

Highlighting the importance of international collaborations in research and development, technology transfers, the Minister said that the Government is in the process of talks with leading nations in the field of clean energy and take the cooperation forward. During the interaction, Shri Goyal also invited new ideas and innovations from the bright young minds in India in order to make Affordable Power available to All.

RM/VM
 

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First Published: Sep 07 2016 | 2:34 PM IST

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