New Delhi, The government is mulling incentives for the installation of floating solar panels to ensure that renewable energy capacity is added nationwide and does not remain concentrated in a few states, an official said on Monday.
Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit here, New and Renewable Energy Secretary Santosh Sarangi said that the energy transition that India has envisioned focuses on affordability, availability and sustainability.
He noted that the NITI Aayog projects by 2050, we would require 1,800 GW of RE, along with a similar quantum of battery energy storage systems (BESS), that is about 2,000 GWh of BESS.
Going forward, he said, keeping the policy options nimble and designing schemes which will promote RE (renewable energy) in a big way is going to be the way forward.
He suggested that renewable energy installations, which are only happening in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, need to be decentralised.
"Going forward, we are thinking of introducing an incentive mechanism... for floating solar projects, which will also ensure that RE deployment at the grid scale also moves away from these regions to the rest of the country," he said.
He talked about plans to bring in a demand creation mechanism to promote ingot wafer manufacturing in the country, and also some incentive mechanism to promote polysilicon manufacturing.
Taking note of the issue of renewable energy curtailment, he said that the issue needs to be addressed on a very urgent and priority basis.
He emphasised that addressing curtailment challenges through enhanced grid infrastructure and better planning mechanisms will unlock the full potential of renewable assets.
India will be substantially investing in green energy corridors to tackle the issue of grid stability that is required for induction of renewable energy, he said, while emphasising the critical need to strengthen transmission infrastructure to support India's expanding renewable energy capacity.
Sarangi stressed that electricity prices must be lowered for India to remain globally competitive, particularly as energy becomes a key determinant of industrial growth and investment decisions.
Reducing costs will require a combination of technological innovation, improved efficiencies and scaled investments across the renewable energy value chain, he said.
Founder, Chairman & CEO, ReNew, Sumant Sinha said that energy is the core of Viksit Bharat and India has done a pretty good job in energy transition.
He suggested leveraging renewable energy to deal with any energy crisis.
Speaking at the even, Ashish Khanna, Director General, International Solar Alliance, emphasised the need for deeper global collaboration in building resilient supply chains.
"I would suggest that the Indian private sector probably needs to tie up a lot more with some of the international private sector, because I keep hearing from the private sector of all the countries that the road for supply chain diversification will lead through India," he said.
