Ahead of Budget day, PM Modi announces clean-energy plan

Ahead of the much-awaited Union Budget 2015, the Economic Survey on Friday revealed that the country’s renewable energy industry is likely to generate business opportunities worth $160 billion in the next five years, as per a Reuters report.

During RE-invest 2015, India’s first Renewable Energy Global Investors’ Meet and Expo held in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated the fruits of development will not reach the common man until energy connectivity reaches every Indian household.

The Economic Survey further stated that PM Modi has set a clean-energy plan to fight major issues related to climate change. By 2022, as a part of this ambitious renewable energy plan, the Prime Minister has also planned to increase the capacity of solar energy to fivefold to 100 gigawatts (GW).

According to the Economic Survey report authored by Arvind Subramanian, the government's chief economic adviser, "It offers a very good opportunity for businesses to set and scale up industry, leapfrog technologies and create volumes." The report also added that immediate plans also include scaling up total renewable capacity to 170 GW from 33.8 GW.

By 2022, SunEdison, a global solar energy company headquartered in the US, and First Solar, an American semiconductor manufacturing company, have announced they would come up with more than 20,000 megawatts of clean energy capacity in India, the news report suggests.

A government source told Reuters that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is also expected to raise the government allocation for renewable energy for the next fiscal year. Currently, it stands at Rs 25.19 billion ($407 million).

Despite Narendra Modi's promise to supply 24 hours power to India's huge population of 1.2 billion people by 2019, the survey warned people against excessive usage of fossil fuel. The report said that “we have an opportunity to avoid excessive dependence on fossil-fuel-based energy systems and carbon lock-ins that many industrialised countries face today.”

Even in this age of globalisation, nearly 280 million people in India are still living without power in 56 million homes.
(Image: PIB)