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New Delhi: India can become a hub of green hydrogen given its inherent advantage in the form of abundant renewable energy power, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Inaugurating a post-Budget webinar on 'Energy for Sustainable Growth,' he said that the green hydrogen ecosystem is closely inter-linked with fertiliser, oil refining and transportation sectors and will help in decarbonising the economy. He exhorted the private sector to undertake innovations in the field in order to turn India into a global hub for green hydrogen.
While asserting that sustainable growth is possible only through sustainable energy sources, the Prime Minister reiterated the commitment made at Glasgow to reach Net Zero by 2070 and to achieve 500 GW of installed Renewable Energy (RE) capacity by 2030. "Whatever targets India has set for itself, I do not see them as a challenges but as opportunity. India is moving with this vision in last few years and the same has been taken forward at policy level in this year's budget," he said. This Budget has announced Rs 19.5 thousand crore for high-efficiency solar module manufacturing which will help in making India a global hub for manufacturing and R&D of solar modules and related products, said Modi.
Modi also pointed towards the challenge of energy storage which has received significant attention in the Budget. "Provisions have also been made in this year's Budget regarding battery swapping policy and inter-operability standards. These will reduce the problems faced in the use of electric vehicles in India," he said.
The Prime Minister emphasised that along with energy production, energy saving is equally important for sustainability. "You should work on how to make more Energy Efficient A/C, Efficient heaters, geysers, ovens in our country," he told the participants.
Stressing on the need to prioritise energy efficient products, the Prime Minister gave the example of promotion of LED bulbs on a large scale. He said that the government brought down the cost of LED bulbs by promoting production and then distributing 37 crore LED bulbs under the UJALA scheme. "This has led to saving of 48 thousand million Kilo Watt Hour electricity and savings of about Rs 20 thousand crore in electricity bills of poor and middle class families. Furthermore, annual carbon emission saw a decline of 4 crore tonnes. Local bodies are saving Rs 6 thousand crore every year due to adoption of LED bulbs in street lights," he added.
Stating that coal gasification is a clean alternative to coal, the Prime Minister said that in this year's Budget, four coal gasification pilot projects have been announced which will help in firming up technical and financial viability of these projects. Similarly, the government is also continuously promoting ethanol blending. The Prime Minister told the gathering about the extra differential excise duty for unblended fuel. Recalling the recent inauguration of Gobardhan Plant in Indore, the Prime Minister said that private sector can establish 500 or 1,000 such plants in the country over the next two years.
The Prime Minister talked about the future upsurge in energy demand expected in India and underlined the criticality of transitioning towards renewable energy. He listed a series of steps in this direction such as clean-cooking in 24-25 crore households of India, solar panels on canals, solar tree in household gardens or balconies. He also suggested exploring micro hydel projects to enhance electricity production. "World is witnessing depletion of all types of natural resources. In such a scenario, circular economy is the demand of the hour and we have to make it a mandatory part of our lives," he said.
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