SME Times News Bureau | 12 Feb, 2015
India's renewable energy sector is poised to attract $200
billion in investments, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said
Wednesday.
"In terms of companies which are participating, several have committed to
invest in renewable energy and those commitments total to numbers which even
are more than the entire mission we have set up," Goyal said here briefing
reporters about the Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo
(RE-Invest) Feb 15-17 being organised here by the Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy.
The central theme of RE-Invest is to attract investments for the renewable
energy sector.
"We are looking at nearly twice the amount of interest than what our
target is, more than 200 GW or 2,00,000 MW, with investments of $200
billion," Goyal said.
"I am talking to seven-eight states where there is a lot of solar energy
potential and looking at whether we can have some common and simplified way to
set up solar plants," he added.
"We are not only looking at large plants, so 40,000 MW we are planning to
do through rooftop solar," the minister said.
Renewable energy currently contributes around 6.5 percent of the country's
total electricity generation.
Meanwhile, in a seminar here Wednesday organised by the Consumer Unity and
Trust Society (CUTS) on consumer participation in the electricity regulatory
process, chairman of the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission Desh Deepak Verma
underlined the role of regulators in protecting and encouraging consumer
participation.
"The issue was extremely relevant and important for improving governance
in the electricity sector," Verma said.