Addressing the post budget webinar on ‘Green Growth’, the prime minister encouraged the industry to invest in the sector and added that India had a huge potential to lead the world in green energy and generate green jobs. The prime minister also stated that India achieved the target of 40 per cent contributions from non-fossil fuels in the installed electricity capacity nine years before the target date. He also mentioned that India achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol five months before time and emphasised that the nation strives to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26 instead of 2030.
On the other hand, the minister of power and new & renewable energy, stated that the power sector is going to emerge as a major contributor of investment and growth in the country. As per his statement, the country will add 325 GW of renewable energy capacity between now and 2030. It has the lowest cost of setting up renewable energy capacity; and its cost of green hydrogen will be the most competitive in the world. Furthermore, the country will need at least 80 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030.
Highlighting that the country was growing at 7 per cent and the power demand was increasing at 10 per cent, the minister stated that enough capacity in generation, transmission and distribution was being created to take care of the growing needs of the economy. He also stated that a rather conservative estimate of 5 MMT has been projected for the green hydrogen by 2030 but the country was aiming to surpass this target.
