Cabinet Panel finalising renewable energy policy
 |
The Union Government is finalising a renewable energy policy and bring about changes in the Electricity Act to make the state governments to produce at least 10 per cent of their additional power generation from renewable sources.
Mr. M. Kannappan, Union Minister of State for Non-conventional Energy Sources announced at the international conference on 'Green Power 2002' that a Cabinet committee is studying the renewable energy policy to expedite its finalisation and announcement.
This conference was organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai.
The minister said that green power was a part of the total energy spectrum and power should not be considered as just another sectoral issue. He said that its linkage, with various facets of sustainable development gives it the shape of an over reaching umbrella, covering many areas of sustainable development.
He said that the efforts being made were not equal to the task that lie ahead. Reaffirming the government's commitment to the development of renewable sources of power in the country, he said the potential of renewable energy to meet the concerns of the energy sector and provide a sustainable base for future energy development had already been recognised.
He said that the nation was already consuming about 100 million tonnes of oil, much of which is imported and over 300 million tonnes of coal. The nation has a generating capacity of 100,000 MW, but there are power shortages all around. There are about 80,000 villages remaining to be electrified of which about 18,000 are located in remote and difficult areas which cannot be electrified by conventional means. There are also concerns relating to environmental pollution caused by increased use of fossil fuels.
He said that all over the world, it is now recognised that renewable energy and energy efficiency are the twin paths to sustainable energy development. This is also true for India. He said that we are fortunate to have abundant resources of renewable energy such as biomass, solar energy, wind energy and small hydro power.
In order to carry out this task the minister called up on the wholehearted support of the state governments and other agencies. He said that it requires the full cooperation and participation of all sections of our society including indusrty, R & D institutions, NGOs, women, farmwers and youth. State governments, which actually implement the programmes in the field, have a crucial role to play. He said that it was important to strengthen the institution mechanisms at the state, district and panchayat levels.
The minister said that the proposed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has opened a window for financial flows and technologies to developing countries.
Back to Feb News Archive