Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Minster Dharmendra Pradhan on NOvember 28, 2020, invited investors, developers, and businesses to be a part of India’s renewable energy journey assuring them that it will be a highly rewarding and mutually beneficial venture. In his valedictory address at the 3rd RE-INVEST 2020, Pradhan said that India is progressively becoming a favoured destination for investment in renewables. During the last 6 years, over US$ 64 billion investment has been made in renewable energy in India, he said.
Pradhan said that India has a very liberal FDI policy in energy sector including renewables. “Foreign investors can either invest on their own or enter into joint ventures with an Indian partner for financial and/or technical collaboration for setting up of renewable energy-based power generation projects,.” he said.
The Minister assured that “Ease of doing business” is our utmost priority. “Our continuous focus is on maintaining sanctity of contracts and safeguarding investments. We have established dedicated Project Development Cells (PDC) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cells in all Ministries for handholding and facilitating domestic and foreign investors. Adequate measures and safeguards have also been undertaken to address the concerns of businesses and investors arising out of the Covid pandemic,” Pradhan said, according to a PIB release.
Pradhan said that India is in the midst of a major transformative shift in its energy sector to end energy poverty in India. “While doing so, our twin objectives are to enhance availability and affordability of clean fossil fuels and green fuels, and to reduce the carbon footprint through a healthy mix of all commercially-viable energy sources. We are consistently taking energy policy initiatives. We are developing next generation infrastructure based on five guiding key enablers of energy availability and accessibility to all, energy affordability to the poorest of the poor, efficiency in energy use, energy sustainability to combating climate change as a responsible global citizen and security for mitigating the global uncertainties,” he added.The Minister mentioned that our energy agenda is inclusive, market-based and climate sensitive.
Pradhan highlighted several initiatives that are spearheaded by the Indian oil & gas industry to broaden the Renewable Energy canvas and also are also offering enormous investment opportunities. “We have embarked on a major biofuel programme in the country, which has huge investment opportunities. Biofuel is not just science but also a Mantra that will provide a new energy to not only India but also the entire world. It has the power to create a balance between our environment and economic development.We have launched the National Biofuel Policy (NBP) in 2018 to promote biofuels on mass scale with a target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol and 5% of bio-diesel by 2030. We are setting up twelve 2G Ethanol Bio-Refineries in 11 States with an overall capacity of 1,100 Kilo Litre per Day (KLPD),” he said.
Pradhan invited the participants to look at the investment opportunities in Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) initiative. “We have a well-developed roadmap for SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation), an important initiative of our government, which targets to setup 5,000 compressed biogas plants with a target of 15 MMT per year with an investment potential for US $ 20 billion,” Pradhan said.