Technology holds key to scale up solar energy: Prime Minister

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Technology holds the key to scale up the use of solar energy and technological achievements have already brought significant reduction in the price of solar power, stated Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. A further reduction in the cost will provide a major boost to the use and expansion of renewable energy. Modi’s message was read out by at the inaugural session of the first World Solar Technology Summit on 8 September 2020 by Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the summit will help in developing new technologies and ensure that they become available to all.

World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) organised by ISA and FICCI aims to bring together key stakeholders - leading academic scientists, technology developers, researchers, and innovators to present and discuss the recent highlights of solar technologies, cost-wise; technology-wise, technology transfers, challenges, and concerns in the field. The main objective of WSTS is to showcase to member countries the state of the art and next-generation solar technologies worldwide and to give an opportunity to decision-makers and stakeholders to meet, and discuss their own priorities and strategic agenda towards a larger integration.

Prime Minister re-iterated that five years ago, world leaders had taken a pledge to restrict the rise in global temperature through a gradual reduction in the dependence on fossil fuels. Underlining India's commitment to lowering carbon footprints, he stressed that India has the lowest per-capita carbon emissions in the world but we have still pressed ahead with the deployment of renewable energy at a frenetic pace.

Speaking on fast growth of Renewables in India, he further informed that India has enhanced its installed renewable capacity by 2.5 times and increased our solar installed capacity by more than 13 times. Globally India now ranks 4th in terms of Renewable power, Shri Modi said.

Prime Minister also informed that India has scaled its non-fossil fuel-based power generations to 134GW, which is about 35 % of the total power generation. The country is confident of increasing it to 220 GW by 2022. The government wants to take renewable energy to every village of the country. It has implemented a scheme named KUSUM that aims to replace the use of diesel in our farm sector with solar energy. Under this scheme, it has targeted the solarisation of 2.8 million irrigation pumps. Such schemes will not only benefit the environment but also increase the income of farmers.

Referring to India's support to ISA member countries the Prime Minister said that India is providing capacity-building support to ISA member countries through its ITEC training program. It has also set up a Project Preparation Facility to develop bankable solar energy projects in ISA member countries with the help of EXIM Bank of India. He said that in 2018, the government had announced about US $1.4 Billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) for covering 27 solar projects across 15 countries. These projects are in various stages of implementation.

The Prime Minister also said that ISA is a part of “One World One Sun One Grid” project, and he firmly believes that this project can bring transformational benefits for the entire humanity.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization. ISA was jointly launched by India and France in the presence of the Secretary-General of the UN during CoP21. The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its Member Countries.