Piyush Goyal confident of $100 billion investment in green energy in 5 years

New Delhi: With about 300 firms committing investments in the green power space, Power Minister Piyush Goyal is confident that the country will receive over USD 100 billion in renewable energy sector over the next five years. "It is obvious that if they are investing in nearly 266 GW (2,66,000 MW) of energy there will be huge investments. The targeted USD 100 billion will certainly be exceeded," he told reporters at the ongoing RE-Invest conference. An estimated Rs 6 crore is needed to set up a 1MW of solar capacity.

Essel Group in a statement said it has committed Rs 75,000 crore to generate 12,000 MW in the next five years US-based firms Sun Edison and First Solar and domestic companies Reliance Power and Welspun are among the 293 entities that have committed to generating 266 GW renewable energy in the five years under the government's ambitious RE-Invest programme. While unveiling the three-day RE-Invest conference yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said: "Solar, wind and biomass sources of energy are the way forward and the government is working towards making solar power more viable."

Welspun Energy targets to generate 11,000-mw renewable energy, followed by ReNew Power 11,500 mw capacity, Reliance Power 6,000 mw, Hindustan Powerprojects 10,000 mw and Sun Edison 15,000 mw. During Vibrant Gujarat Summit earlier in January, SunEdison had said that it along with Adani Enterprises would invest about Rs 25,000 crore to set up a solar park in Gujarat.

Country's biggest lender SBI yesterday had said it would finance 15,000 mw renewable energy over the next five years.