India can achieve energy swaraj by tapping renewable sources: Railway Minister
New Delhi: India can achieve ‘energy swaraj’ by tapping its huge potential for generating renewable energy from various sources, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said on February 17.
"RE-invest is a significant step towards achieving 'Energy Swaraj' for India. We will really move towards making sure that we don't rely on imports but actually make available within our own country," he said here.
"Every village is capable of producing renewable energy either through wind or solar... This renewable energy source is available in all 6.5 lakh villages in India," he said. "It would differ from state to state. Somewhere it would be wind, somewhere it would be solar, somewhere it would be biomass, somewhere it would be hydro," he added.
There is need to capture it and it would be a significant achievement and will change social landscape, he added. Highlighting that reliance on renewable energy could help in boosting growth, Prabhu said GDP growth could go up to 10 per cent provided the country produce more electricity and more energy in India.
"The only way we can make it, the energy which is made in India, the energy which is made of local resources available and which is also environmentally compatible, there is no other way but to generate from renewable energy. The target was 2,00,000 MW but the commitments have far exceeded that, he said.
"We really need to understand that this (renewable energy) is the game changer for the energy scenario of the world...I am sure India would clearly be the renewable energy capital of the world very soon," he said.
He asked the investors to keep reinvesting the profit earned from this. Speaking at the event, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya said India has set ambitious target of 100 GW of installed capacity in Renewal Energy by 2019.
"No matter how one looks at it achieving this target would require massive capital infusion. A typical question where will this infusion come from. Public investment is part of the answer. It can hardly be expected to reach the level necessary to achieve the targets. So clearly private commitment we have seen is really is incredibly important commitment," he said.
At the end of the day, he said, one third of the population in the country is without electricity. "States will have to partner with the Centre to achieve the target of 100 GW. Niti Aayog stands ready to help serve as forum for cooperation between Centre and states. It also stands by to provide inter-ministerial support," he said.
