March 20, 2015: To make India a hub for renewable energy manufacturing, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been promoting private investment in renewable energy through an attractive mix of fiscal and financial incentives. This was stated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy (IC) in the Lok Sabha. This includes capital subsidy through modified special incentive package scheme (M-SIPS) and excise and custom duty exemption. The Government is encouraging participation from other countries by allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment in renewable energy.
The Minister further stated that the an estimated potential of 897GW has been identified from various renewable energy sources in the country which includes 749 GW from solar, 103 GW from wind, 25GW from bio-energy and 20GW from small hydro power. MNRE has proposed grid power of 175GW from various renewable energy sources by the year 2022. This includes 100GW from solar, 60GW from wind, 10GW from bio-power and 5GW from small hydro power.
The geothermal program of the ministry is presently in research and development stage. The cost of generation of electricity from geothermal energy is presently very high, hence, the promotion of geothermal energy production of power will not be possible in short and medium terms, the minister added.
