“The union Budget this year is a historic opportunity for the government to push forward the country’s clean energy agenda as never before. It is the need of the hour, especially if we are to install 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030. This means we need to double our annual installation from around 16 GW currently to 30-40 GW,” said Suman Sinha, chairman and CEO, ReNew Power, while pitching for aggressive promotion of battery storage and the green hydrogen initiative.
Modi had at COP26 in November last year committed to India reaching its non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and said 50% of the country’s electricity requirements will be from renewable energy. Besides, the PM also announced that the country would reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030 (from 2005 levels) and achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by 2070.
“Reduction in duties on storage batteries can bring their capital cost down by almost 30% and help the storage industry find its feet before manufacturing under the PLI scheme kicks in a few years later. Similarly for green hydrogen, a promotional framework in initial years via a mandate for users, viability gap funding, cess on gray hydrogen (similar to coal cess), and a reduction in taxes and duties for equipment, will help in cutting down emissions in hard -to-abate industries like fertilizers, steel, heavy transport, and chemicals,” Sinha suggested.
Industry bodies such as CII are also seeking policies to promote circular economy principles, with incentives to manufacturers and consumers, to produce and buy products with recycled content. Similarly, benefits for business models that promote product lifetime extension through re-design, re-furbishing and re-manufacturing, have also been suggested.
In addition, a joint initiative with the private sector as part of the afforestation initiative for India to develop a carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes and restore 26 million hectares of land by 2030 has also been proposed. Besides, detailed discussions have been held on green mobility, where several steps have already been announced in recent month.
Based on a Mckinsey report, industry bodies have identified several issues, with charging stations being a key focus area — from land to issues with power distribution companies, preferential parking and those related to tax.
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