From ADITYA RAJ DAS / NEW DELHI
The government is in the process of finalizing a new energy policy to meet the requirements of the growing economy of India’s size and dimension.
The new policy will address the issues of accessibility and affordability, energy security, thrust on clean source energy and the overall requirement of energy, Additional Secretary (Energy), NITI Aayog R P Gupta said while addressing a conference on ‘Energy Storage: Driving Demand and Investments’, organized by the FICCI here.
Highlighting the potential of energy storage in India, Gupta said “we are also focusing on Make in India for cells used in battery in electric vehicles along with policy for demand creation and measures to incentivize investments. Hopefully in short period of time a new policy will come in place to encourage domestic manufacturers,” he added.
The top official stressed that energy efficiency is one of the priority areas which the government is focusing on. “What we have estimated is that if we come out with proper policies and solutions for energy efficiency then the total energy requirement can be reduced by 20%,” Gupta said.
Manish Sharma, Co-chair, FICCI Energy Storage Committee and CEO, Panasonic India & South Asia, said, “With the country’s focus on renewable energy and electric mobility, energy storage solutions are set to play a crucial role in scripting the sector’s success. India leads the global electricity market with almost 6% of the total electricity demand. We will account for 8% of the global electricity generation by 2025.”
Given the increasing demand and competitiveness of renewable power generation options, electricity storage will play a crucial role in enabling the next phase of the energy transition. Hence, it is important to build an ecosystem which promotes battery manufacturing in the country,” Sharma said.
Manoj Kohli, Chairman, FICCI Renewable Energy CEOs Council and Executive Chairman, SB Energy, said, “The cost of electric vehicles will come down only when the cost of storage battery is reduced.” He further added that in the next decade there is going to be a massive energy transition in India.