Massive Capital Flow Needed to Boost India’s Transition to Renewable Energy

New York: Conditions have to be created for the infusion of capital needed to accelerate the transition to renewable sources of energy, according to a panel of experts. Ajay Mathur, the Director General of TERI and Co-Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) who chaired the panel on Tuesday, said: “You need private capital, as well as public capital and public capital, needs to be more risk-taking, while risks have to be reduced for private capital.” At the same time, the costs have to remain low enough for power to be affordable yet ensure that returns that can attract investors, he added.

The panel, Energy Transitions: Reconciling Competing Imperatives of Development and Environmental Sustainability, was one of the events on the sidelines of the UN High-Level General Assembly Session. One of India’s advantages is that with its rapid pace of development, more than half of what it needs by 2030 is yet to be built. This means that they can be done in a sustainable manner to balance the imperatives of both development and climate change, he said. Mathur said that a shift to renewable energy was essential for this and “India targets 175 GW of renewable capacity by 2022 (or 20%-22% of generation) and 265 GW by 2027.” Rachel Kyte, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, said in her keynote address that there was no longer a dualistic view that looked at development and environment in opposition to each other. (IANS)