WISE
undertook the study titled ‘Achieving 12% Green Electricity by
2017’ supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New
Delhi, with financial assistance from Climate Works Foundation,
USA. The basic objective of the study was to determine how the
national RE target of 15% RE by 2020 specified in the National
Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) can be achieved (See pg.
nos. 15–20) for details of the study). In order to strengthen the
draft further and obtain gainful insights in enhancing its
contents, WISE organised a multi-stakeholder workshop in New Delhi
on 30 May 2011. The workshop was chaired by B K Chaturvedi, Member
(Energy), Planning Commission, Govt of India, and the Guests of
Honour included Dr Pramod Deo, Chairperson, Central Electricity
Regulatory Commission (CERC); Ajai Vikram Singh, Former Secretary,
Ministries of Defence & MNRE, and Chairman, WISE; Deepak Gupta,
Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Seema
Paul, CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation; and G M Pillai,
Founder Director General, WISE. The workshop was attended by
around 45 extremely senior, multisectoral stakeholders
representing the government, electricity regulatory commissions,
RE industry (manufacturers and developers), RE associations,
research institutions and consultancy firms.
Addressing the audience, Mr Chaturvedi stressed the need for
designing policies in such a way that they serve as an incentive
to people to set up RE power projects. He said that an enabling
environment should be created for the private sector for
accelerating RE development. He added that in order to facilitate
solar power development in the country, it is necessary to
increase solar equipment manufacturing. Concluding the Chief
Guest’s Address, Mr Chaturvedi lauded WISE on conducting such a
study and being ambitious enough to create a pathway for achieving
15% RE by 2020. He mentioned that if RE costs could be brought
down by increasing the manufacturing base, the capacity envisaged
by WISE (100 GW–125 GW by 2020) could be feasible. He opined that
it is important to have an ambitious target as this would result
in endeavouring to achieve the goal successfully, if not, at least
partially. He added that setting and trying to achieve higher
goals was always better than setting lower targets that would
result in achieving lower goals.
In his address, Dr Pramod Deo referred to the study on ‘RPO
trajectory’ commissioned by the Forum of Regulators (FoR) which
concludes that 10% national RPO can be achieved by 2015. He
pointed out that the National Action Plan on Climate Change
presumes that solar will become grid-competitive over time, and
therefore realisation of renewable purchase obligation (RPO)
targets under NAPCC is dependent on solar power development under
the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Commenting on
theREtargets set under the Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) and the
Interim Report on Low Carbon Economy prepared by the Planning
Commission, GoI, Dr. Deo expressed his dissatisfaction at the poor
targets set for RE development in both the reports which did not
consider the future potential and technological developments in
the RE sector.
The workshop ended with fruitful discussions cum interaction
between the panelists and the participants, which resulted in
bringing to the fore crucial aspects for meeting the NAPCC
objective. The final report has been submitted to the Planning
Commission
in July 2011.
