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An investment of up to Rs 30 lakh crore is expected to meet the country’s target of having 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, adding that the country was on course to meet the goal.
Replying to the discussion on the working of the Ministry, Joshi said the government had invested Rs 7 lakh crore in the last 10 years.
“Further, to set up the non-fossil fuel-based capacity of 500 GW, there is an expectation of Rs30 lakh crore,” he said.
Drawing a comparison, he said the UPA government had allocated Rs 6,091 crore for the Renewable Energy Ministry in its 10-year tenure, while the Budget for the Ministry this year alone was around Rs 21,000 crore.
“In line with the Prime Minister’s announcement, our Ministry is working towards achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel by 2030…In the last decade from 2014 to 2024, the installed renewable energy capacity has increased 165% from 76.38 GW in 2014 to 203.1 GW as of now,” he said.
He said solar energy capacity had increased from 2.82 GW in 2014 to 85.47 GW; wind energy capacity increased from 21 GW to 46.55 GW; and the share of thermal energy sources in the total decreased from 67.69% to 54.46%.
The share of non-fossil fuels increased from 32.30% to 45.54%, he said.
Responding to the Opposition’s allegation that the government favours only “two business houses”, he said the Telangana government ruled by the Congress had given a contract to one of them, referring to them as “A1, A2”.
Speaking during the discussion earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi raised concern over the import of solar panels from China, which she said accounts for 57% of all such imports. She said while the government had banned apps like TikTok, “we are still dependent on China”.
