Advisor to Prime Minister underscores the significance of energy storage and green energy technologies
SHRI RAM SHAW
NEW DELHI, May 3: Addressing the need for all the sustainability and clean energy stakeholders to come together and support India in becoming a world leader in green energy transition, Tarun Kapoor, advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “The future of energy is entirely dependent on innovations and cost-effective energy storage solutions. Currently, renewable energy accounts for 22-23% of installed capacity and as a country we can take it up to 50%. However, to go beyond that and even now, we need to invest in storage solutions for our grids, which utilize high energy density and safe materials that are available in India. If we are successful in achieving this, it would be amazing.”
Inaugurating the India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2023 organised by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, Tarun Kapoor said, “The transition to electric vehicles, including four-wheelers and two-wheelers, requires large-scale storage solutions. We must be self-reliant and manufacture everything in India, while also investing in R&D to innovate and develop products that suit our requirements and materials available in the country.”
“We already have production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries manufacturing in India. There could be another phase of the PLI scheme and going forward we can think of some other support (for batteries manufacturing) if required. We hope that manufacturing comes into India and if manufacturing comes to India, the price will certainly go down. We also need to secure minerals and raw materials required for manufacturing, such as lithium. Although we currently have limited reserves of lithium in India, we have only explored 8% of our country so far. We are confident that if we explore more, we will discover lithium and other minerals as well,” Kapoor, a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre, added.
Dr Rahul Walawalkar, President of IESA, said, “India is strongly focused towards clean energy transition aiming high for the growth of e-mobility as well as renewable energy. With the vision set by the Prime Minister, we have a wonderful opportunity to make India a global hub for manufacturing, R&D and adoption of advanced energy storage, e mobility and green hydrogen technology within the coming decades. We have a long way to go but we have a very strong believe that India has tremendous capability and a ecosystem that can contribute for this transition. And through IESA and IESW, we are looking at providing a platform for collaboration as all the stakeholders need to come together to create a robust ecosystem for making India a global hub”.
Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director – New Energy Business, Amara Raja Batteries, said, “Li-ion battery manufacturing is a critical aspect of the energy transition, and India has the potential to become a global leader in this sector. With the right policies, investments, and collaborations, we can create a robust Li-ion battery manufacturing ecosystem that will not only support the country’s transition towards clean energy but also create employment opportunities and contribute to the economy.”
More than 500 world-class organisations, Clean Energy experts and manufacturers from over 25 countries including the UK, USA, UAE, Australia, China, Germany, Singapore, France, Italy, Israel and Sri Lanka, and 60 CXOs from the e-mobility and green hydrogen ecosystem, 100 start-ups, 50 women energy leaders, and 8 ministries are participating at one of the world’s biggest green energy expo in the national capital marking the beginning of a new era of clean energy transition in the country.
The three-day mega event which was kicked off today with a dazzling opening ceremony witnessed the presence of eminent dignitaries and clean tech leaders including Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Vijayanand Samudrala, President – New Energy, Amararaja Batteries; Stephen Fernands, President, Customized Energy Solutions (CES); Anurag Tiwari, President – Industrial & Supply Chain, SAR Group; Nashid Chowdhury, Investment and Trade Commissioner, Government of Western Australia; Debi Prasad Dash, Executive Director, IESA, Dr. Hanif Qureshi, Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries; Mayur Karmarkar, Managing Director, International Copper Association India; Dr Ashok Saraswat, Sr. VP – Battery Technology, Reliance Industries and many more.