Power Minister meets EU delegation, suggests India, EU do joint pilots in areas such as green steel

New Delhi [India], May 27 (ANI): During a meeting held with a European Union delegation, Union Power Minister RK Singh suggested that India and the EU can do joint pilots in areas such as green steel and other frontier technologies while speaking about the need for alternative chemistries such as sodium ion.

Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh held a meeting with Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President, European Green Deal, European Union, in New Delhi on Friday. The meeting was held to discuss cooperation under the EU-India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership.

According to a statement from the ministry of energy released on Saturday, the discussion touched upon energy efficiency; renewable energy, including solar and offshore wind, green hydrogen; energy storage, diversification of global supply chain for energy sector, the International Solar Alliance, India’s presidency of the G20 and how India and EU can partner each other on the clean energy transition.

The Union minister informed the visiting EU delegation that as India is growing, the power demand is accelerating. While the established capacity in India is 416 GW, it is going to double by 2030. India is accordingly adding rapidly to its power generation capacity.

The Minister pointed out that despite India’s per capita and cumulative emissions being one of the lowest in the world, it has emerged as a leader in Energy Transition and Climate Action.

Touching upon renewable energy, the Union minister informed the delegation of the various steps being taken by India to ramp up renewable energy capacity. He said that the manufacturing capacity for the most advanced solar cells and panels is coming up; and by 2030, total manufacturing capacity of 80 GW will come up.

RK Singh said, “This will meet India’s requirements and provide surplus for exports. This will address the supply chain issues of the world.” The Minister stated that storage is needed in order to provide round-the-clock renewable energy and the transition to Net Zero.

The Union minister informed that recognising the need to add storage capacity and the government is coming up with bids for more storage. The government has already come up with a bid for Production Linked Incentive for energy storage; and it is planning to have one more bid.

He sought the cooperation of the EU in encouraging other countries too to add manufacturing facilities for energy storage so that the price of storage comes down.

The Union minister observed that the industry is switching to green hydrogen and that if the journey is to continue, it will have to be on the basis of free and open trade, without barriers.

He told the EU delegation that “we should guard against protectionism”. He also said, “We need to increase electrolyser manufacturing capacity if we need to increase use of green hydrogen. India is going to come up with a PLI (production-linked incentive) bid on that.”

The Executive Vice President of European Green Deal appreciated India for its leadership in renewable energy and energy efficiency and suggested that the two sides find ways to bring the agenda of energy efficiency to the global stage, and help set global energy efficiency targets.

The Executive Vice President spoke of the need for global targets in the introduction of renewables and said that “we need to look at developing industrial ecosystems which promote renewables”.

He said that the EU is developing new generations of solar panels and that green hydrogen is also taking off and Europe will become a truly global market. Given the high costs of transporting green hydrogen, he opined that the places producing green hydrogen will attract industrial investment.

RK Singh also spoke about the opportunity for collaboration in batteries for grid-scale storage. He informed that India has come out with a separate Production Linked Incentive for batteries for green mobility. He said that India is going to be one of the biggest markets for green mobility, with 80 per cent of India’s two-wheelers, three-wheelers and about 50 per cent of four-wheelers expected to be green by 2030.

The Executive Vice President said heat pumps are an area where a lot of innovation is expected to happen, given the rising needs for cooling and heating. He also said that there is a strong consensus in the EU on the need to adopt renewable energy and on making the green transition.

The problem of lack of access to energy by 800 million people around the world was discussed. Union Power Minister recalled that even as India and the EU make progress through this collaboration, a large part of the world population, especially in the African continent, suffers from poor energy access.

The two sides discussed the role of the International Solar Alliance in bringing solar energy to the millions of people in Africa without access to energy.

The Executive Vice President of European Green Deal was accompanied by Ugo Astuto, Ambassador of the European Union to India; Edwin Koekkoek, First Counsellor, Energy and Climate Action, EU Delegation; Sara Zennaro Atre, First Secretary, Trade Section, EU Delegation; Estela Pineiro Kruik, Member of Cabinet; Damyana Stoynova, Member of Cabinet; and Diana Acconcia, Director, International Affairs and Climate Finance, Directorate-General for Climate Action, EU.

RK Minister was joined by Alok Kumar, Power Secretary; Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, New and Renewable Energy Secretary; and other officers of the two ministries.