NOVEMBER 20179has attracted investments of more than $3.16 billion, with total installation of around 64 percent of the country's to-tal grid interactive renewable energy capacity. According to experts, this is equal to curbing carbon emissions by more than 58.56 million tonnes annu-ally or akin to planting more than 1.76 billion trees. India's clean energy drive is gath-ering momentum is clear from the fact that green energy has overtaken the capacity of large hydroelectricity projects that once supplied the most electricity. As per statistics released by the Central Electricity Authority, out of India's total capacity of around 304.7 GW on 31 July this year, the total ca-pacity of renewable energy, expanded to 44.2 GW, surpassing hydropower at 42.8 GW. But the nation still depends upon thermal power, since, this has a much higher installed capacity, while supplies from renewables plants are not available consistently.Nonetheless, clean energy's soar-ing capacity marks a momentous milestone in India's energy scenario and heralds its rise as the world's fast-est-growing renewable energy nation. Given its immense market potential, companies from across the globe are participating in India's auctions for so-lar-powered projects. Not surprisingly, Union Minister for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal has set a stiff Rs. 600,000 crore target for building renewable energy plants, which in-cludes 100,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2022. This is five times the previous target of 20,000 MW. The government has also made clear its intentions of achieving 40 percent cu-mulative electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy sources by 2030, to be undertaken via transfer of technology and low-cost interna-tional funding, which would include the Green Climate Fund.Investments & Global CollaborationsThe rise in renewables' capacity is practical and fortunate for India. Al-though the country has huge potential for hydroelectricity, massive protests against its environmental impact have stalled most projects in Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The biggest cause of concern has been the submergence of thousands of hect-ares of land, displacement of local communities and lack of proper re-habilitation of the displaced. These have red-flagged hydropower as being environmentally unfriendly and eco-nomically unviable, with negative out-comes outweighing benefits. Signalling its steadfast commit-ment towards clean energy, the Union Government recently announced plans to double investments for clean en-ergy research in the next five years from $72 million to $145 million. The Government has also announced that India will be collaborating with Brit-ain in setting up a Joint Virtual Clean Energy Centre to counter challenges in solar energy. It will also be launching a new Research Track on Smart En-ergy Grids and Energy Storage under the India-U.S. Partnership to promote clean energy research. According to Union Minister for Science and Technology - Dr. Harsh Vardhan, super-efficient air-condition-ers can reduce energy demand from 60 GW to 40 GW, a saving of more than 30 percent, translating into cost savings in energy bills of $2.8 bil-lion and greenhouse gas reductions of 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent. The Minister also revealed that In-dia's LED lighting programme, the world's largest, has seen the country lead the way by driving 12 percent of global LED demand, rising from 0.1 percent just two years ago.All these initiatives to boost clean energy capacity are indeed commend-able. If the government does meet its ambitious clean energy targets, it may only be a question of time before India emerges as the leading nation in the use of renewable energy. Anurag GargIndia's clean energy drive gathering momentum is clear from the fact that green energy has overtaken the capacity of large hydroelectricity projects that once supplied the most electricity
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