India announces fresh thrust on renewable energy

India is looking for Rs2,100 crore of investments in renewable energy for power generation over the next five years, but this projection may be undermined by the global financial crisis, according to the chairman of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd, Debashish Majumdar.

India plans to generate an additional 14.5 gigawatts of capacity from renewable sources by March 2012, Majumdar told newspersons in New Delhi on Monday. He added that but a new solar plan expected to be rolled out by December could provide a boost.

"An investment of Rs15,000 crore has already been made in the first two years of the five-year plan for April 2007 to March 2012," he said, adding that this could generate about 3,000 MW of power, almost half of it from wind energy alone.

About 8.8 per cent of India's installed capacity of about 150 gigawatts is renewable-energy based, comprising mainly wind, small hydroelectric, biomass and solar energy projects.

Companies such as the Tata group and Reliance Industries, as well as state-run utilities, are among hundreds of companies vying for a stake in India's emerging green energy sector. Currently, only a meagre 3 per cent of India's total power mix is now from renewable sources.
Stronger focus on sun power

The target of the solar power plan now on the anvil is to generate 20 gigawatts of solar power by 2020 (See: Prime minister's council approves Rs91,684-crore solar energy plan).