The government has set up a society, the Power Foundation, that is registered under the Societies Act, under the Power Ministry that will act as the top policy advocacy arm for the power and allied sectors which will assist states and businesses with cutting edge research along with developing ideas and solutions for India’s energy transition journey.
- The society will be chaired by the Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh and the former Power Secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai has been appointed as the Director General by a search-cum-selection committee.
About the society:
The society is set up by Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) such as NTPC (formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited), Powergrid, REC limited (formerly Rural Electrification Corporation Limited), PFC, NHPC limited (erstwhile National Hydroelectric Power Corporation), THDC (Formerly Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited), NEEPCO limited (north eastern electric power corporation limited) and SJVN Limited (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd).
India’s energy transition:
i.India is estimated to have an aggregate potential of more than 1,636 gigawatts (GW) renewable energy (including large hydro).
ii.The power generation through various renewable energy (RE) sources has increased from 203,925.77 million units (MU) in FY17 to 297,547.03 MU in FY21.
- India has recorded low RE tariffs of Rs.1.99 per Kilowatt hour (KWh) for solar power and Rs.2.43 per KWh for wind power.
India towards clean energy sources:
i.India acquires one of the world’s largest RE programmes, with a target of 175 gigawatts (GW) of installed RE capacity by 2022. India’s target is to increase RE capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
ii.India has a target to become carbon neutral by 2070 and is the world’s 2nd largest power consumer. Thus it has pledged to increase the contribution of REsources in power generation to more than 50 percent by the end of this decade.
Recent related news:
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) , out of $7.27 billion foreign direct investment (FDI), $797.21 million was received during 2020-21. As per REN21 Renewables 2020 Global status Report, during 2014 -2019 renewable energy programmes and projects in India attracted an investment of $64.4 billion ($11.2 billion has been invested in 2019 alone).
About Ministry of Power:
Union Minister – Raj Kumar Singh (Arrah, Bihar)
Minister of state – Krishan Pal (Faridabad, Haryana)
