By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the 4th Global Renewable Energy Investor’s Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST) at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar in Gujarat today. The 3-day summit honours the important contributors to India’s remarkable achievement of over 200 GW of installed non-fossil fuel capacity. Shri Modi also took a walkthrough of the exhibition showcasing cutting-edge innovations from public and private sector companies, start-ups, and major industry players.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister welcomed all the dignitaries to the 4th edition of the RE-INVEST Summit and expressed confidence that serious discussions will take place over the next three days on the future of energy, technology and policies. Shri Modi said that the discussions and learnings from this conference will benefit the entire humanity. He conveyed his best wishes for successful discussions.
The Prime Minister underscored the mandate of the people of India to elect the same government for a record third time after sixty years. “Aspirations of India is the reason behind the reelection of the government for the third term”, Shri Modi remarked. He highlighted the trust and confidence of the 140 crore citizens, the youth and women who believe that their aspirations will take new flight in this third term. The Prime Minister underlined that the poor, dalits and the deprived believe that the government’s third term will become a guarantee for a dignified life. He said that 140 crore citizens of India are working with the resolve of making India the third-largest economy in the world. Noting that today’s event is not an isolated one but a part of the bigger vision, mission and action plan to make India a developed nation by 2047, the Prime Minister highlighted the decisions taken by the government in the first 100 days in office.
“Government’s work in the first 100 days highlights its priorities and gives a reflection of the speed and scale”, PM Modi remarked underlining that all sectors necessary for India’s fast-paced development have been emphasized. In these 100 days, the Prime Minister said that multiple decisions have been taken to expand the physical and social infrastructure of the nation. He informed that India is on the path to constructing 7 crore houses which is more than the population of many countries, while 4 crore houses have been handed out to the people in the last two terms. He further stated the decision to create 12 new industrial cities, approval for 8 high-speed road corridor projects, launching of more than 15 semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains, the inception of a research fund worth Rs 1 trillion to promote research, the announcement of various initiatives to drive e-mobility, promotion of high-performance biomanufacturing and approval to Bio E3 policy.
Throwing light on the developments in the green energy sector in the last 100 days, the Prime Minister mentioned the initiation of a viability gap funding scheme for offshore wind energy projects worth more than Rs 7000 crore. He said that India is working towards producing 31,000 megawatts of hydropower in the coming times with an outlay of Rs 12,000 crore.
The Prime Minister said that India’s diversity, scale, capacity, potential and performance are all unique and pave the way for Indian solutions for global applications. “Not just India, the whole world is of the belief that India is the best bet of the 21st century”, exclaimed the Prime Minister. Recounting the global events hosted by India in the last one month, Shri Modi said that Global Fintech Fest was organized earlier in this month, people from across the globe participated in the First International Solar Festival, Global Semiconductor Summit, India also hosted the 2nd Asia-Pacific Civil Aviation Ministerial Conference and today India is hosting a conference of Green Energy.
Shri Modi remarked that it was a happy coincidence that Gujarat which has witnessed the inception of White revolution, Sweet (Honey) revolution, Solar revolution is now seeing the organization of 4th Global Renewable Energy Investor’s Meet and Expo. “Gujarat was the first state in India to have its own Solar Policy”, highlighted the Prime Minister. He added that National policies on solar followed after this. Shri Modi further highlighted that Gujarat was one of the front runners across the world in setting up a ministry pertaining to matters of climate. He highlighted that Gujarat had already started setting up Solar plants when the world had not even thought of it.
Pointing to the name of the venue – Mahatma Mandir, Shri Modi remarked that it was named after Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer who alerted the world when the topic of climate challenge had not even emerged. Quoting Mahatma, the PM said – “Earth has enough resources to fulfill our needs, but not to satisfy our greed.” He added that this vision of Mahatma Gandhi has emerged from the great tradition of India. Shri Modi remarked that words like Green Future, Net Zero were not fancy words but are the needs & commitments of the Union and every state government of India.
The Prime Minister underlined that as a developing economy, India had a valid excuse to stay out of these commitments but did not choose that path. He, however, added that “Today’s India is preparing a base not only for today but for the next thousand years.” Shri Modi underscored that India’s aim was not just to reach the top, but to prepare ourselves to sustain at the top. He added that India was very well aware of its energy needs and requirements to make it a developed nation by 2047. Shri Modi reminded India had decided to build its future on the basis of renewables like Solar Power, Wind Power, Nuclear and Hydro Power, as there was dearth of reserves of oil-gas.
The Prime Minister said India is the first G20 nation to achieve the climate commitments set in Paris, that too 9 years before the deadline. Shri Modi outlined the nation’s goals to achieve the target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 and said that the government has turned the green transition into a people’s movement. He suggested studying India’s unique scheme for Rooftop Solar – PM Surya Ghar Free Electricity Scheme where the government funds a Rooftop Solar Setup for every family and helps in installation. Through this scheme, the Prime Minister said, every household in India becomes a power producer. He informed that more than 1 crore 30 lakh families have registered under the scheme and installation work has been completed in 3.25 lakh houses so far.
Drawing attention to the results of PM Surya Ghar Free Electricity Scheme, the Prime Minister explained that a small family which consumes 250 units of electricity in a month, generates 100 units and sells it back to the grid will save a total of about 25 thousand rupees in a year. “People will benefit by about 25 thousand rupees from the electricity bill”, PM Modi said, noting that money saved is money earned. He further added that if the saved money is invested in the Public Provident Fund for 20 years, then the whole sum would amount to more than Rs 10 lakh which can be used for children’s education and marriage.
Shri Modi further added that PM Suyra Ghar scheme is becoming a medium of employment generation and environment protection generating around 20 lakh jobs. PM Modi informed that the government aims to prepare 3 lakh youth as skilled manpower under this scheme. Out of these, one lakh youth will be Solar PV Technicians. “Every 3 kilowatts of solar electricity generated will prevent emission of 50-60 tonnes of carbon dioxide”, he said, noting the contributions of every family in fighting climate change.
“India’s solar revolution will be scripted in Golden letters, when the history of the 21st century will be written”, exclaimed Shri Modi. Highlighting about India’s first solar village Modhera which also houses a centuries-old Sun temple, Shri Modi pointed out that today, all the needs of the village are fulfilled by Solar Power. He added that today, a campaign was underway to convert many such villages into solar villages across the country.
Talking about Ayodhya city, the birthplace of Lord Ram, a Suryavanshi, Shri Modi informed that with this as an inspiration, the Government was aiming to make Ayodhya, a model Solar City. He added that the effort was to energize every house, every office, every service of Ayodhya by solar power. Shri Modi expressed happiness that many facilities and houses of Ayodhya were energized by solar energy, while a large number of solar street lights, solar intersections, solar boats, solar water ATMs and solar buildings could also be seen in Ayodhya. The Prime Minister further pointed out that the Government had identified 17 such cities in India to be developed as solar cities in a similar manner. He added that there were plans to make the agricultural fields, farms a medium of solar power generation. He highlighted that today farmers were being helped to install solar pumps and small solar plants for irrigation.
Shri Modi underlined that India was working at a great speed and scale in every sector related to renewable energy. He added that in the last decade, India had generated 35 percent more electricity from nuclear energy as compared to before and India was striving to become a global leader in the field of green hydrogen. Shri Modi underlined the launch of Green Hydrogen Mission worth about twenty thousand crore rupees, in this direction. He added a huge campaign of Waste to Energy was also going on in India. Stressing on the measures taken to address the challenges related to critical minerals, Shri Modi highlighted that the Government was promoting a circular approach along with lending support to Start-ups to develop better technology related to re-use and recycling.
“Government is committed to the principles of Pro-Planet people”, PM Modi said highlighting India’s vision of Mission LiFE i.e. Lifestyle for Environment. He also mentioned India’s initiative of International Solar Alliance, focus on Green Transition during India’s G-20 Presidency and the launch of Global Biofuel Alliance during the G-20 Summit. “India has set a target of making its railways net zero by the end of this decade”, he said, adding that India has decided to achieve the target of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. He also mentioned thousands of Amrit Sarovar built in every village being used for water conservation . PM Modi touched upon the ‘Ek Ped Maa ke Naam’ campaign and urged everyone to join in the initiative.
Noting the increasing demand for renewable energy in India, the Prime Minister underlined that the government is formulating new policies to meet this demand and providing support in every way. Concluding the address, the Prime Minister highlighted the tremendous opportunities for investors not only in energy generation but also in the manufacturing sector. “India is striving for complete Made in India solutions and creating many possibilities. India is truly a guarantee of expansion and better returns”, Shri Modi concluded, inviting investments in India’s green transition.
Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel , Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Shri Prahlad Joshi ,Chief ministers of Andhra pradesh,Rajastahn,Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa were present on the occasion among others.
