Private sector can play key role in clean power: US Energy Secretary

The private sector will need to look at the opportunities, said Ernest Moniz, Secretary, US Department of Energy, on Tuesday in New Delhi.

“They need to focus on the opportunities rather than the limits as they explore initiatives in clean energy transformation,” Moniz said while addressing a conference on financing renewable and energy efficient technologies organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The Indo-US energy dialogue is happening in the national capital on Tuesday.

Global investment in the energy infrastructure space is estimated at $36 trillion, representing 0.6 per cent of the cumulative GDP over the next few decades. This would provide a huge opportunity for the private sector to scale up new technologies and meet the emerging challenge of climate change.

Moniz said, “Clean energy financing is being elevated through multilateral agencies in the US till private capital moves off the sidelines.”

This support is critical for Clean Energy to gain momentum.

Echoing a similar train of thought, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, of the Planning Commission, said, “Subsidies need to be explicit and it is important to distinguish between subsidy and finance."

"Renewable energy projects need to have a revenue model that can be financed and then we can bend over backwards to ease the regulatory restriction to address the externalities in renewable energy financing,” said Ahluwalia.

The US Energy Secretary while highlighting two key trends, said, “The notion that the clean technology revolution remains a distant goal is changing as cost reductions in clean technologies (photovoltaic, LED and wind) continue to advance at a rapid pace. A shift in the public attitude towards the need for prudent action to pursue the clean energy agenda is also being witnessed. This is important to address the risks of climate change.”

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