The ability of power purchase agreements to keep energy tariffs low is a boon for state governments, according to the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal.

Speaking at the CII Annual General Meeting in a session on the Changing Energy Economics and India, Goyal said, “At this price, to lock in power for 25 years is a great deal, 25 years from now, I imagine coal-based thermal power will be at probably Rs 10 a unit.”

Goyal highlighted that there are worries regarding the quality of imported panels of solar energy projects in India.

He said, “I am very concerned about import quality. We have already put in inspection standards on modules, and we are going to very closely inspect all the modules that are going to come in starting from now.”

Within about 6 or 9 months, we are going to do the same thing for cells. So all companies that have been putting some garbage into the system will have to be worried, he added.

He also noted that he would want to see more domestic manufacturing of solar power equipment in India.

Goyal said that the government is going to invest in charging infrastructure to promote electric vehicles in India.

He said, “We would love to see the electric vehicle industry run on its own, without government intervention. For the first three-year programme, we are evaluating options of lower cost financing and GST support. For the time being we are thinking of investing in charging infrastructure across the country and to begin with in larger commercial centres where pollution is higher.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW