Top firms should invest more in renewable energy R&D: Pachauri

Top oil and some of the better power generation companies in the country need to step up their investment in renewable energy research and development, said chairperson of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Kumar Pachauri.

“In the renewable energy space, some of the energy companies in the country should invest a lot more. Whether it is ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil or some of the better power companies, so that we can start preparing for non-fossil fuel-based energy supply,” said Pachauri, who is also director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

On whether the government lacked funds for carrying out more research in renewable energy, he said, while the country had a “very very long way” to go in its research, the government should “restructure the way research is done” in the country. According to him, renewable energy research should be “result-oriented”.  

Speaking to mediapersons after the stone laying ceremony of TERI’s campus coming up on 40 acres here, Pachauri said the world would have to “treble or quadruple” energy generation target from zero-carbon sources by 2050 in order to limit global temperature increase to not more than two-degree celsius by the end of 21st century.

On potential opportunities in the sector, he said, “This (renewable) is a sector that has a huge market in India. If overseas investors can invest in India’s renewable energy, and if we can develop renewable energy technologies and use them on a large scale, it can also then be expanded to other developing and even developed countries. I see India becoming a leader in the field of renewable energy, globally”.  

For India to scale higher targets under renewable energy generation, Pachauri said the Centre, through a policy change, should “target getting rid of subsidies on some fossil fuel sources of energy”. When asked whether the Centre was thinking on similar lines, he said, “I hope so, I don’t know”.

As part of its mission to provide power to all homes, the Union government is encouraging industry with a slew of policies in the renewable energy sector to achieve an installed solar power of 100,000-Mw in a decade from now.

The ambitious goal of the government may come up for discussion during a meeting of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Advisory Council on Climate Change scheduled on January 12.