India to replace diesel by renewable energy in agriculture by 2024: Govt

Union Power Minister R K Singh said central government is working for a new and modern India, which cannot happen without modern power systems

Union Power Minister R K Singh on Friday said that India will achieve zero-diesel use in agriculture and replace the fossil fuel with renewable energy by 2024.

The minister held a virtual meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Power and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries of Power or Energy Departments of states & UTs to discuss their role in achieving India's energy transition goals and meeting climate commitments.

The minister asserted that India will replace diesel with renewables to achieve target of zero-diesel use in the agricultural sector by 2024, a power ministry release stated.

Addressing the meeting, Singh stressed the need for collaborative efforts between the Central and State Governments towards the large-scale deployment of energy efficiency measures in potential sectors of the economy.

He emphasised the need to have a state-specific agency dedicated for energy efficiency and conservation. He urged that the states should develop action plan to achieve the assigned targets.

He further said that the central government is working for a new and modern India, which cannot happen without modern power systems, and it look forward to working with all states and UTs to achieve this.

Singh stressed that India will replace diesel with renewables to achieve target of zero diesel use in agricultural sector by 2024.

The minister during the meeting highlighted that the commercial buildings should follow ECBS and the domestic buildings should follow ECO NIVAS and this should be part of the building by-law. He said that all the power demand will be met by non-fossil fuel methods with the help of energy storage.

He reiterated Prime Minister's commitment to ramp up India's fight against climate change & global warming and emphasised the need for collaboration between the centre and states to ensure Energy Transition in all potential sectors of the economy.

This meeting was organised in line with the Prime Minister's commitment at COP26, towards reducing the carbon intensity of our country.

The objective of this meeting was to ensure the state's participation in fulfilling the India's climate commitments and each State and UT can be assigned energy saving targets.