Ministry expects to clear outstandings in green energy subsidy schemes

The Ministry has sought Rs 6,000 cr from the Centre for development of renewable energy in the country

The outstanding subsidy the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has to pay for various renewable energy schemes is currently around Rs 750 crore.

The ministry is finding the requirement for funding in renewable energy sector is increasing in a big way and has made a request for sanctioning around Rs 6,000 crore for the sector, according to a senior official from MNRE. At present, the outstanding amount for solar water heater subsidy is around Rs 300 crore and for Photovoltaics (PV) is around Rs 250-300 crore and Generation Based Incentives (GBI) of Rs 150 crore pending for payment, said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretaryin MNRE.

He was speaking to reporters in the sidelines of Renergy 2014, an international conference and expo on renewable energy, in Chennai organised by the Tamil Nadu Government organisation Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA).

In the last budget, the finance ministry has allocated around Rs 1,500 crore to the Ministry and some extend of it is for clearing the subsidy and the Ministry is also expecting some more clean energy fund from the Finance Ministry in future.

"We expect to clear the old pending amounts in near future, while the outstanding would get added as we are clearing more and more projects," said Kapoor. "The sector is growing very fast in India and there is a great demand for solar rooftop solar system and solar pumps," he added.

So far the country has installed rootop solar power capacity of around 110 MW and the government is looking at supporting more installation in near future. It is also thinking of offering tax consessions for people who are putting up solar power and a proposal in this regard is being submitted.