India needs National Lab Policy for renewable energy projects, says Piyush Goyal

Minister of State for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Friday said that a National Lab Policy is needed to address the testing, standardization and certification renewable energy projects in the country.

"A policy document should bring out a clear work plan identifying the need of equipment and infrastructure including funds requirement," he added.

Goyal, who inaugurated the national workshop on Lab Infrastructure for Testing, Standardization, Certification and Inspection for Renewable Energy Deployment Programme, said indigenous technology development and standardization is essential for the growth of renewable energy in the country.

"There is a need to pay more attention on ensuring quality and reliability of renewable energy systems for effective promotion of renewable energy," he added.

Goyal emphasised on maintaining consistency in manufacturing and confidence in reliability of these technologies/systems to ensure that systems installed function properly.

He stated that the biogas needs to be given more attention to make it a well-organized industry.

"Improved biomass cook stoves should be promoted for clean cooking solutions, thereby addressing both fuel saving and health hazards concerns of rural women and children," he added.

Goyal further stressed that proper standardization will facilitate financing options for deployment.

"We need to strengthen test facilities for proper testing to maintain quality of products. Also, training, proper inspection for checking the quality of systems installed is needed, ensuring effective utilization of renewable energy," he added.

The workshop has been organized in view of the MNRE's ambitious programme of 175 GW Renewable Energy Deployment Programme.

The objective of this one-day national workshop is to discuss the standards and procedures being followed for effective implementation of testing and certification, identifying the gaps to meet the needs of ensuring quality and reliability of the systems/ products/ components, taking into account technology advancements and local requirements.