Montek calls for lifting of restrictions on renewable energy

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday stressed on lifting of the restrictions on renewable energy.

Addressing a conference on 'Financing Renewable and Energy Efficient Technologies' in New Delhi, Montek said, "I think that the biggest problem of getting financing is, first of all getting a revenue model that can be financed, so if there is to be a subsidy it better be explicit and the government better be willing to actually pay the subsidy, and you need to make a very clear case for it."

"Once you have a revenue model that is actually capable of being financed, I completely agree that we need to little bit bend over backwards to make sure that the regulatory restrictions and other restrictions that affect financing are a little more favourable towards green energy related factors," he added.

The conference, which was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was also marked by the presence of Secretary of US Department of Energy, Ernest Moniz.

Moniz emphasised that rising global warming calls for prudent actions towards clean energy.

"We are seeing really unusual, shall we say, weather, and this is much in line with the general pattern that wants it to dissipate for many, many years as a result of global warming and I think in many societies, including ours, we are seeing public attitudes are shifting and understand the need for prudent actions to pursue the clean energy agenda," he said.

Moniz acknowledged that there has been tremendous progress in the collaborations of India and US in the field of renewable energy and should be further strengthened.

He pressed for government, public and private sector to call for green energy.

Many scientists attribute rising temperatures and some extreme weather events worldwide to the increased release of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

They fear that as carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere there will be more severe weather, including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and drought.

This makes renewable energy like that of wind, water, solar energy as some of the clean alternatives that will help address the problems of temperature rise.