India explores clean energy collaboration with Austria

Highlighting the need for India-Austria collaboration in clean energy, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said a policy directive on quality of modules will soon be in place, according to a statement here on Thursday.

Goyal was speaking at the India-Austria Business Forum organised by the Ficci in collaboration with the Embassy of India in Vienna and Austrian Economic Chambers (Wirtschaftskammer A-sterreich WKO).

"India needs to put entire solar value chain under quality direction... The government will have a policy directive in place on quality of modules (by end of May)," the minister said, according to the industry lobby statement.

The other policies to follow it would be on solar cells, which would be in the next six-seven months and on wafers and polysilicon in the next two years, it added.

Goyal said the two nations could leverage each other's strengths to benefit both economies. India can offer better pricing for Austrian products while providing low-cost manufacturing base.

He underlined affordability was a paramount imperative to be able to change India's energy mix.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a new dimension to renewable energy.

The latest solar tariff of four cents was a case in point for Modi's vision of scaling up rapidly giving good returns in more ways than one.

Highlighting that within six months of his visit to Finland, there have been multiple exchanges facilitated by Ficci, Goyal said that India could fast track with Austria what it has done with Finland.

A high-level business delegation accompanied the minister, who went to Vienna for the two-day business forum.

Noting that an estimated $160 billion is required to meet India's ambitious clean energy goals between now and 2022, Ficci President Pankaj Patel highlighted the immense potential of green bonds for channelling debt capital funds towards clean energy financing in both the countries.

--IANS

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