Power minister Khattar urges industry to work on innovative solutions

Union Power Minister Manohar Lal on Saturday urged industry stakeholders to work on manufacturing innovative solutions to strengthen India's journey towards Viksit Bharat.

India's ambitious target of 500 GW of renewable energy target by 2030 provides various opportunities, the minister said, while addressing the Elecrama 2025 event organised by industry body IEEMA in Greater Noida.

The power sector is playing an important role in the country's journey towards becoming Viksit Bharat, the minister said, adding that industry stakeholders must work to make the sector a growth engine for India.

"The future of power in India is good... in this journey we need to increase production in an innovative way... advance power electronics, efficient transformer, power converters, smart grid solutions are needed to be developed to take benefit of renewable energy (RE)," he told participants, which included domestic and international delegates and investors.

Lal further noted that the sector makes a significant contribution to the country's economy, and said the government is working to enhance its share.

The industry can work on developing higher-efficiency transmission, distribution equipment GIS sub station, which will modernise the grid, he said.

EV charging infrastructure is need of the hour to reduce emissions, Lal said.

e-mobility is a very big opportunity, the minister said, adding that there is a need to develop battery-swapping stations, fast chargers, vehicle-to-grid systems.

The industry must work on research and development to promote innovative solutions, he said.

The industry must take benefits of government schemes and initiatives, he said, assuring all support to investors.

He said the target of 500 GW RE capacity can be easily achieved if industry and government work together.

Since 2014, India has scaled up its RE capacity 2.81 times to 200 GW. Solar capacity has alone grown 38 times to cross 100 GW.

This is not just statistics but proof that India is not progressing but racing ahead, Lal added.