BT India@100 summit: India’s clean energy transition to turn it into a global thought leader, say industry experts

India will not only demonstrate a rapid transition to cleaner sources of energy but also emerge as a global thought leader in the area, some of the country’s eminent domain experts said during a panel discussion at Business Today’s India @ 100: Achieving Global Leadership summit in New Delhi Saturday.

Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director of India’s largest integrated power player, Tata Power Co. felt that the strong foundation laid by the government had resulted in a lot of initiatives being taken by both the public and private sectors.

“The capacity additions that are being targeted are not just in terms of solar or wind but also in storage and pumped hydro. And now we are also seeing a huge amount of traction in hydrogen production. All in all, the Indian industry is geared up to meet the challenge,” said Sinha.

Kamran Khan, Managing Director & Head of ESG for Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank Group said that India offered several advantages such as cost-effective technologies, demographics and the ability to produce solutions that help in improving the environment.

“Today, the country is also in a position to negotiate for Indian businesses at international forums,” said Kamran.

Vineet Mittal, Chairman of Avaada Group stated that the country not only represented a huge investment potential in green energy but also offered affordable green energy on demand.

“While the rest of the world is imposing regulations on concerns about the environment, the Indian manufacturers and the Indian industry are geared up for that challenge because we can go completely green, he said.

Deepak Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Schneider Electric India, felt that besides addressing the supply side challenges, attention must also be paid to how efficiently it is consumed. 

“The big piece of energy or the cleanest form of energy which we can create is by saving it. Everything I do at my home or office is exactly 3x of what I can create. Here technologies are available that we can incorporate for use,” averred Sharma.

He said with two-thirds of consumption being contributed by buildings or industrial installations, solutions like electric vehicles would only solve a small part of the problem and not the problem.

of the he biggest problem we have to solve is where we consume. And 2/3 of the consumption is in buildings or in the industrial setups. Electrical vehicles will only solve a problem and not the problem.