Friday, February 07, 2014: India is on the ‘right’ course to meet the United Nations target for sustainable energy, says Union Minister Shashi Tharoor. Tharoor was speaking at the curtain-raiser to the Delhi Sustainable Development summit. The minister added that improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy will not only reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuel imports but also serve India’s broad geopolitical interest.
“Our goal of reaching 20,000 MW of energy by 2022 is already being scaled up to 0.1 million MW by 2030 and if possible by 2027. This should keep us on course for meeting the UN goal and is likely to surpass it”. the Minister was quoted as saying. “It is clear we need energy and we need clean energy…We have had energy access as our domestic goal for a few years… We do hope to achieve the goal before 2030 deadline of the UN.” Tharoor added. Further, the Indian government aims to double renewable energy capacity to 55,000 MW by 2017, he informed. “As part of national solar mission, the government is setting up national institute of solar energy”, said Tharoor.
At the same time, he underscored the fact that over 500 million people in India still have no access to electricity. “The challenge is enormous. 500 million people do not enjoy something every American and Australian can take for granted–that is the simple joy of flicking a switch on the wall and having the room flooded with light.” Tharoor said.
