Martin Bursík: India stakes on renewable resources
India, one of the world’s largest countries, puts great emphasis on the use of renewable energy resources, said EU Environment Council President Bursík after meeting the Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy on Thursday.
In India the field of new and renewable energy falls within the remit of a separate ministry. On Thursday the premises of this ministry in Delhi were the venue of a meeting of Indian representatives with an EU delegation led by Environment Council President Martin Bursík. The EU was also represented by the Commission’s Director General for Environment, Karl Falkenberg, and Sweden’s Climate Ambassador, Staffan Tillander. India’s delegation was headed by the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Shri Vilas Baburao Muttemwar.
Almost 600 million inhabitants of India, i.e. 46 % of its population, have no access to electricity. According to Minister Muttemwar the installed capacity of renewable resources in India amounts to 13,500 MW, most of which is produced by wind power plants (9 000 MW). India also uses solar energy and small hydroelectric power plants and produces electricity from biomass.
Renewable resources are of particular importance for electricity supplies to 25 000 villages in remote areas which cannot be reached by conventional power generated from traditional resources and delivered via the transmission and distribution network. Renewable resources thus remain the only option for electricity production. Minister Shri Vilas Baburao Muttemwar said that India sees further development of solar energy as its priority.
India wishes to boost research and development in the area of renewable energy resources and has welcomed the foundation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), expected to encourage research and development, promote cutting-edge technologies in developing countries and also stimulate the sharing of experience as regards various schemes for supporting electricity produced from renewable resources.
Minister Bursík informed about the very successful model of feed-in tariffs for electricity from renewable resources applied in the Czech Republic, which has generated a year-on-year growth in solar and wind energy production of 140 - 170%.
Contact:
- Jakub Kašpar, spokesperson of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic
- tel.: +420 267 122 040, GSM: +420 724 175 927; e-mail: jakub.kaspar@mzp.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:47
