Tripling of renewable energy is a goal based on national situation: Minister Singh

India’s nationally determined contribution was that by 2030 it will have 40% of its installed capacity from non-fossil sources, which has been achieved 9 years in advance

New Delhi: The goal of tripling of renewable energy capacity will be aspirational and based on national circumstances, union power and renewable energy minister, RK Singh said on Tuesday on the sidelines of International Solar Alliance’s (ISA) sixth assembly.

India has multiplied its solar capacity by about 35 times in the past 7 to 8 years, said minister RK Singh. (HT)

“We discussed the tripling of renewable energy capacity goal in our G20 energy ministers meeting. We decided that this will be aspirational. Different countries have different national circumstances and every country is carrying out energy transition as per their national circumstances so this target when we discussed in the G20, we decided it should be aspirational,” Singh said.

“We (India) multiplied our solar capacity by about 35 times in the past 7 to 8 years and our renewable energy capacity is around 43% of total installed capacity and we have a target of adding about 50 GW every year. Every country has its own targets and nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement,” Singh said.

“Our NDC was that by 2030 we will have 40% of our installed capacity from non-fossil sources which we achieved 9 years in advance. The fundamental point we need investments going to Africa and developing countries where power is needed to light up homes and access to energy is a basic need,” he added.

French Minister of State for Development and International Partnerships, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou said ISA would push for the tripling of renewable energy capacity goal to be officially adopted at the UN Climate Meeting (COP28) in Dubai this December. Ministers from 20 countries and delegates from across 116 Member and Signatory countries are expected to participate at the ISA assembly.

“G20 under India’s Presidency came out with a common goal to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030. We are going to push this goal with you at Dubai at COP28 in a few weeks,” said Zacharopoulou.

“The initial challenge for solar is already over. The initial challenge was to lower the cost of solar and stimulate investment. Today solar has won this better, its cheaper than any fossil fuel and 1 billion USD per month is being invested in solar,” the French minister said.

“Solar has also won the political narrative because with climate disasters, the consequence of Ukraine’s invasion and the crisis in the middle-east all of us realise renewable energy is key for energy sovereignty…since ISA’s launch the French Development Agency has channelled 1.5 billion Euros to solar projects worldwide,” added Zacharopoulou.

Ajay Mathur, director general, ISA, said record investments are being made in solar energy globally.

“ISA focuses on ease of doing solar for various countries. We have created last year a global solar facility with an insurance fund and payment guarantee mechanism so that investors feel comfortable. The solar industry has pulled in record amounts of investments. Last year 310 billion USD and this year it is expected to cross 380 billion USD. The vast amount of the world however did not receive a good share of that amount. All of Africa for example received 3% of the 310 billion that was invested last year. This is why payment guarantee mechanism is aimed at enabling investment in small projects.”

Four projects set up with ISA’s assistance were inaugurated on Tuesday including the solarisation of the Republic of Malawi’s solarisation; solarisation of two rural health care centres in the Republic of Fiji, with an 8-kW solar PV system & 20-kWh battery storage capacity for each health centre; installation of 1 solar powered cold storage of capacity 5 MT for the benefit of its agricultural stakeholders at La Digue Island, Republic of Seychelles and the solarisation of the Nawai Junior Secondary school (JSS) in Kiribati.

UAE, this year’s COP28 Presidency is pushing for adoption of tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 to be a key outcome of the summit.

COP 28 Presidency, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and Global Renewables Alliance published joint report on Monday outlining key enablers to triple global renewable power capacity to 11,000 GW and double average annual energy efficiency improvements by 2030.

“Tripling the deployment of renewable power generation and doubling energy efficiency are amongst the most important levers to cut greenhouse gas emissions. I am now calling on everyone to come together, commit to common targets, and take comprehensive domestic and international action, as outlined in this report, to make our ambitions a reality,” said COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber in a statement on Monday during pre-COP summit in Abu Dhabi.