Solar energy: Focus must be on policy direction & faster clearances

Jayarama Emani | The Dollar Business

Government’s should focus on providing policy direction and faster clearances of investment proposals and projects into the renewable energy sector, said an expert. Speaking to The Dollar Business, R Madhusudhan Rao, MD, Oorja Energy Engineering said, “Large investments into new sector like renewable energy is definitely going to have its ripple effect in multiple directions starting from requirement of trained and skilled manpower to demand for ancillary equipment and services and hence policy direction becomes critical.” He went on to add, “Huge investments are bound to come in to this sector due to the inherent advantages that India has in terms of solar radiation and lower installation costs. Additionally, the continued supply gap for power makes India the most attractive destination for solar plant investment, especially for low-interest funds from abroad.” Meanwhile, media reports stated that Japanese telecommunications and internet giant SoftBank Corp on Tuesday said it is interested in collaborating with the Andhra Pradesh government in the renewable energy sector. SoftBank chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son said this during a high-level meeting with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the presence of SoftBank Corp president Nikesh Arora and Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.   This is Son's courtesy visit to meet the Chief Minister following their meeting last year in Japan. Yesterday, in one of the biggest investments in solar energy, Soft Bank Corporation along with Bharti Enterprises and Tawains Foxconn said that they will pump in $20 billion in India, giving a big boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ss focus on renewable energy. SoftBank will have a majority stake in the joint venture, SBG Cleantech, with Bharti and Foxconn hold minority shareholding. Generating power from renewable sources is one of the priority areas for the NDA government with a target 100 thousand MW for 2022 from 3000 MW at present. In the joint venture Foxconn will be the key supplier of equipment which would be manufactured within the country, another push to Make in India programme.    

June 23, 2015 | 10:15 pm IST.