New Delhi: Government is working on an interest subvention scheme for the energy sector to support new clean energy and energy efficiency technologies, said Power Secretary Alok Kumar recently in his speech at the third Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency.
“India is now formulating a scheme for supporting emerging energy efficiency for expensive technologies and we are going to give interest subvention… That is on the table,” said Kumar.
He added that initial support in terms of VGF and priority lending is required to scale up a new technology.
He said that the government is also working towards universal access to clean energy. “We are also very conscious of the available technologies for the greater challenges we will face in terms of deep decarbonisation and addressing the hard-to-abate sectors,” added Kumar.
“If you want to succeed in fighting climate change, of which energy transition is the most important part, then this is required for low cost finance for promoting these technologies,” he said.
He added that the government’s priorities are well thought of in terms of technologies and low cost financing required. De-risking of projects requires proper regulatory framework, payment security, and making sure that contracts are implemented in the true spirit, but these will not suffice.
“We need sizable public finance to bring down the cost of financing of clean energy projects in developing countries and that is where most action will be required,” said Kumar.
He said that the G20 community will have to ensure that other countries who have started moving towards the path of development have adequate fund flows and low cost of finance so that the fruits of development are available to them and no one is left behind.
Speaking at the event, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said that we need to strengthen policy commitments, as policy and regulatory stability, transparency, and predictability are fundamental to driving investments.
The ETWG meeting under India’s G20 Presidency, MNRE, together with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, and International Renewable Energy Agency hosted the official side event, ‘Low-cost Finance for New & Emerging Energy Technologies’ on 15 May, 2023, in Mumbai.
The event brought together policymakers, financial institutions, and technology developers to deliberate on the estimation of cost-effective financing for energy transition based on the future trajectory of emerging critical technologies – hydrogen, offshore wind, energy storage and carbon capture utilization & storage.
The report ‘Low-Cost Finance for Energy Transition’ prepared by IRENA in collaboration with the MNRE under G20’s India Presidency, was unveiled at the G20 ETWG side event.
