Power Foundation of India and Climate Policy Initiative Jointly Organize a Conference on “Distributed Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development”
27th February 2024, New Delhi: Power Foundation of India organized a conference on “Distributed Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development” at The Ashok, New Delhi, on 27th February 2024. The Conference was organized in collaboration with Climate Policy Initiative.
The Conference brought together key stakeholders from the Government, Private and Public sectors, and policy think tanks. Notable participants included Shri Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Shri S C L Das, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC and Dr. Tripta Thakur, Director General, National Power Training Institute (NPTI).
Rural India presents very distinct challenges to those encountered in concentrated urban and industrialized clusters and is critical to India’s decarbonization efforts. Recognizing the significance of rural areas, the conference emphasized the importance of decentralized, community-driven, and localized solutions, particularly Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) projects. The conference shed light on the critical role of DRE in India’s decarbonization efforts, identifying impediments and advocating policy actions for broader adoption.
Shri Sanjiv Nandan Sahai, Director General, Power Foundation of India, said, “The implementation of DRE projects holds the promise of expediting India’s renewable energy advancement due to their shorter turnaround time. DRE projects harness biomass, solar, and hybrid sources, presenting significant potential. Their application extends to benefitting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and small Commercial and Industrial (C&I) consumers.”
Dr. Dhruba Purkayastha, Director, Climate Policy Initiative, added, “India’s path to green economic growth is pivoted on the collective ability to unlock the huge potential of distributed RE (DRE) in India. By leveraging the power of innovation in terms of falling RE+ storage costs, fostering collaboration across diverse stakeholders, and implementing suitable policy and regulatory interventions, we can create a resilient, equitable, and low carbon distributed clean energy ecosystem for the underserved segments.”
During the day-long Conference, there were four panel discussions.
- Role of DRE in India’s Sustainable Development
- Empowering Communities – The role of Distributed Renewable Energy in Sustainable Development
- Uptake of DRE solutions for the MSME sector
- Business Models including Financing DRE
The conference delved into the intricacies of DRE projects, exploring their potential to curb energy losses, enhance livelihoods, and foster environmentally conscious manufacturing. Despite successful models in rural India, scaling up remains a challenge, necessitating the identification of impediments and advocating policy actions for broader adoption. The conference was a significant step toward fostering knowledge exchange, raising awareness, and proposing practical solutions for the broader adoption of Distributed Renewable Energy in India’s energy transition and sustainable development journey.
About Power Foundation of India
Power Foundation of India is a think-tank and a policy advocacy body in the Power Sector. It is a society under the aegis of Ministry of Power, Government of India. The Foundation undertakes independent, evidence-based research on issues and challenges pertaining to the Power Sector. The research studies encompass diverse aspects related to the generation, transmission, and distribution of power, electricity trading, energy transition, and environmental sustainability.
The Foundation designs and executes campaigns and outreach programs on themes relevant to the Power Sector. Through these engagements, the organization enhances awareness about the Power Sector and motivates people towards environment-friendly behaviour.
About Climate Policy Initiative India
Climate Policy Initiative(CPI) is an analysis and advisory organization with deep expertise in finance and policy. Our mission is to support governments, businesses, banks, and financial institutions to drive economic growth while addressing climate change. CPI has six offices around the world in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Climate Policy Initiative India Private Limited (CPI India) works to support India’s clean energy mission directed by its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) through clean energy market catalyzing initiatives, such as the US India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF), India Clean Energy Finance (ICEF), Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE), India Distributed Solar Finance initiative (IDSF), and The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (India Chapter); In addition, CPI India works on capacity building initiatives, such as the Center for Sustainable Finance (CSF); and carries out analytical work for transitioning towards a sustainable energy future, such as Futureproofing Strategy for PSUs, and Just Energy Transition.
