key points:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India’s energy is future bright and secure.
- In his address, Modi said, “Our energy sector will be growth-centric, investor-friendly and environmentally conscious”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India’s energy is future bright and secure and that energy consumption to double over the long term and the country’s energy will energize the world.
“A self-reliant India will also be a force multiplier for the world economy. Energy security is at the core of our efforts,” he said.
In his address, Modi said, “Our energy sector will be growth-centric, investor-friendly and environmentally conscious.” He also said that access to energy should be affordable and reliable. He said the energy sector empowers people and furthers “Ease of Living” and he listed Government’s initiatives to achieve this. He said these initiatives particularly helped the rural people, middle class, and women.
“India to grow oil refining capacity to 450 million tonnes by 2025 from current 250 million tonnes,” Modi added while addressing the event.
Lauding India’s efforts of energy conservation, PM Modi said, “In the last six years, over 11 million smart LED street lights were installed. This has enabled an estimated energy saving of 60 billion units per year. The estimated greenhouse gas emission reduction with this program is over 4.5 crore tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and monetary savings of around Rs. 24,000 crore annually.”
“Leading global bodies project that global demand will contract for the next few years. But these agencies project India as a leading consumer,” he said.
India, he said, was on track to meet its COP21 commitment of raising electricity generation from renewable energy sources to 175 gigawatts by 2022.
“We have further extended the target to 450 GW by 2030,” he said, adding India has one of the lowest carbon emissions.
Stating that India saw transformational reforms in the energy sector in the last five years, the Prime Minister highlighted changes in oil and gas exploration and production regime as well as gas marketing.
“India’s reform journey has been on the high speed in the last five years,” he emphasized.
The Prime Minister said like the seven horses driving the chariot of Sun god, India’s energy map will have seven key drivers.
- Accelerating our efforts to move towards a gas-based economy.
- Cleaner use of fossil fuels particularly petroleum and coal
- Greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels.
- Achieving the renewables target of 450 GW by 2030.
- Increasing the contribution of electricity to de-carbonize mobility.
- Moving into the emerging fuels including hydrogen
- Digital innovation across all the energy systems.
He said there will be continuity of these robust energy policies that have been in place over the last six years.
PM Modi also pointed out that India is the third-largest and the fastest-growing aviation market in terms of domestic aviation and Indian carriers are projected to increase their fleet size from 600 to 1200 by 2024.
The event convened an international group of speakers and a community of over a thousand delegates from India and over 30 countries.
The speakers at the event included Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Energy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Dan Brouillette US Secretary of Energy among others.
Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, in his address said India is the third-largest energy consumer and the demand is expected to grow further. The energy agenda in India is inclusive and sensitive to climate change, he added.
“We are conscious of the importance of the Indian economy to the world. Saudi Arabia is always ready to deliver on our pledge to India,” said Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud at the event.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had earlier said that this is the fifth such event organized by the NITI Aayog and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and around 45 CEOs of major oil and gas companies will attend the roundtable this year.
The objective behind the meeting is to deliver a global platform to understand best-practices, discuss reforms, and inform strategies for accelerating investments into the Indian oil and gas value chain, the PMO said in a statement.
The annual interaction has gradually become one of the most important gatherings of not only intellectual debate but also of executive action, it said.
The event also grows in stature with the rise of India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer, which is likely to see an investment of over $300 billion by 2030 in the oil and gas sector to meet the rising demand, the PMO said.
