No power shortage in the country, says Piyush Goyal

There is no shortage of power in the country to cater to the demands of states and government is trying to fully tap the potential of new and renewable energy to produce 175 Gigawatt of power by 2022, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal also said the government was exploring producing energy from waste and garbage and clearance of certain projects were awaited from National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court, monitoring the use of technology which does not impact on environment.

"There is no shortage of power in the country. We have sufficient power and if any state wants to buy power, one can do so from a portal now.

"Total potential in India from new and renewable energy is huge and immense and the total potential is certainly not being exploited. This government has embarked on a plan for producing 100 GW planned capacity in solar and an overall five-fold increase in renewable energy to 175 GW by 2022," Goyal told members during the Question Hour.

Replying to supplementaries, the Minister said as regards the total amount of energy generated last year from solar power and renewable sources of energy put together was 65 billion units.

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Piyush Goyal

Minister of Railways & Coal|Government of India

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"In 32 years, the country barely had 34 MW of renewable energy capacity and the total solar power capacity is 2,632 MW but we have added 4,130 MW capacity in last two years. This is almost 1.5 times in two years against what was added in last 32 years," Goyal said.

As per the new tariff policy, government has made compulsory grid inclusion for all new projects converting waste into energy, he said.

"Government is awaiting clearance of technology for use by certain projects to convert waste into energy. The NGT and Supreme Court are monitoring the technology used for proposed plants for converting waste and garbage into energy. We are in discussion with foreign makers for use of technology,"he said.

The Minister also said there was a proposal to tap the potential of wind power along the 7,500 km coastline in the country, but the cost turns out to be higher than in Europe.