Expects Budget to accelerate Renewable Energy Uptake across MSMEs and Hard-to-Abate Industrial Sectors
National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), India’s largest umbrella organization for Renewable Energy Industry Thanks Government of India for accepting NSEFI’s request for creating a Pumped Storage policy, recognizing the critical role of Pumped Storage Projects (PSP) in India’s energy storage journey for ensuring a stable and efficient integration of renewable energy into the grid. NSEFI also requested for a dedicated Viability Gap Funding for PSP and expects a positive news on the same soon.
NSEFI CEO Subrahmanyam Pulipaka says “The PSP policy announcement will definitely encourage developers to invest in PSP accelerating our energy transition journey. Many states like MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat are already front runners and I believe the potential of PSP in many states is still untapped and this will trigger states to look at PSP to attract investments”.
NSEFI also expresses its gratitude to the Finance Minister for accepting a long-standing request of defining a comprehensive green Taxonomy in India. NSEFI CEO says “The announcement by the Finance Minister is a step in right direction for India, as the country is at an inflection point in it’s Renewable energy journey. We will be installing as much Renewables in next 7 years as we did in entire electricity generation in our first 70 years since independence. Availability of financial instruments to power this ambitious energy transition journey is very important. By enhancing the current green taxonomy to a comprehensive one containing of emerging RE generation and manufacturing sectors, India can be a role model to both developed and developing nations”.
In manufacturing, the Government announced expansion of the list of exempted capital goods for use in the manufacture of solar cells and panels in the country. NSEFI believes this will aid, especially in enhancing domestic manufacturing capacities of Solar cells and modules including that of PLI I and II winners. NSEFI’s analysis says India is projected to cross 100GW of manufacturing milestone of modules by 2026.
NSEFI CEO says “Another key message from this budget is a dedicated focus on greening the industrial sector especially for MSMEs and hard-to-abate industry. Government’s announcement on financial support for the transition of micro and small industries to cleaner forms of energy along with Investment-grade energy audits for 60 clusters, with plans to expand to 100 clusters is a crucial first step to Solarizing these clusters. Additionally, the announcement of a new policy to transition ‘hard to abate’ industries, such as steel and other carbon-intensive sectors, from focusing solely on energy efficiency to targeting overall emissions reductions will also increase uptake of Green Energy in these sectors”.
In the realm of agricultural productivity, the Budget 2024-25 emphasizes the need for innovative solutions to enhance resilience and efficiency. The government announced that it will conduct a comprehensive review of the agricultural research setup to improve productivity and develop climate-resilient crop varieties. NSEFI is hopeful that this initiative should also include the integration of “agrivoltaics systems”, which optimize land use by combining agricultural activities with solar energy production. This dual-use approach not only increases agricultural yield but also contributes to renewable energy generation, aligning with the nation’s broader sustainability goals.
About NSEFI
NSEFI has been India’s leading Renewable Energy policy advocacy body for the past decade and is an umbrella organization representing renewable energy (RE) companies that are active along the whole RE value chain comprising leading International, National, and regional companies including Developers, manufacturers, EPC Contractors, Installers, System Integrators, Small and Medium Enterprises etc. NSEFI works in a complimentary manner with Central and State Governments to achieve India’s Renewable Target of 500 GW by 2030. NSEFI’s efforts have culminated into making India’s solar a successful growth story where India is today the 5th Largest country in terms of installed solar capacity.
As an industry body, NSEFI is at the helm of policy advocacy for the growth of RE in India. NSEFI engages with multiple government stakeholders regularly based on the feedback from its members and provides its inputs on the policies pertaining to various subsectors of the Indian RE sector namely Solar, Wind, Hydro, Biomass and Green Hydrogen. NSEFI’s member base grew steadily from a humble number of 6 in 2013 to 142 in 2023, which makes NSEFI the world’s 5th largest Solar Association and RE advocacy body.
