Asserting that the country has sufficient funding for renewable energy (RE) projects, Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said PFC and REC can invest up to USD 40 billion on such initiatives. “Today there is more than sufficient funding available for RE projects. In fact, REC and PFC, 2 non banking financial companies under our ministry, have ability to lend up to USD 35-40 billion for RE projects,” said Goyal, who also holds the portfolio for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) are ‘Navratna’ public sector enterprises under the Power Ministry.
India has set itself an ambitious target of generating 175 gigawatt of power by 2022 from renewable sources that includes 100 Gw from solar, 60 Gw from wind, 10 Gw from biomass and 5 Gw from small hydroelectric project. This will require investment of around USD 150 billion in the next seven years. Goyal said: “I have a plan to set up 4-5 GW of roof top solar with some government support, particularly for government buildings, government offices, smaller households.” The installed capacity of solar power crossed 5,000 MW in January. The government wants to have 18,000 MW solar power generation by 2017-end. Last month, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Joint Secretary Tarun Kapoor had said,”One lakh MW target is ambitious but it’s achievable. By March end we will be around 6,500 MW and by March 2017 we will have 20,000 MW capacity.” Of the 1,00,000 MW of power that will be generated through solar power, 40,000 MW will come through the grid connected solar rooftop systems.
Source:Moneycontrol
