Rajasthan, which is the leader in solar energy generation in the country and has inked MoUs worth over Rs 8 lakh crore during the ‘Investment Rajasthan’ summit, is likely to benefit from finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s focus on the sector.
Presenting the Budget, Sitharaman announced measures to make solar a dependable power as she focused on battery manufacturing, pumped hydro storage, and green hydrogen among others.
Sunil Bansal, president of Rajasthan Solar Association, said, “The focus of the Budget is on making solar dependable power. That’s why the Budget has given viability gap funding for battery manufacturing, focused on pumped hydro storage and green hydrogen. This will lead to exponential demand for solar energy and given the advantages of Rajasthan having large tracts of barren and semi-barren land with high radiance, the state will attract lot of projects.”
Sitharaman proposed an allocation of Rs 35,000 crore for priority capital investments towards energy transition and net zero objectives. She announced a host of other initiatives to decarbonize the economy.
She said the government is implementing many programmes for green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, and green equipment, and policies for efficient use of energy across various economic sectors.
“These green growth efforts help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy and provides for large-scale green job opportunities,” she said.
Highlighting the announcements, Bansa said that the proposal to promote battery manufacturing was the need of the hour.
To steer the economy on the sustainable development path, Sitharaman said that battery energy storage systems with capacity of 4,000 MWH will be supported with viability gap funding.
“A detailed framework for pumped storage projects will also be formulated,” she said.
Bansal also drew attention to the green credit programme announced by the Union finance minister in the Budget.
“For encouraging behavioural change, a green credit programme will be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act. This will incentivize environmentally sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals and local bodies, and help mobilize additional resources for such activities,” Sitharaman said.
Bansal said if the Union Budget’s announcements on the green energy sector are implemented with letter and spirit, it will expand the renewable energy industry exponentially and that the state will benefit in a major way.
The finance minister announced an inter-state transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW renewable energy from Ladakh. The infrastructure will be constructed with investment of Rs 20,700 crore including central support of Rs 8,300 crore, she said.
On the green hydrogen mission, the FM referred to the recently launched national mission with an outlay of Rs 19,700 crore. It will facilitate transition of the economy to low carbon intensity, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports, and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector, she said. The government targets to reach an annual production of 5 MMT by 2030.
