NEW DELHI: Power minister R K Singh on Saturday assured his Maldives energy minister Hussain Rasheed Hassan India’s support the island nation’s efforts in reducing dependence on oil imports by developing renewable energy projects, even as he announced plans to power Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep fully on green energy.
During the country session with the Maldives on the concluding day of global green energy investors meet, RE-Invest 2020, Singh said that the Maldives, being a beautiful country, needs to maintain and enhance its beauty as an attractive tourist destination. “It is, therefore, absolutely essential that renewable energy is made central (in energy plan) in the Maldives,” a government statement quoted the minister as saying.
Hassan said renewable energy is important for his country, which faces a major threat in terms of adverse climate changes. He said what is good for the environment is good for his country’s economy and enumerated the investor-friendly measures/policies taken to promote renewables. The government of Maldives has been proactively pursuing renewable energy goals that support strengthening the ecology, as well as the economy.
Addressing another session with chief ministers, Singh said India is one of the very few countries to have met its commitment to keeping climate change within 2%. He said India has installed about 136,000 MW (megawatt) of renewable energy capacity, while another 57000 mw capacity is under implementation.
“India has done exemplary work in the space of renewable energy and running the largest energy access expansion plan. We have connected every household, the whole country into one integrated grid and we are the only G20 nation which has been able to keep the temperatures within 2 degrees by its actions,” he said.
Singh said the target now is to achieve 450 GW (gigawatt), or 4,50,000 MW, renewable energy capacity by 2030. He emphasised that renewable energy is a must not only for island states but also for the world. This realisation has dawned on everybody that we need to reduce our carbon footprints to preserve the planet.
