India is perceived as a developing country but it is developing at a pace that is not matched by many others. There is significant appreciation of our economic growth. Yet the fact remains that our growth is constrained by energy supply and availability. When the growth rate was lower in the early decades of independence, the energy problem was seen as benign, with only short-term inefficiencies and supply constraints. But the increasing appetite for energy that has developed in the recent past has been further complicated by rapidly diminishing conventional sources like oil and coal. To add to the problems of increased demand and constrained supply, there are serious questions about pursuing a hydrocarbon-based growth, especially in the context of environmental concerns. The challenge, then, facing a developing nation such as ours is to meet our increasingly large energy needs while minimising the damage to the environment. This is why, while striving to bridge our energy deficit, we want to increase the share of clean, sustainable, new and renewable energy sources. Whether or not renewable energy completely replaces fossil fuel, we are determined to develop renewable energy.

India today stands among the top five countries of the world in terms of renewable energy capacity.

We have an installed base of over 15 gw, which is around 9% of India?s total power generation capacity and contributes over 3% in the electricity mix. While the significance of renewable energy from the twin perspectives of energy security and environmental sustainability is usually well appreciated, what is often overlooked or less appreciated is its capacity to usher in energy access for all, including the most disadvantaged and the remotest of our habitations. In its decentralised or standalone avatar, renewable energy is the most appropriate, scalable and optimal solution for providing power to thousands of remote and hilly villages and hamlets. Even today, millions of decentralised energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, improved cook stoves are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. By providing energy access to the most disadvantaged and remote communities, it becomes one of the biggest drivers of inclusive growth.

In my travels across the vast expanse of India, I have seen for myself how small standalone off-grid or distributed systems can make a vast difference to millions of poor people. In the remote villages of Gurez in my own state of Jammu and Kashmir, right on the border, I have seen how a basic home-lighting system can change the life of people. At the very least, a home-lighting system extends the working life of a poor family by a few hours every day?children can study till late; women can cook late; the entire family is saved from the deleterious effects of kerosene that they would otherwise have had to burn?the benefits are endless. On a recent visit to Uttarakhand, I was told by the chief minister, how a solar lantern in the hilly and border villages provides basic lighting to the otherwise energy-deprived people. My ministry has estimated that merely by distributing solar lanterns in remote areas and to nomadic populations like Gujjars and Bakkerwaals, we can light up over a million energy-deprived homes. Similarly, one million street lights can illuminate streets in over one lakh villages. Further, all these efforts will throw up thousands of possibilities of job creation and self-employment right at the local and village levels.

What I have enumerated above are some of the more basic applications of renewable energy in remote and inaccessible areas. Therefore, we in the ministry have decided to move on to the next level. We are experimenting with numerous new applications of decentralised energy through renewable sources. We have recently sanctioned a project to Rajasthan to provide solar power to every single local self body in the state by installing 1.12 kW capacity solar systems at each of the 9,168 panchayat centres. These systems will help provide reliable power to run computers, televisions and provide connectivity to otherwise far-flung and poor areas. In many tribal and forest areas, we are not only using solar power to light up remote hamlets but also trying to bring about a convergence in forest conservation, education and rural development efforts. In rural Bihar, we are experimenting with a project for generation of electricity by use of locally available rice-husk. Each of these endeavours is an effort at energy access for the poorest and the remotest. We are trying to make it easier for poor citizens to access these services through a combination of capital subsidy, soft loans and interest subvention. We are convinced that the role of renewable energy in serving the aam aadmi is by itself a sufficient reason for us to pursue this course vigorously and passionately.

Even though the distributed use of renewable energy is high on our agenda, we are not unaware of the enormous potential of renewable energy in generating and feeding power to the grid. In November 2009, the government of India approved the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). This is a unique and ambitious transformational objective that aims to establish India as a global leader in solar energy. The mission aims to enable 20,000 mw of solar energy being deployed in India by 2022. It aims to create a capacity of 1,000 mw by 2013 itself. This is the largest and the most ambitious programme of its kind, anywhere in the world. The mission is not merely an effort at generating grid-connected electricity. Rather, two of its major objectives are a) to encourage R&D and encourage innovation, thereby facilitating grid-parity in the cost of solar power and b) to establish India as the global hub for solar manufacturing. This is what makes it a uniquely ambitious and game-changing programme.

In wind energy too, India competes globally in manufacturing and deployment. With an installed capacity of about 12,000 mw, it occupies the fifth position in the world, after US, Germany, China and Spain. Our policy framework in wind energy generation is extremely investor-friendly and an attractive tariff and regulatory regime provides a strong foundation for the growth of the sector. In fact, a recent decision of my ministry to incentivise generation of power by a generation-based incentive will create a level-playing field between foreign and domestic investors, and catalyse more investments in this field by large independent power producers and foreign investors.

The challenge before us in the renewable energy sector, generally and, in India, particularly is to reduce the per-unit cost of renewable energy. Hence, there is a continuous need to innovate to increase efficiencies and bring down costs. Innovations can be brought about in various ways?it is possible to harness lower wind speeds, the energy of tides and waves can be channelised to produce electricity, alternate transport fuels can make our journeys less carbon intensive, hydrogen can be an ideal energy storage and carrier. It is possible to have a large grid with lowest losses of electricity. Similarly another area of innovation could be technological?managing the complexity of variable power generation through computer-enabled power networks or smart grids. The efficiencies of smart grid management coupled with the sustainability of renewable energy could be a win-win combination. India, as the leading light of the IT world, would have a natural advantage in this.

On the policy front, my ministry is also working with the regulators to lay down the framework for tradable renewable energy certificates. While this will enable us to achieve a larger share of renewable energy in our electricity mix, the federal regulator?s recent announcement of normative guidelines for provincial regulators to fix tariffs for renewable energy will provide a mechanism for better tariff for renewable energy developers. We are confident that all these policy interventions will further boost investments in the sector. We are also working towards closer engagement with banks and lending agencies to help developers gain access to easy and cheaper sources of finance.

For centuries, the Indian tradition has worshipped the sun, the wind, the earth and the water as sources of life, energy and creation. Today?s technology provides us a real opportunity to transform the promise of boundless and clean energy to reality. From rooftop solar power in urban agglomerations to decentralised and off-grid solutions in remote rural communities, the opportunities in renewable power are immense. We believe that governments, in their facilitative role, have to create enabling ecosystems that will, in turn, facilitate the healthy unleashing of the entrepreneurial spirits of the private sector and lead to the rapid development and deployment of renewable energy.

My vision is to see that every citizen of the world has access to clean energy reliably and affordably. It is for us to rise together to take advantage of these opportunities and translate to reality the vision of a better world for all mankind.

?This is an abridged and edited version of the speech delivered by Dr Farooq Abdullah, minister for new and renewable energy, at the 5th Asia Clean Energy Forum of the Asian Development Bank on June 23, 2010