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India reduced cost for solar energy from 25c to 3c – Minister tells CNN journalist
– Report says country saved over US$4B in 6 months by using solar power over fossil fuel
Kaieteur News – On October 31, 2022, during an interview with a CNN journalist, India’s Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, disclosed that amid the energy crisis his government was able to bring down the cost for solar power from 25c to 3c.
“And let me tell you what we have done, we are the one country in the world which have demonstrated that we can bring the cost of solar down. We brought it from 25 cents down to 3 cents,” Puri told the CNN.
His aforementioned statement was made after a series of questions from CNN journalist Becky Anderson. Anderson posited that India is benefiting from discounted oil imports from Russia, amidst the Russia-Ukraine war. However, the minister was not having it and he responded stating, “The purchase of Russian oil was 0.2% in the last Financial Year. Europe buys in one afternoon what we buy from Russia in one quarter. Let’s be clear about the perspective.”
The minister disclosed that the largest supplier of oil to India was Iraq, adding, “We owe our moral duty to our consumers. We have a 1.34 billion population and we have to ensure that they are supplied with energy (whether it is petrol or diesel).”
Moreover, the minister explained that India is the fifth largest economy in the world that is making the transition to clean energy, while utilising fossil fuel to foster that transition.
“When you have an increase in oil prices, they have consequences. One of them includes inflation and recession. This also implies that we will transition to green energy alternatives faster,” he said.
When asked about his views on energy diversity, Minister Puri stated that India is already practicing energy transition, noting that the transition can only come about from using wind, solar, fossil fuels and other forms of energy. It was during this line of questioning when the minister highlighted that India was able to lower the cost for solar energy to consumers to just 3c.
“If you want to make green hydrogen, then, what do you need? You need cheap power and electrolysers. We are getting both. We have one of the most comprehensive and ambitious green hydrogen plants in the world,” he emphasised.
Moreover Economic Times reported in November 2022 that India saved US$4.2 billion in fuel costs through solar generation in the first half of 2022 and 19.4 million tonnes of coal that would have further stressed an already strained domestic supply.
It was reported that the information was taken from a report by energy think tank Ember, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
“In India, solar generation avoided USD 4.2 billion in fuel costs in the first half of the year. It also avoided the need for 19.4 million tonnes of coal that would have further stressed an already strained domestic supply,” the report stated.
Last year, this publication had reported that the World Bank approved US$165 million in additional financing to accelerate the adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) units on rooftops in India by residential consumers by making it more affordable.
It was reported that the money directly finance 450 megawatts (MW) of residential rooftop solar capacity and the initiative is expected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 13.9 million tons. This works out to about US$376,000 per megawatt.
Kaieteur News had pointed out that Guyana on the otherhand is racing ahead with a gas-to-energy project that will supply the grid with some 250MW with a speculated cost of over a billion US dollars and a 175 MW hydro plant at Amaila Falls, pegged also at in excess of a billon US dollars in its previous iteration. Notably, the Amaila Falls project has since been shelved but the Government of Guyana has disclosed that despite the hiccup, they will be pursing with the project.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is in India on an official visit from February 20 to 25, 2023, at the invitation of the Vice President of India. VP Jagdeo is accompanied by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh.
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