According to the nation’s electricity minister, India is on pace to become a worldwide leader in green hydrogen and to challenge China’s leading position in the solar energy industry.
Rapidly increasing renewables investments, including those from outside, are helping to position India as a vital future provider of clean energy technologies and as an exporter of hydrogen and ammonia with low emissions. Tuesday in Sydney, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh stated.
“After China, we will be the largest manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells and modules,” Singh said on the sidelines of a two-day energy summit and meetings of the Quad group of nations, which also includes the United States, Japan, and Australia. We will be the world’s largest providers of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
According to Singh, India’s current capacity for producing solar cells and modules is around 15 gigawatts, and the addition of 50 gigawatts is currently underway. He stated that foreign investment in renewables averages between $9 billion and $11 billion per year and will “increase tremendously” alongside substantial local improvements.
Billionaire Gautam Adani has pledged to invest $70 billion in clean energy assets, including green hydrogen, while one of India’s most valuable companies, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., plans to increase production of solar panels, electrolyzers for clean hydrogen, and rechargeable batteries. The French oil firm TotalEnergies SE committed to a hydrogen partnership with Adani in India last month.
“We are the largest and most appealing renewable energy market in the world,” Singh stated in the interview. Previously, the government granted subsidies for local solar panel manufacture, and it is currently contemplating offering subsidies for electrolyzer production.
India is now just a small contributor to the global manufacturing of solar cells and modules. According to BloombergNEF, China dominated both industries in 2021, manufacturing more than two-thirds of modules and 86 percent of cells.
Singh stated that the pressure on India’s coal supply, which accounts for around 70 percent of electrical generation, has lessened, supported by a dramatic increase in imports. In an effort to prevent a repetition of last year’s power outages, the government has increased its imports of the fuel from abroad despite the rise in worldwide costs.
Singh stated, “I don’t want these imports to continue indefinitely.” “I believe that if you have coal reserves in your own nation, as does the minister of coal, then there is no reason to import it.”
