Cost of Solar energy is less than that of conventional energy: Piyush Goyal

Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister, Piyush Goyal speaking at a lecture organized by Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and the Pune International Centre of State (IC) said energy is important part of our ecosystem and setting up of a multilateral Agency of International Solar Alliance is a demonstration of our concern for issues of climate change. He further added US obstruction and pressures would not be acceptable to India. The traditional ethos of conservation makes India a natural country to lead the world efforts in the area of climate change.

Goyal Criticizing US claims on clean energy, said US has contributed nothing towards it, he argued that India’s Solar energy generation program as one of the largest in the world

The Govt. has convinced the solar energy producers not to press for anti-dumping measures as that would have done more damage to the country.

Making a strong plea to industries for adopting solar in rural and urban areas in Pune, Goyal said that the cost of solar is cheaper than conventional energy based on fossil fuels and the tariff remains same for 25 years and it is based on natural resources over which no external agency has control.

On the ambitious program of replacing 770 million incandescent bulbs by LED bulbs, the Minister said till date more than 9 crore bulbs had been replaced and the company EESL(Energy Efficiency Services Ltd) is doing a phenomenal job replacing 7 lakh bulbs per day. This will result in a saving of 100 billion units every year and the consumer bills would come down cumulatively by Rs 40,000 crore and the Co2 emission will be down by 60 million tons/year.

India produces hardly 2.5 percent of greenhouse gases but despite that the US is doing little to mitigate effects of climate change. India is taking steps not because of pressure from them but because of country’s consciousness in recognizing the value of the universe said Goyal.