December 24, 2021
10 domestic PWHRs with an aggregate capacity of 7,000 MW have been planned to be set up in fleet mode.
India sets a target to build more nuclear power plants by the year 2031.
India aims to achieve a target of 175 GW of Renewable Energy by 2022.
India is expecting developed countries to come forward and help the developing countries with a climate finance of US$1tn.
India has been striving to reduce its carbon footprints since the last couple of years. A recent announcement made by the government of India said that India will produce three times more nuclear power against its current producing capacity. India’s current nuclear power producing capacity is 6,780 MW which is said to be increased to 22,480 MW by the year 2031.
From April-November 2021, India has added a total of 8,530.92 MW of Renewable Energy capacity including large hydro units. This is higher than the 8,058.10 MW added during the entire year from 2020-21. A total of 150.54 GW of Renewable energy capacity target has been installed against the target of 175 GW, it also includes large hydro units and were installed on November 30 2021. Currently, India is set to achieve a target of 175 GW of Renewable Energy by 2022.
When it comes to financing clean energy, India is expecting help from developed countries to help the developing countries in providing climate finance of US$ 1trillion per year. The Minister of Space and Department of Atomic Energy, Shri Jitendra Singh also said that there has been no commitment by the government to eliminate coal by 2030. However, a total of 15,2418 MW of coal-based thermal power capacity has been retired so far.
During an on-going meeting in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State in the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy, Shri. Jitendra Singh said that India is all set to produce 22,480 MW of nuclear power as compared to the current 6,780 MW of nuclear energy. According to his statement, India is also planning to come up with many more nuclear power plants in the future.
The minister also said that 10 domestic Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PWHRs) with an aggregate capacity of 7,000 MW will also be set up in fleet mode for which the government has permitted administrative approval and has also been financially sanctioned.
He also called for better cooperation between India and the US to contribute to clean energy sectors such as biofuels and hydrogen and recapitulated India’s commitment to help promote not only nuclear programmes for providing not only a major source of clean energy but also providing a major tool for application in areas pertaining to healthcare and agriculture.
As per the Paris agreement, the initiative will also help India substantially increase its share of non-fossil fuel. Currently, the installed capacity of non-fossil fuels based electricity generation has reached a capacity of 39% against the pre-decided 40% by 2030, along with this initiative, India will also be enabled to take a bigger step towards climate action goal.
Both the countries also had discussions about revamping their strategic partnership to focus on clean energy sectors, such as biofuel and hydrogen as per the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.