Renewable Energy investments must be driven by concern for planet, not just financial gain: Sonam Wangchuk
New Delhi: There are ample opportunities for growth in renewable energy in India, but investments in this sphere must be driven by concern for the planet, instead of pure financial gain, Sonam Wangchuk, Founding Director, Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, said in his address at a special session during the 2nd Global RE-Invest India-ISA Partnership Renewable Energy Investors’ Meet & Expo.
“Investments in renewable energy must seek to solve problems of people, and plants and animals and make their lives better. Ladakh has 45,000 square kilometers of desert and the ideal temperature conditions for solar photovoltaic cells to generate energy at the optimum level. What is needed is a power highway to evacuate such high power from Ladakh, for use in the rest of the country,” he said.
“But in generating and evacuating power from Ladakh, the welfare of local people and animals must also be kept in mind, for the progress to be sustainable,” Wangchuk added.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is planning to set up the country’s largest solar power plant in Ladakh, which will help meet India’s energy requirements and its ambitious renewable energy generation targets. India aims to have 175GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power sources.
Wangchuk made a pitch for every Indian to adopt day-light saving time, which he reckoned would save the country a lot of energy and money.
Source: mslgroup
