By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, SEPT 04, 2018: The Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Mr Suresh Prabhu, today stated that demand for energy would increase due to rapid development taking place in India and fossil fuel is not going to last forever and therefore there is need for renewable energy. He was addressing the gathering at afunction of International Solar Alliance (ISA) Innovation and Investment Forum in here today. Mr Prabhu mentioned that fossil fuel is not going to last for ever even if its resources are managed in the best possible manner. He said that the use of shale gas and oil is limited and it adversely impacts the environment. The threat of climate change has become a reality and it has affected bio-diversity of the planet. Imbalanced use of energy is the root cause of many environmental problems in different parts of the world. It is causing unprecedented heat wave conditions in Europe, intensity and frequency of typhoons have also increased.

Referring to variations in Monsoon rainfall in India, the Minister stated that India is in no way responsible for what is happening in the atmosphere over Indian Ocean, but it has to bear the consequences of ocean warming. He said that the time has come to switch over to the clean form of energy like solar power. He also stated that the idea of solar alliance was conceived by Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi in 2015 as a treaty based international intergovernmental organization. ISA stands for co-operation among 121 solar rich countries lying fully or partially between the tropics in order to promote massive deployment of solar energy and make solar energy affordable.

Mr Prabhu also mentioned that ISA provides an opportunity to all countries to bring prosperity, energy security and sustainable development to their peoples. He said that once the generation of solar energy goes up, its prices will come down. Mr Prabhu stressed on joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and technology for massive production of solar energy. He said many firms of Australia and Japan are keen to invest in India in solar energy sector. The Minister emphasized on the need for sending market signals so that more funds are invested in R&D in solar energy. India has set a target to generate100 GW solar energy by 2022 for increasing share of carbon free energy in the energy mix .