India has called for enhanced energy cooperation in the SAARC region for betterment of lives of the people of the region. Addressing the 4th SAARC Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Dhaka today, Minister of Power, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde said that by coming together the nations of the region have taken an important step forward to realise the vision of a prosperous and developed South Asia.

The Minister expressed confidence that the SAARC electricity market will help in optimizing the resources on a larger scale. He said that the reforms would pave the way for cross country electricity transactions on a commercial basis. Adding that the inter-Governmental agreements would facilitate cross country electricity transactions, Shri Shinde said the countries in the region are taking some concrete steps to establish basic inter-connections on a bilateral basis which form the building blocks of the ultimate goal of a regional grid-connectivity.

The Minister said that as proposed by the Prime Minister of India at the 16th SAARC Summit, India is taking forward the initiative of setting up of Climate Innovation Centres in South Asia to develop sustainable energy technologies based on indigenous resource endowments.

On the renewable energy front, Shri Shinde referred to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and said that India envisages to add 20,000 MW solar capacity by 2022. Highlighting the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions in India mandating a minimum Renewable Purchase Obligation to the power distribution utilities and the mechanism of Renewable Energy Certificates or “Green Certificates” to facilitate investments in renewable energy, the Minister expressed India’s willingness to share its best practices and energy efficiency programmes with the member countries. He also shared the “Perform-Achieve-Trade” (PAT) Scheme under the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) for energy intensive sectors in India.

India will host the next meeting of senior officials and SAARC Energy Ministers in 2013.

On the sidelines of SAARC Energy Ministers meet Shri Shinde had bilateral meetings with Energy Ministers of Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Source: press Information Bureau
Date: September 15, 2011