'PM Modi's Energy Plans will Open Avenues for Entrepreneurs and Investors' Sara Vakhshouri, President, SVB Energy International, is very optimistic about Modi's energy plan
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Sara Vakhshouri, President, SVB Energy International, is very optimistic about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy plan and said the schemes will create investment opportunities for both Indian and international players in the energy space.
The senior executive was referring to PM Modi's plan of increasing India's renewable capacity to 175 GW by 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar power, 60 GW from wind power, 10 GW from biopower and 5 GW from small hydropower.
In 2018 and 2019, the government also is planning to auction 30 GW solar projects each. It will also auction 5 GW capacities of windpower's offshore capacity next year.
International companies like Belgian-based Colruyt Group have announced that they would invest about INR 800-100 crore in India's renewable energy sector and is also open to working with country's start-up in this space.
Presently, India's total power generation capacity is around 300GW and renewables contribute around 60GW.
Additionally, with Modi's focus on green and clean energy, Vakhshouri feels there will be investment options in minimizing polluting process, such purifying coal or reducing the share of coal in production energy, for both entrepreneurs and investors
Furthermore, she also mentioned Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (PM's Power for All program) or Saubhagya scheme, which aims to provide electrical connections to over 40 million families in rural and urban areas by December 2018 and free electricity to households below the poverty line (BPL).
The above project was launched earlier this year in September 2017 and has a total project outlay of INR 16,320 crore.
Vakhshouri said such programs will open doors for entrepreneurs/investors in the whole grid process that are used to bring electricity from the production house to end consumers.
Meanwhile, Washington-based SVB Energy International offers market research and strategic advisory services within the energy sector, especially for countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, and Mexico. Their target audiences are mostly American companies and investors.
