MNRE holds ‘Chintan Baithak’ with the stakeholders of Renewable Energy sector

Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) held a ‘Chintan Baithak’ with the stakeholders of Renewable Energy sector on Tuesday.

The ‘Chintan Baithak’ (meet) was chaired by Secretary, MNRE, Anand Kumar and saw good participation from Renewable Energy (RE) sector including the representatives of major RE developers, equipment manufacturers, financers, regulators, think-tanks, industry bodies and skill developers.

The day long meet deliberated upon various issues pertaining to the RE sector viz. solar, wind, bio-energy, small-hydro, regulatory issues, bidding & pricing, demand forecasting, financing of RE projects, energy storage, Make in India, skilling India’s RE work force etc.

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Various policy interventions were suggested for the sector by the stakeholders at ‘Chintan Baithak’ and MNRE will consider these suggestions.

Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE said “We discussed a lot of land problems like land use — the challenges faced from converting it from agriculture to other uses — there’s a lot of delay during that process. There is also the problem of land ceiling. To acquire land above a certain limit, it requires approval of the state cabinet which takes a lot of time.”

He added “Removal of the ceiling tariff was the demand of the industry, our feeling is that we should get a fair price.”

Praveen Kumar, Additional Secretary, MNRE and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present during the meet.

This ‘chintan baithak’ was the first of its kind organised by MNRE.