Rama Krishna Sangem
If India has to become a leader in renewable energy sector, it should expand locally, on all aspects – right from supply chain to talent pool of workforce. Presently, all these things are centralized posing challenges to the industry. This is the view of the industry leaders at a seminar held by Business Standard in Delhi on February 28, Friday.
The renewable energy sector is witnessing rapid growth, with special focus on localising the supply chain to sustain this momentum, said Amit Singh, CEO, Adani Green Energy Ltd.
Singh stressed the significance of localisation in achieving this growth, stating, “If we want to move fast, we need to work on localisation of supply chain and talent. The sector is making an effort to localise — whether it is solar modules, wind turbines, or auxiliary equipment. Additionally, we need a larger pool of skilled professionals to support the sector’s expansion.”
Girish Tanti, founder and vice-chairman, Suzlon Group also believes that India is set to become a global supplier in clean tech. “But wind industry OEMs received no incentive in past 20 years.” he points out. “Some support is required to develop a wind ecosystem and make India a global supplier in wind energy tech,” he said speaking at BS Manthan.
Demand should go up
Further, Singh emphasised the accelerating demand for renewable electricity and the need for large-scale projects. He said, “Renewable energy is rising at an accelerated pace. This is the era of renewable electricity, and eventually, everything will be electrified. The demand is growing rapidly, but we are still far from where we need to be. That is why we have taken on the challenge of a 30-gigawatt plant, which is well on its way. Today, we reached a milestone, crossing 12 gigawatts in total portfolio, and we aim to reach 50 gigawatts by 2030.”
Talking about import duties, Singh expressed the importance of long-term planning. “We need to think long-term, not just short-term. Localisation is essential at this stage, and support is needed for growth. Eventually, these support measures will phase out at the right time, but for now, they help businesses flourish.”
Addressing the prospects of a 100 per cent domestic solar power plant, Singh highlighted the need for efficiency over cost alone, “We should not look at pricing just from a cost perspective but also from how efficiently we operate the plant. Wind patterns in India vary, so the challenge is to optimise plant design to capture maximum wind energy. A micro-level understanding of weather patterns is crucial to lowering costs holistically,” he said.
Quality workforce needed
On skilling, Singh said, “We invite people to come work with us even though they don’t have much experience around it. We give them safety training (around electricals). And parallelly, we are developing a training centre. And people we train will not just work with us, but will be free to work with the government. That is the team of people we need. The quality of workmanship is equally important otherwise we won’t be able to have plants that run in the long run.”
Deepesh Nanda, MD & CEO, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd, acknowledged the Indian government’s ambitious renewable energy targets, stating, “The government has set a target of 500 gigawatts, which initially seemed ambitious. However, today, if you ask industry leaders, they are confident we will achieve it. Our estimates suggest we may even reach 650 gigawatts by 2032.”
Nanda highlighted Tata Power’s role in this transition. “Like many large industry players, we have undertaken a massive expansion. We currently have 6,000 megawatts operational, with another 6,000 under construction. This has been enabled by government-backed manufacturing initiatives, particularly the PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme. We benefited from this and commissioned a world-class manufacturing plant at scale.”
