Energy transition topmost priority in every board meeting now, says Reliance’s New Energy President

Energy transition has become a topmost priority which is discussed in every 'board meeting now', Kapil Maheshwari, President of New Energy at Reliance Industries, said on Friday.

Speaking at Business Today’s Renewable Energy Summit on Friday in New Delhi, Maheshwari pointed out that in order to push the growth of this sector several pain points including price and adoption need to be addressed among others.

In the Budget 2023-24, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 10,222 crore to the new and renewables energy sector, a jump of over 45 per cent from last year’s budget allocated (Rs 7,033 crore).

Rahul Walawalker, President of India Energy Storage Alliance, also applauded the government’s thrust on the renewables sector in the Union Budget 2023.

Walawalker said that he was happy with the government’s allocation in this year’s budget. He, however, pointed out that one of the things that ecosystem stakeholders needed to work on was “inertia". “We like to get together and talk about this but we are waiting for some magic to happen,” he said, adding that we need to go “beyond discussion.”

One of the things the panelists agreed on is how domestic manufacturing setup and a network of resilient supply chain systems were important to oil the wheels of this sector. Walawalker pointed out that “without demand, manufacturing will not happen” and echoed Maheshwari’s point of working out ways to increase the adoption of renewable energy within the country.

Maheshwari believed that India had a big opportunity waiting at its doorstep. With disruptions in the global supply chain due to geopolitical crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war, India can leverage this opportunity, he noted.

“With these challenges, I wonder if we can make things on our own?” he questioned. He also said that the process of the clean energy transition will take time and India should be ready to face hurdles as well. “Others have taken time so why are we in such a hurry?” he concluded.

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