NEW DELHI, July 23 (Xinhua) -- India stands committed to achieving about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources by 2030, federal power minister Manohar Lal said on Monday.
"India in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) stands committed to achieving about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030," Lal said in a written statement in the upper house of the Indian parliament.
"At present, India has already achieved 45.5 percent installed capacity from non-fossil-fuel-based resources. A plan has been prepared according to which India will not only meet its commitment of 50 percent non-fossil-fuel-based generation capacity but will surpass the same."
The power minister, however, added that the peak and electrical energy requirement of the country has been increasing over the years.
"During the solar hours along with various generation resources such as coal, gas, hydro, nuclear and wind, solar generation is available to meet the peak demand," he said.
To mitigate the seasonal behavior of hydro, wind and non-availability of domestic gas for gas-based power plants, the coal-based generation capacity is required to meet the demand during non-solar hours, he said.
The expansion of fossil-fuel-based generation capacity has been planned based on domestic coal, the minister said. ■
