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Better planning, coordination and timely execution are the key areas in the renewable energy sector that needs attention, according to the Parliamentary Panel on Energy. The sector should also focus on research and development besides designing through technological advancement as well as adequate fund allocation, the Committee headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav suggested.
In its ‘Report on Demands for Grants of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy,’ the Committee said that the Renewables Ministry seems to be getting punished by the Finance Ministry, as it is not accepting the recommendations of even the Planning Commission with regard to budgetary allocation for 2012-13.
The Committee noted a meagre Rs 1,385 crore has been sanctioned as gross budgetary support for 2012-13 by the Finance Ministry which is less than 25 per cent of the proposed demand of the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Strongly recommending higher fund allocation for the Ministry, the Committee this is important so that “the renewable energy programmes, particularly the project of the ambitious Solar Mission may not face a setback” in the beginning of the 12th Plan itself. The Committee was also concerned over the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission falling short of target.
The suggestions of the panel are largely in sync with the Climate Parliament, a multi-party group of MPs working on renewable energy. The Climate Parliament demanded an increase in the share of renewable energy under the 12th Plan, besides infrastructure status to renewable energy projects, 100 per cent rural electrification through renewable sources, allocation of one per cent of the total budget to renewable energy and creation of a Renewable Energy Research Fund.
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