Cost of solar energy is less than that of conventional energy: Minister

India’s Power ,Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister has said that energy is important part of our ecosystem and the setting up of a multilateral Agency of International Solar Alliance is a demonstration of our concern for issues of climate change. Speaking at a lecture organized by Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and the Pune International Centre he said US obstruction and pressures would not be acceptable to India. The traditional ethos of conservation makes India a natural country to lead the world efforts in the area of climate change. Criticizing the US claims on clean energy, Goyal said US has contributed zilch towards it. Arguing that India’s Solar energy generation program as one of the largest in the world, he said the world has tremendous potential to save energy. Goyal said he convinced the solar energy producers not to press for anti-dumping measures as that would have done more damage and the country would have been able to target any of its targets in the field of solar generation. Making a strong plea to industries for adopting solar in rural and urban areas in Pune, Goyal said that the cost of solar is cheaper than conventional energy based on fossil fuels and the tariff remains same for 25 years and its based on natural resources over which no external agency has control. On the ambitious program of replacing 770 million incandescent bulbs by LED bulbs, the Minister said till date more than 9 crore bulbs had been replaced and the company EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Ltd) is doing a phenomenal job replacing 7 lakh bulbs per day. This will result in a saving of 100 billion units every year and the consumer bills would come down cumulatively by Rs 40,000 crore and the Co2 emission will be down by 60 million tons/year. Goyal said energy efficiency and clean energy have been important features of the program. The Minister said India produces hardly 2.5 percent of greenhouse gases but despite that the US is doing little to mitigate effects of climate change. He said we are taking steps not because of pressure from them but because of our consciousness in recognizing the value of the universe. Senior economist Dr Vijay Kelkar, industrialist Baba Kalyani and members of Pune International Centre were present at the event.