India’s plan to become energy independent ambitious: IEA

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    Elets News Network
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    indias-available-energy-resourcesThe International Energy Agency (IEA) has termed India’s plan to become energy independent by 2030 as a “very ambitious” and an “idealistic challenge”. Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of IEA, said it shouldn’t be forgotten that there is a huge dependency in India on oil and gas imports.

    India’s energy demand is expected to more than double by 2035, from less than 700 million tonnes of oil equivalent today to around 1500 mtoe according to the Oil Ministry’s estimates, even as there is rapidly diminishing interest in the Indian hydrocarbon sector.

    Oil Minister, Veerappa Moily, has set ambitious targets to reduce crude oil imports by 50% by 2020, 75% by 2025, and achieve self-sufficiency and energy independence by 2030. By 2025, India will also be the world’s second largest consumer of coal after China. The World Health Organization has said Delhi has the most polluted air in the world.

    “Till the time there is no price on carbon, it is very difficult to find the right incentive to finance carbon capture and sequestration ( CCS). This is a problem and this was the problem,” Paris-based van der Hoeven said ahead of the release of Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) 2014 report in Seoul. Energy ties, including water, hold the key to peace in the Indian subcontinent.
    She also expressed concern over the lack of investment in clean technologies such as CCS. Of India’s installed power generation capacity of 243,029 megawatts (MW), projects totalling 145,273.39MW are fuelled by coal.

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