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India is working towards developing an appropriate policy framework, regulatory systems and standards to scale up agrivoltaics, which enables solar power generation alongside agricultural production, Santosh Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), said on Wednesday.
"The policy framework which is required, the regulatory systems which are required, the standard setting which is required is something which has been deliberated in this agri photovoltaic conference and we are hopeful that this will provide the right kind of roadmap and strategy for Indias agri photovoltaic initiative," Sarangi said. He said this in response to an ANI query on the sidelines of the 7th Global Agriphotovoltaic Conference. He said the conference aimed to bring together global best practices, research findings and policy experience to identify approaches suited to Indian conditions. The discussions covered standards, financing arrangements and business models that could help expand agrivoltaics beyond pilot projects. Sarangi said India added about 56 GW of non-fossil-fuel capacity last year and anticipated a similar level of addition this year. He said the country was targeting 500 GW of installed non-fossil-fuel capacity by 2030 and had around 308 GW installed at the time of his remarks. "Last year we added about 56 GW of non-fossil fuel. This year also we anticipate similar capacities," he said. He expressed confidence that India could achieve its 2030 target, citing the pace of renewable energy development over the previous two years. He also said that less than 50 GW of additional installation would be required to meet the target over the remaining period, according to his assessment. Highlighting the potential of agrivoltaics, Sarangi said the approach could support electricity generation without compromising food production. So agri-photovoltaic potential is huge in our country because it aims at doing energy generation or electricity generation without compromising on food production, he said. India is hosting the conference for the first time in a developing country, following previous editions in France, Germany, the United States and South Korea. The event brought together researchers, policymakers, farmers and knowledge partners to explore how global experiences could be adapted to meet Indias agricultural and energy needs. Sarangi said the focus was on taking successful pilot projects to a larger scale and establishing the policy and regulatory support required for wider adoption. "The idea is to take some of the successful pilots to scale and see that these are successful," he said. Participants also discussed business models suited to small farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and farmer cooperatives. The discussions sought to identify approaches that could make agrivoltaics practical for farmers while supporting the countrys renewable energy ambitions. Sarangi said the deliberations were expected to help shape a roadmap for Indias agrivoltaics initiative, including the standards and institutional arrangements needed for implementation. (ANI)
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