Mumbai: The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) concluded its two-day national exhibition and conference on renewable energy at their premises on Thursday.
The conference was held to explore new technologies, practices and equipment in this segment. Some of the focus areas were wood energy, advances in bio-energy, biofuels and hydrogen, India’s ethanol blending programme, way forward and benefits of renewable energy to micro, small and medium enterprise.
Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) inaugurated the event. Anant Sardeshmukh, Director General of MCCIA, spoke about several government initiatives for promoting renewable energy and emphasised on solar and green energy as the need of the hour to counter the global warming challenges.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar said, “Renewable energy is the future and very important for India. With the cost of electricity rising, the need to explore the alternative source of energy is very urgent. Comparatively, the cost of solar energy installations is becoming more affordable. Telangana and Gujarat are leading states in the installation of solar projects.”
He said the key drivers for the growth of the renewable energy would be incentives from the government. There will be definite growth if there is a push from the demand side and the demand is to go up by 15 per cent by 2019-20. The sessions through the two days included a panel discussion on challenges to meet renewable energy target and another panel on 24/7 renewable energy.
