India is one of the leading nations to make significant investments in the clean energy in the past decade.


Eminent entrepreneur and Vice Chairman of GVK Group, GV Sanjay Reddy has said that clean energy is the future of the power sector in India. Today, India is one of the leading countries that are making significant investments in clean energy. With US$ 90 billion investment in the last decade, India is the only G20 nation that is aggressively working towards achieving targets mandated by the Paris Agreement. 


India is home to one of the most diversified energy sources in both — conventional and non-conventional sources of energy categories. However, the present regime has been focusing a lot on developing clean energy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speeches has continuously mentioned about implementation of “responsible development”, focusing majorly on popular renewable energy sources. Consequently, India was placed at fifth position in renewable power installed capacity in 2018 in the Asia Pacific region. 


“Climate change has made us work together in an allied direction to achieve sustainable development goals. If you look at our Indian culture, irrespective of our diverse religious beliefs, we are inherently nature protectors. Therefore, we only need little aligned efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. The present regime is focusing considerably on turning towards zero-emissions energy sources and the results are in front of us,” says GV Sanjay Reddy. 
As Reddy suggested, the last decade has witnessed unprecedented investments in the non-conventional energy sources sectors in India. “If you talk about only solar energy, the solar tariffs have reduced to around INR 2.5/kWh in the past financial year from over INR 7/kWh in FY14-15. Increased investments are revolutionizing solar energy and are making it more accessible and affordable.”


In 2019, the NTPC announced an investment of INR 50,000 crore to add 10GW solar capacity by the year 2022. Other than the government, major foreign and domestic private players are actively investing in sustainable energy sources. Brookfield has planned to invest US$ 800 million in ReNew Power, and ReNew Power and Shapoorji Pallonji have announced to invest US$ 100 million in a floating solar power plant with 150mw capacity in Uttar Pradesh. 


Power infra arm of GVK Group —GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is one of the leading private players in the power industry. “We see environmental sustainability as inherent to our businesses. Even when the concept of sustainability was nowhere on the scene, we were creating infra that promotes environmental sustainability,” says GV Sanjay Reddy. 


Several of GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd and its subsidiary projects have been doing pioneering work. GVK CSMIA in particular has received several accolades to its name for minimal carbon emissions consecutively for many years. For instance, it received Airport Carbon Accreditation Level 2 - Reduction for the year 2014-15 for managing and reducing carbon emissions. GVK Power & Infrastructure has ranked 2nd in the country for all sectors for its Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI). 


“Indian renewable power generation capacity is enhancing with each passing month. With a CAGR of 17.33% between FY16-20, we are the fourth most attractive nation for investments in the renewable energy sector in the world. The data reflects where the future lies. Also, I will take this as an opportunity to call for investments in the sector as it is going to fetch greater results in the years to come.”


GV Sanjay Reddy is the vice-chairman of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd and Managing Director of Mumbai International Airport Ltd. He is an advocate of responsible development and fervently promotes the cause of environment preservation and protection.