New Renewable Energy Act, 2015

The New Renewable Energy Act, 2015 draft was tabled by MNRE on July 14, 2015. It is most comprehensive overhaul of the legislative and economic framework governing the renewable energy sector in India. Till now, the renewable energy sector was governed by the Electricity Act, 2003.

Objectives

• To increase the share ofrenewable resources inenergy mix of India
• To promote renewable energy in consonance with the government of India’s international obligations to reduce emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases.
• To set up dedicated renewable electricity investment zones.
• Enable a supportive system for growth of therenewable energy sector

Focus areas

• The focus areas include Renewable energy resource assessment, technical and safety standards, monitoring and verification, manufacturing and skill development and data management.

Challenges

• The deployment of mass scale renewable energy in India continues to be plagued by major structural bottlenecks.
• The renewable projects seek heavy funds that impose an extra burden on economy.
• Though there are many policies for renewable energy resource usability but the implementation is not very productive and the monitoring is also very poor.

Possibilities and Prospects

• The need of the hour is to sensitize people about use of renewable energy resources at the mass scale.
• There must be heavy investment in this sector and supportive government policies.
• There should be strong political will and inclusive participation across regions and segments of the society to harness full potential of this sector.