Second edition of RE-Invest postponed for the fifth time

BENGALURU: The second edition of RE-Invest, envisaged as India’s flagship renewable energy event after its inaugural show in February 2015, has been postponed for
the fifth time.

After the fourth postponement, it had been scheduled for April 19-21 this year.


“We will hold it in September or October this year,” said Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE). “Major stakeholders from across the globe wanted us to change the date. We are keen to have large participation.”

Another official added: “We just held the inaugural session of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on March 11. People did not want to travel to India again in such quick succession”.

The 2015 event had 200 speakers from 29 countries and 2,800 delegates from 42 countries, including representatives of 578 Indian companies and 124 foreign ones.

RE-Invest had originally been planned as a yearly event, and the next meeting after February 15, 2015 had been scheduled for February 2016. It was then delayed to November 2016 and thereafter to February 2017, when the venue was shifted from Delhi, where the first meet was held, to Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Germany was the partner country for the first RE-Invest, and France, which is also India’s main backer in the ISA, was to partner the second event.

But it was postponed again to December 2017, and the venue as well moved to India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. The fourth postponement was to April this year.

Industry insiders, however, disagreed with the government official on the reasons for global stakeholder disinterest. “ISA was only a solar energy forum, while RE-Invest involves all kinds of renewable energy – how can the two be compared? RE-Invest was supposed to be an investors’ forum held every year.” He contended that the postponement was mainly due to the follow up of the first forum not having been satisfactory. “There is not enough to show,” he said.

Re-Invest 2015 had concluded with commitments for a staggering 266 GW of renewable energy projects in India, much higher than the 175 GW target of renewable energy by 2022 that India has set for itself. Of the 266 GW, 14 global companies across seven countries promised to set up 58 GW, 257 private Indian companies pledged 190 GW, while 22 PSUs committed to the remaining 18 GW. In addition, 27 banks pledged financing of 72 GW. In practice, however, they have all fallen short.

The last figures relating to RE-Invest announced by MNRE in October last year said that out of the commitments made, only 39.3 GW of renewable energy had been commissioned or was under construction, while banks, which had pledged Rs 4 lakh crore, had sanctioned only Rs 1.8 lakh crore.