India on course to meet UN target for sustainable energy: Shashi Tharoor

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today said India will be on course to meet the United Nations target for sustainable energy for all but underlined the challenge before it is enormous as over 500 million people still have no access to electricity.

"Our goal of reaching 20,000 MW of energy by 2022 is already being scaled up to 1 lakh MW by 2030 and if possible by 2027", he said, adding "this should keep us on course for meeting the UN goal and is likely to surpass it".

Speaking at the curtain-raiser to the 14th Delhi Sustainable Development summit, Tharoor said "it is clear we need energy and we need clean energy...We have had energy access as our domestic goal for a few years... We do hope to achieve the goal before 2030 deadline of the UN.

"The challenge is enormous. 500 million people do not enjoy something every American and Australian can take for granted--that is the simple joy of flicking a switch on the wall and having the room flooded with light," the Minister of State for Human Resource Development said.

Kandeh K Yumkella, special representative of the UN Secretary General for sustainable energy for all, said four million people, 80 percent of them women and children, are falling victim to the polluting impact of unclean energy.

Tharoor said the government aims to double renewable energy capacity to 55,000 MW by 2017. "As part of national solar mission, the government is setting up national institute of solar energy", he said.

Improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy is vital for India's energy security in the decades ahead, he said, adding that besides reducing "our reliance on fossil fuel imports, it will also serve India's broad geopolitical interest".