Bhubaneswar: The Energy Department on Friday convened a session on ‘Energy Transition for Sustainable Economic Growth’ at Make In Odisha Conclave’22 on Friday. At this session, emphasis was laid on the role of Government in guiding the collective efforts of all stakeholders towards the common goal of energy transition for a sustainable future.
Dr Winfried Damm, Head of Indo-German Energy Programme, GIZ shared their experience of providing technical assistance to various Government departments in India as well as globally in formulating Energy Transition plans. Discussions held on the lessons learnt in implementing large scale clean energy projects in other parts of India. The sustainable energy initiatives in the transportation sector were also discussed.
Delivering the welcome address, Principal Secretary, Energy Nikunja Bihari Dhal stated that Odisha is currently formulating a multi-sector, long-term energy action plan for the State which will ensure that the Energy Transition is Just & Equitable and leads to sustainable economic growth.
Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena chaired the Session. He stated that Clean energy is a foremost priority for Odisha. Every year the State bears the brunt of extreme weather events such as cyclones which severely impacts livelihoods of people. The socio-economic cost of such weather events is massive.
For an industrial State like Odisha with large reserves of coal, it is imperative to develop a long term strategy for energy transition which focuses on sustainable growth. The energy transition must be such that there is a net positive impact on socio-economic growth. This will ensure a ‘Just Transition.’ Energy transition is not the agenda of a single organization or a single department. It is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders including government departments, private sector as well as citizens.
Panelists at the session included Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (joined on VC), Sanjay Mishra, CMD, OPTCL & Special Secretary, Commerce and Transport, Sanjay Dube, Principal Secretary, Energy, Madhya Pradesh and Debiprasad Dash, Executive Director, India Energy Storage Alliance.
During the discussion, it also come out that India can’t be compared with other countries, what happening in the other European countries may not be happened in India due to its high population, demand and the scalability in terms of per-capita. But, other countries are showing road-map and India is ready to learn it to implement the new policies.
Now India has opened its mind to the world and so also Odisha opening its door to the world. Dubey focused on two important points, first, how to share the risk by the stakeholders i.e. the State Government, the Bankers, the DISCOMs and the promoters also while implementing these policies. The second thing is the meticulous planning, the panelists stated.
Jagdale focused on offshore potential in the State for future projection. Mishra highlighted that transport sector need a transition, not in terms of private vehicle but also for public transport sector and mentioned that Indian Railways has committed to make the Indian Railway transport net zero by 2030. Das also stressed on the financials for implementing the RE policy and different approaches followed for long term energy storage.
An MoU was signed by GRIDCO Ltd with iForest and OREDA for sharing of knowledge, planning and capacity building for enhancing role of Renewable energy in Odisha’s energy mix. T Panda, MD GRIDCO, Chandra Bhushan, CEO, iForest and MS Archana DasPattanaik, CEO OREDA signed the MoU.
The Session was moderated by Dr Damm and the Vote of Thanks was delivered by PK Mohapatra, MD, OPGC.
