New Delhi: The Government of India will focus on the power sector, allocating substantial portions in the budget for 2024-25. Efforts will be placed on the development of renewable sources of energy and the upgradation of energy-related infrastructure to provide a fillip to its security and resilience toward climate change.
Renewable Energy, Domestic Manufacturing Top Areas:
The updated project budget will continue to deepen the government’s commitment to renewable energy, with more emphasis on local solar panel manufacturing, hydrogen, and batteries. This is prompted by current global dynamics in geopolitics and the quest for an energy supply chain that is resilient post-COVID-19.
Climate Change and Infrastructure Resilience:
These fiscal policies will also involve maximizing the resistance of electrical infrastructure to weather events due to climate change. Massive investments are likely to be implemented through the digital revolutionizing of electrical grids. The Distributed Energy Resources are likely to form part of the transformation that will raise the capacity of the grid to accommodate increasing peak demands.
Goals of Renewable Energy and Solar Capacity:
On the domestic front, India scaled a crescendo as the country added 18 GW of solar capacity in FY24. However, considering the aspiration to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel generation by 2030, it would require scaling up an annual renewable energy capacity to about 50 GW in the country. Tapping this expansion will call for continued support to already existing initiatives and additional efforts toward corporate renewable energy contributions and offshore wind projects.
Attention to New Energy Technologies:
Special attention in the budget would be accorded to new energy technologies such as electric vehicles, green hydrogen, and Nuclear Small Modular Reactors. All of these together have the potential to make a significant contribution toward better energy security with reduced dependence on fossil fuel supplies.
Strengthening Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure:
There could large outlay for improvement in transmission and distribution of budget.
Strategic steps to digitize grid making it more equipped to cope up with new needs of a more modern and more distributed energy system.
Next Budget Presentation:
Union Budget for FY25 will be presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23. The Budget session will start from July 22 and go on till August 12.
Conclusion:
The Indian government’s budget to be presented simply differences its priorities with an intensive shift towards renewable energy and the overhauling of the nation’s energy framework. Further, considering the issues at hand, there will be finished integration of local manufacturing, climate resilience, and emerging technologies for securing energy safety and sustainability.
Source: Deloitte India