States Urged to Boost Renewable Energy Skills and Financing for Rural Growth
At a clean energy workshop, officials urged states to boost DRE-linked rural jobs, skills, and green financing.
The Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS), in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA), and the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), organized a two-day national workshop on accelerating India’s clean energy transition in Lucknow.
The event brought together representatives from over 25 states, clean energy technology developers, and civil society organizations to discuss ways to strengthen renewable energy adoption and climate leadership at the subnational level.
During the workshop, participants visited a compressed biogas plant in Barabanki and NTPC’s 40 MW solar plant in Ayodhya to understand operational aspects and best practices.
On the second day, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, highlighted the transformative role of renewable energy in empowering citizens and advancing self-sufficiency. He emphasized that Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) is creating significant job opportunities in rural India and urged states to build a robust skilling ecosystem and innovative green financing models to accelerate progress.
Sarangi also called for a re-evaluation of the role of State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) to better align with India’s evolving renewable energy goals, suggesting a structured approach such as SWOT analysis to strengthen their capabilities.
The workshop featured sessions on renewable energy adoption, clean energy financing, and institutional capacity building. A focused discussion on DRE technologies explored state-level challenges, solutions, and strategies for effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
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