The Indian government
has set ambitious targets
of 5 GW offshore wind
capacity in 2022 and 30
GW in 2030.
the world’s top 10 wind turbine manufactures are present
in Denmark, and Denmark-based companies supplied more
than 20% of the world’s wind turbines as of 2016. Within
offshore wind, more than 80% of the turbines are either
produced in Denmark or contain Danish components.
Indo-Danish bilateral cooperation in Renewable
Energy
As one of the world’s most populous countries, India has
recognised its responsibility in terms of mitigating global
climate change. This was illustrated by the participation in
the Paris agreement in 2015, where Indian representatives
signalled ambitious targets of increasing the country’s
energy capacity from non-fossil fuels from 20% to 40%
by 2030. Likewise, the Indian government has begun one
of the most ambitious renewable energy implementation
plans in the world. By 2015, the target of renewable energy
capacity by 2022 was set at 175 GW, which signalled a five-
fold capacity of renewable energy.
As a first step, the Danish and Indian governments are
initiating a three-year strategic sector cooperation program,
in which the Danish Energy Agency will collaborate with
Indian ministries and stakeholders in support of the
development of offshore wind deployment in India. The
Indian government has set ambitious targets of 5 GW
offshore wind capacity in 2022 and 30 GW in 2030. With
30 years of experience in offshore wind energy, Denmark is
in an ideal position to exchange knowledge and work with
India in increasing India’s energy capacity and making it
sustainable.
There is great interest from both governments to deepen the
relationship in this sector and more bilateral projects are
under development, which could focus on grid-integration
of high share of renewable energy, energy planning, power
markets etc.
Denmark has a lot to offer India from its experience, but
India’s success in recent years may also prove to offer
something in return for Denmark.
Energy is central to nearly every major challenge
and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for
jobs, security, climate change, food production
or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is
essential. Working towards this goal is especially
important as it interlinks with other Sustainable
Development Goals. Focusing on universal access
to energy, increased energy efficiency and the
increased use of renewable energy through new
economic and job opportunities is crucial to creating
more sustainable and inclusive communities and
resilience to environmental issues like climate
change.
At the current time, there are approximately 3
billion people who lack access to clean-cooking
solutions and are exposed to dangerous levels of
air pollution. Additionally, slightly less than 1 billion
people are functioning without electricity and 50%
of them are found in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Fortunately, progress has been made in the past
decade regarding the use of renewable electricity
from water, solar and wind power and the ratio of
energy used per unit of GDP is also declining.
However, the challenge is far from being solved and
there needs to be more access to clean fuel and
technology and more progress needs to be made
regarding integrating renewable energy into end-
use applications in buildings, transport and industry.
Public and private investments in energy also need
to be increased and there needs to be more focus
on regulatory frameworks and innovative business
models to transform the world’s energy systems.
Source: United Nations Sustainable Goals
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