Tuesday 31 / December / 2024
Berlin: Germany's Development Minister Svenja Schulze will be on a three-day visit to Gujarat, a statement by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development stated on Sunday.
Schulze will be representing Germany as a partner country at the investor conference dedicated to renewable energy. Schulze is being accompanied by a business delegation of some twenty representatives of the renewables sector. In the margins of the conference, Schulze will discuss closer cooperation on expanding renewable energy sources with the Indian government. India is a key country for the global energy transition and intends to become the second largest solar producer worldwide, the statement said.
Development Minister Schulze said, "The Indo-German cooperation on the energy transition is a success story for all sides. The most populous country on Earth is on track for a boom in renewable energy and wants to become the second-largest producer of solar systems after China. First and foremost, this is good for India which can thus provide affordable renewable energy for its people, create millions of new jobs and contribute to clean air and a more stable climate. Germany, too, can benefit from this boom: German companies are investing in India. Associations are setting up exchange programmes for experts and German importers will finally have an alternative to sourcing solar systems from China. But ultimately the entire world will benefit if India accomplishes an energy transition. Climate change can only be stopped if more and more of the 1.4 billion people in India get their power from wind and solar energy."
Germany and India are linked by a strategic partnership, the Indo-German Green and Sustainable Development Partnership, which was agreed in 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It is in the context of this cooperation that the idea of the RE-INVEST renewable energy investors' conference was born, with Germany being a partner country. RE-INVEST is being organised by the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy It is an expert forum attended by high-level political and entrepreneurial representatives. Prime Minister Modi will open the conference on Monday morning, the statement added.
Some 10,000 participants are expected to attend, the majority being business representatives.
Minister Schulze is accompanied by a German business delegation representing 20 small and medium-sized German enterprises and business associations from the renewable energy industry.
Minister Schulze will be meeting India's Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi at the conference. Together, they will launch the "India-Germany Platform for Investments in Renewable Energy Worldwide".
It is aimed at bringing together German and Indian companies in the field of renewable energies and generating investment for the global energy transformation. India and Germany currently have similar generating capacities from renewable energy sources. In future, India can be expected to massively accelerate the expansion of its renewable sector. The world's largest solar park, for instance, is being built in Gujarat.
That is also why German companies are focusing more and more on India as a destination for investments in Asia. There are already more than 2,000 German companies with representations in India. Some 200 German companies from the energy sector have trade relations with India, 50 have set up production facilities or subsidiaries in India.
India's engagement is also important for Germany's energy security. The country wants to become the second-largest producer of solar systems worldwide and is striving to establish itself as a competitor on the global market, alongside China. Germany and the world will benefit from more competition in the market and if energy supply does no longer depend on a number of specific countries, the statement said.
Indo-German sustainability cooperation involves projects with a total volume of roughly 1 billion euros a year, 90 per cent of which is provided in the form of loans, for which KfW bank in Germany raises funds on the capital market. India repays the loans with interest.
The exact areas in which India is investing are agreed in the context of government negotiations. These will be held directly after the conference. India itself has a massive interest in climate action because it is increasingly suffering from heat waves with temperatures above 50 degree Celsius.
The statement quoted Schulze as saying, "Germany's Development Ministry has been involved for many years in developing the market for renewable energies in India and improving the investment environment. German companies have benefited from this good reputation and from these investments and will continue to benefit. This is evident from the German private sector's big interest in this conference."
