More of this please. Dare I hope that, at least in the third world, we may be witnessing clean renewable energy as a national priority? In Bhutan, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, was treated like a rock star when he addressed the cheering audience of theVibrant Gujarat taking place in India.
Calling Bhutan one of the world’s “smallest countries, sandwiched between two of the world’s biggest powers India and China,” PM Tshering Tobgay, won both cheers and clapping from the crowd at the Mahatma Mandir hall in Gandhinagar with his witty remarks. Directly after the function, he was mobbed by many, even as one businessman was heard saying in jest, “This has become a Vibrant Bhutan function.”
Mr. Tobgay met with RIL chief Mukesh Ambani on the sidelines of the summit as well, although sources said no firm proposals were discussed. When asked about the response to PM Tobgay, Bhutan’s ambassador to India Gen Namgyal told The Hindu, “It is a wonderful opportunity to be able to project Bhutan on this stage, but we had no intention of taking any of the limelight.”
“Forget competing with other countries, I know that the GDP of my country is less than the personal wealth of many of you in the room,” Mr. Tobgay said, to much laughter in the audience, which included top Indian industrialists RIL chief Mukesh Ambani, Power baron Gautam Adani and Adi Godrej. In fact, at about $1.88 billion, Bhutan’s GDP is just a fraction of their assets, with Mr. Ambani’s personal wealth estimated at about $22 billion, Mr. Adani’s at $7.1 billion, and Mr. Godrej’s at $3.8 billion.
However, he said he valued Bhutan’s “gross national happiness” far higher than its GDP, and invited the gathering to “Bhutan is open for business,” said Mr. Tobgay, “But only for clean, green and sustainable businesses, like hydropower, organic agriculture etc.”
Speaking after UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry, both of whom had made battling climate change the focus of their remarks, Mr. Tobgay’s speech dwelled on Bhutan’s “clean and green policies”. He said the country’s forests cover 72 per cent of the area, it is dependent on hydropower, which accounts for 40% of Bhutan’s earnings, and the government’s ‘carbon-neutral’ policies ensure a “pollution-free” atmosphere for investors. “We also have open access to free markets,” indicating India, which drew a laugh from Prime Minister Modi.
The Economic Times reports on the very promising news on the rapid progress being made with India's business sectors on clean energy.
MUMBAI: Adani Enterprises, India's biggest private power
producer and port owner, is taking giant strides in the energy sector - planning
to make solar panels that can generate competitively priced electricity and
investing in LNG sourcing and oil and gas exploration.
MUMBAI: Adani Enterprises, India's biggest private power producer and port
owner, is taking giant strides in the energy sector - planning to make solar
panels that can generate competitively priced electricity and investing in LNG
sourcing and oil and gas exploration.
It's agreed to set up a joint venture with SunEdison that will invest.Rs 25,000 crore, or $4 billion, to make India's biggest solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility and signed an accord with Australia's Woodside Energy in the oil and gas business. The solar
plant, to be constructed in Mundra, Gujarat, over a three-year period, will make
low-cost panels capable of producing electricity that costs as much as power
generated by using traditional fuels.
The facility will manufacture solar panels to fuel solar power growth in India,
furthering India's goals for clean, renewable energy independence, and will add
up to 20,000 jobs to the local economy," Adani and New Yorklisted SunEdison said
in a joint statement on Sunday. The venture will boost domestic solar equipment
supply to meet the huge requirement of the sector in which Coal, Power and
Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal is aiming for unprecedented growth.
The solar energy sector has so far imported huge amounts of low-cost Chinese
equipment, drawing criticism from local suppliers. Under the memorandum of
understanding signed by Adanii Group chairman Gautam Adani and Woodside CEO Peter Coleman, the companies will explore opportunities in sourcing of liquefied natural gas, supply and purchase arrangements for India and LNG marketing.
Emphasis mine. If the Republicans had not obstructed our clean energy sectors innovation for the past 6 years, just imagine how many good paying American jobs could have produced to supply the world with solar and other alternative technologies.