Collaboration key to clean energy dream, India Energy Week hears

Friday, 14 February 2025

India Energy Week 2025, which took place in New Delhi from 11-14 February under the patronage of India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and was organised by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry, attracted more than 70,000 delegates from 50-plus countries, including more than 20 ministers. According to the host ministry, it is now the world’s second-largest energy event.

At the inaugural session - which included an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri called for a balanced and inclusive energy transition that must also be "pragmatic" with a continued role for hydrocarbons alongside other energy options and must not deepen inequality by leaving developing economies behind in the transition.

Nuclear featured in India Energy Week, with a panel discussion on "Realising nuclear power’s low-carbon renaissance and future role in the clean energy mix", with panellists from World Nuclear Association, the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), India's NITI Aayog public policy think-tank, and the nuclear wing of Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC). The panel was moderated by the International Energy Agency's Nobuo Tanaka.

World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León stressed the importance of energy independence and also energy equity, with at least 100 million of the world's inhabitants lacking access to the energy they need. "We are seeing very serious interest in nuclear energy everywhere in the world," she said. "In the last two, three years we’ve seen many countries have recognised it is simply not possible to reach their goals in a sustainable, cost effective, timely and, very importantly, equitable manner, without nuclear energy."

The issue of equitable access to energy was also highlighted by Loyiso Tyabashe, Group CEO of Necsa. "The main thing that bugs us about energy is energy access - before you talk about whether it’s cheap or carbon free. So nuclear does play a very important role in ensuring that ultimate objective for the continent - it provides energy security, available 24 hours a day."

The panel session was reported by Energy Connects.

Building the supply chain

Days before India Energy Week, India's Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, in the 2025 Union Budget, said India will need to build at least 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047 to support its energy transition, and intends to make the necessary changes in law to clear the way for participation by private sector and overseas companies.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Bilbao y Léon said India had a "thriving" nuclear industry, but a secure supply chain will be necessary to underpin growth in India, and elsewhere.

"The goal of having 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2047, it's a big challenge," she told CNBC. For projects in India, she said, realigning the Nuclear Energy Act and India's nuclear liability laws to incentivise public-private partnerships, bring in overseas investors and international companies "will be very important to help India accelerate their use of nuclear".

"So what we are doing right now in World Nuclear Association, together with all our members throughout the entire value chain in nuclear, we are actually trying to enhance how we invest in our infrastructure. This means industrial infrastructure, supply chain, manufacturing, but also workforce infrastructure. So we are trying to attract, retain, prepare, and educate and develop the brightest people to come to the nuclear industry."