The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, APR 1, 2023
As part of the second Energy Transition Working Group meeting of India’s G20 Presidency, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Power will host an official side event, ‘Diversifying Renewables & Critical Minerals Supply Chains to Advance Energy Transition’ on April 3 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The event, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), will focus on diversifying and securing renewable energy (RE) and critical mineral supply chains for energy transitions, including promoting circularity in value chains.
Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, will deliver the opening address and set the context for the event that will convene the world’s leading experts in the sector from industry, academia and policy-making.
This will be followed by the release of two CEEW reports by Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW – ‘Developing Resilient Renewable Energy Supply Chains for the Energy Transition’ and ‘Addressing Vulnerability in the Supply Chain of Critical Minerals’.
The event will feature two panel discussions on securing renewable energy supply chains, and strengthening the mineral value chain by increasing production and infusing circularity.
Global economic development coincides with a shrinking carbon space, intensifying climate risks, and rising geopolitical adversities. For the world to achieve a net-zero future, solar and wind power capacities must grow 17 and 10 times, respectively, between 2021 and 2050. And annual battery deployments need to increase 50 times and 28 times respectively to enable the transition of the power and mobility sectors. A risk-proof transition to renewables would only be possible if countries are able to secure access to uninterrupted and affordable supply chains of RE technologies like solar, wind, batteries and hydrogen. India already ranks fourth in the world in terms of installed capacity of renewable energy and is fast accelerating to meet its net zero target by 2070.
However, many minerals used in clean energy technologies are rare, and often concentrated in a few geographies. One major advantage of mineral-dependent technologies is their ability to be reused and recycled continuously. This could help maintain a reliable supply of materials through appropriate technologies and infrastructure. Promoting circularity will also help strengthen the mineral value chains. In its G20 year, the principles of India’s Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) can promote circularity in manufacturing and use of these minerals for a transition to renewables.
