Australia can play a major role in India's energy sector: Shinde

Perth (Australia), June 7 (ANI): Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that Australia can play a major role in the energy sector of India, which is growing at a rapid pace with huge opportunities for investments and technology.

"The two countries can work together in the areas of development of the use of Brown Coal (Lignite), energy efficiency, efficiency improvements of coal based power plants, hydro power development, power generation technology research and development of smart Grid in India," said Shinde, while speaking at the first Australia-India Energy and Minerals Forum here.

The Power Minister indicated cooperation with Australia in developing gas based power plants in India since Australia has huge reserves of gas.

"The Indian companies are interested in procurement of coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia," said Shinde addressing a distinguished gathering of policy makers, business leaders and other stakeholders in the energy and mineral sector.

Expressing hopes that these investments would grow further, Shinde said: "The companies are beginning to invest in each other's country. The five action plans that were signed in November 2008 with Ministries of Power, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mines, New and Renewable Energy are the buildings blocks to build on and to take forward the bilateral engagement in the energy sector."

The Power Minister said despite the global downturn, India managed to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the world.

"In spite of all odds, the Indian economy exhibited significant resilience in 2009-10 and closed the year with a respectable growth rate of 7.4 percent. India's capacity to withstand the global shock better than many other emerging market economies was assisted largely by the sound macro-economic and financial sector policy environment," said Shinde.

Referring to the National Action Plan on Climate Change, Shinde said that the Ministry of Power is deeply involved with the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency, one of the eight missions under the Plan. (ANI)