Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has described India and Australia’s renewable energy partnership as ‘top-rank’. Minister Bowen joined Australian and Indian energy leaders at the Australia India Renewables Dialogue in Sydney on Tuesday.
“I can think of none more important than our renewable energy partnership with India. I regard it as being in the top rank of our bilateral relations when it comes to renewable energy and renewable energy-related manufacturing,” he said.
An inaugural event held as part of the Australian Clean Energy Summit, the track 1.5 dialogue brought together a mix of government officials, academics, and private sector leaders to investigate opportunities for clean energy collaboration between the two nations.
Both countries aim to transition towards clean energy by 2030, with India rapidly progressing towards its target of 50 percent. Modelling has shown Australia are falling short of their target of 82 percent renewables.
With an election on the way, the Government appear keen to leverage their partnership with India to achieve this clean energy transition, noting scope for investment, jobs and manufacturing.
“It’s received a lot of attention from me and the government over the last two years, and I think that’s quite right, and that can only be enhanced by this dialogue. I’m a long-term supporter of the Australia-India dialogue,” said Minister Bowen.
Equally, delegates at the Australia India Renewables Dialogue discussed opportunities for Australian clean energy technology within India’s booming market, particularly through the Make in India and A Future Made in Australia schemes.
With 85 percent of Australia’s exports to India being coal, green hydrogen trade opportunities were also a talking point, following on from the Australian Government’s India-Australia Green Hydrogen Taskforce set up in May.
CEO of the Australia-India Insititute, Lisa Singh, notes how policy in both countries can present challenges to such investment. She hopes the discussion will break down some of the barriers to a successful energy partnership.
“The Australia-India collaboration in renewables remains bedevilled by a lack of understanding of the policies, capabilities and trade and investment opportunities on both sides,” she said.
“Many Indian firms see this as a roadblock to investment into Australia, while Australian companies struggle to navigate the Indian business landscape. This dialogue aimed to turn that around.”
The success of Canberra based solar-thermal company Sunrise CSP, who since August 2023 have been provider of choice to Engineers India Ltd (EIL), has demonstrated the potential for successful renewables partnerships between Australia and India.
Chairman of Sunrise CSP, George Nicola, says government and companies in both countries need to come together for more such trade relationships to occur.
“It’s not one technology that will solve a problem. We’re a piece of the problem and you need a lot of companies to work together and co-compete. I feel extremely optimistic, I think there are two areas, it’s meeting people throughout the technology side and there’s also the will from the politicians to make it happen.”
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