India has invited the South African business community to invest in its renewable energy sector
“The South African government and the government of India have committed to cooperate in the fields of renewable energy,” said South African energy minister Dipuo Peters at a renewable energy conference jointly organised by the Indian High Commission and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The event was attended by major corporate houses in the sector in both countries and Peters highlighted South Africa’s plans to increase its own reliance on renewable energy.
“This commitment is captured in various Memorandums of Understanding at forums such as IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa),” she remarked.
Indian High Commissioner Virendra Gupta said, “We see a lot of cooperation in the conventional energy sector, but we need to extend this to the renewable energy sector as well.”
Gupta added that both countries had similar plans for sustained economic growth to eradicate poverty.
New and Renewables Energy director Gireesh Pradhan said, “As far as India is concerned the investment climate on renewables follows a very open regime. We offer a lot of incentives to anybody who is investing in renewables.”
Welcoming the offer of assistance from Indian companies, Johan van den Berg of the South African wind Energy Association said he would impress on an umbrella body of the various renewable energy sectors in South Africa to take advantage of this cooperation promise.
