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The industry, which today is worth more than Rs.36,000 crore, is expected will grow to Rs.64,000 crore by 2020. This is primarily because of huge government and private investment planned in segments such as smart cities, modernisation of railways, highways, Digital India campaign, and Power for All by 2022.

The continuous awareness drive run by the government through twitter, town halls etc., has been truly helpful in the first filing of monthly returns which began in August.

At the time of bidding for the Gujarat UMPP and also in the Case-2 Bidding based on imported coal, the bidders had a choice to bid for an (indexed÷ fuel cost, which meant that any variations in fuel cost could be passed through to the procurers based on an indexation formula defined in the PPA.

Not just Indonesia, many countries, including Australia, have imposed regulations and taxes which impacted end-use companies that mined coal and commodities for purchase at cost of production. Higher taxes meant that input costs exceeded that on which the projects were constructed.

Change in coal export regulations by Indonesia and Australia has queered the pitch for Tata Power and Adani Power. But can India afford to forsake such huge assets built assiduously?

With increase in share of renewables in the distribution system, it has become indispensable to incorporate large scale integration of energy storage, which gives flexibility to quickly ramp up supply in case the need arises.

I would say we have only a modest share of nuclear power in the overall power. What is important is that we have indigenous technology, a self-contained ecosystem, all knowhow from siting to operating a nuclear power plant (NPP), and above all, a great safety record.

PV technology in India has completed more than 40 year and it is evolving continuously. Today, we occupy the position of a leader in the world's solar power market. India did a commendable job in the 1990s when manufacturing base was strengthened to over 300,000 smaller systems aggregated to 22 MW.

The Union Cabinet on May 17, 2017 gave its approval for construction of 10 nuclear units of the new indigenously developed 700 MWe (mega watt electric) pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) as part of its clean energy thrust.