Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources
(MNES)

The thrust to the Renewable Energy movement in India is given by Government of India with the establishment of a dedicated Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES).

India is the only country in the World to have an exclusive Ministry for Renewable Energy development.    Since the formation of MNES, it has launched one of the world’s largest and ambitious program on renewable energy.  Due to various promotional efforts put in by MNES significant progress is achieved  in power generation from renewable energy sources. 

The following are the subsidies/fiscal incentives made available by Govt of India for the promotion of renewable energy technologies in the country.

• Income tax holiday
• Accelerated depreciation 
• Concessional custom duty/duty free imports  
• Capital/Interest subsidy 
• Incentive for preparation of  DPRs and feasibility reports

Till the end of December, 2003 the contribution of renewable energy to the total power generation capacity in the country has been 3430 MW, which represents a little over 3.5 % of total energy capacity.  With an estimated potential of over 1,00,000 MW, the utilization is marginal.  This shows immense prospects for investment in renewable energy sector.  (Source : MNES annual report 2002 - 2003)