Due to environmental compulsions and the fast depleting of the finite fossil fuel resources, renewable energy sources are moving towards occupying a central position in the arena of global energy generation and supply. Recognising the importance of taping renewable energy sources, India has been working in this direction for more than two decades. Today, India is among the world's largest programs for renewable energy. It has an exclusive Ministry dealing with the Non-Conventional/Renewable Energy Sources. With a proposal of 600 MW generation from renewable sources in eight plan (1992-1997) the cumulative Renewable Energy Power achievement as on October 2005 is about 6158 MW (5% of total installed capacity). However, considering the commercial energy, coal accounts for just over 50% followed by Petroleum - 34.4%, Natural gas - 6.5% and hydroelectricity (6.3%) Nuclear energy 1.7% and renewable energy (0.2%) made up a very small share of the country's energy consumption. India's current import dependence stands at around 19% of the total primary energy consumption. Energy imports largely consists of oil imports as India imports 70% of crude oil requirements. The IEA (International Energy Agency) (2002) has projected that if this trend continues then India's import dependency may increase to 94% by 2030. With a population of about 1.055 billion India is the second most populous country in the world, behind China. With a population growth rate of 1.74% per annum, the country's population is projected to grow to 1.15 billion by the year 2010. Continued economic development and population growth is driving energy demand faster than India can produce it. With a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8 per cent set for the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the energy demand is expected to grow at 5.2 per cent. Considering the energy security, India has initiated a positive move. In addition to Renewable Energy several other programmes on Alternative Fuels has been started under different ministries. However, for a sustainable growth and future energy requirements an Intergarted Energy Policy, Proper Insitituional Mechanism, Technology Collaboration and a good Business Model is required to initiate the move.
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