India’s aim to cover entire nation with E20 fuel by 2025: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that India has commenced the rollout of 20% ethanol-blended petrol this year and the country’s aim is to cover the entire nation by 2025.
Addressing the G20 Energy Ministerial meeting in Goa, PM Modi said, “We must find ways to bridge technology gaps, promote energy security and work on diversifying supply chains.”
The central government has connected more than 190 million families with LPG in the last 9 years, while also achieving the historic milestone of connecting every village with electricity.
“Our effort is to work for inclusive, resilient, equitable, and sustainable energy for all. In 2015, we began a small movement by launching a scheme for the use of LED lights, this became the largest LED distribution program in the world, saving us more than 45 billion units of energy every year,” the Prime Minister said.
He further asserted that India is making great efforts in green growth and energy transition, moving slowly in its climate change commitments despite being the most populous nation in the world.
“We achieved our non-fossil, installed electric capacity target 9 years in advance. We have now set a higher target, we plan to achieve 50% non-fossil installed capacity by 2030. India is among the global leaders in solar and wind power,” PM Modi added.
Earlier this month, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also said that by 2025, the entire country will have special fuel stations retailing E20 petrol, drawing confidence from the faster rollout of such fuel stations. E20 fuel is a blend of 20 percent ethanol with petrol.
The first E20 outlet was opened on February 8 this year — ahead of the targeted April launch — and as of now their number has crossed 600 and will cover the entire country by 2025, Puri told the AGM of the industry lobby IMC Chamber through a video message.
The minister said ethanol blending in petrol has gone up from 1.53 percent in 2013-14, to over 11.5 percent as of March 2023. In volume terms, ethanol-blended petrol has increased from 38 crore litres in 2013-14 to 433.6 crore litres in 2021-22.
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