Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy held a meeting with the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dr. Anthony Lynham, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Mark Bailey, Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply in Brisbane, Australia. Shri Piyush Goyal invited the Premier and the two Ministers to visit India and stated that a combination of India’s manpower and Australian technology would lead to a world beating outcome. Both sides agreed on the need to extend Government to Government dialogue to Business to Business as well as People to People dialog.
Piyush Goyal highlighted the role of energy security in some of the key initiatives of the Prime Minister namely Make in India, Digital India and Skill India. He further said that Australia could help India with better technology and leapfrogging the learning curve. He highlighted the transparent business regime in India which is moving up rapidly in Ease of doing business and Competitiveness rankings. The Minister also pointed out the need to increase training collaboration through focused initiatives like ‘Train the Trainer’. India is looking to have better, smarter, safer and more tech savvy systems which are affordable. He also emphasized the need to focus on outcomes during any collaboration. Shri Piyush Goyal reiterated that India is running the world’s largest renewable energy expansion programme and would welcome cost competitive supply of gas from Australia which will help run grid stabilizing gas plants which can support expansion of clean energy plants. Assured pricing and off take can be key enablers of such supply and Australian companies can look at vertical integration through control of entire supply chain from gas production to even power generation to control costs .
Speaking on the occasion, the Premier said that they were willing to export what they were good at such as their expertise in mining. She spoke about the need for an energy mix including the need to use different forms of energy and also take into account environmental concerns. In particular they were keen to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef was not damaged in any way. The Premier also drew attention to the capabilities of Queensland in Skill development. The other Australian Ministers present also stressed the excellent safety record of the Australian mining industry. Dr. Anthony Lynham highlighted the fact that Australian companies are looking outwards to expand and can look at manufacturing partnerships with India which will boost Make in India. Australia’s strong track record in mine health and safety is world class and can be shared with India. Mr. Mark Bailey highlighted that 3 out of 10 houses in Queensland have solar rooftops and Australia can help expand rooftop solar penetration in India.