India needs nuclear power till renewables fill gap: Abdullah

New Delhi: India needs nuclear power for civilian use till the time renewable energy is able to replace the use of fossil and nuclear fuels, Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said Thursday.

"We have to use nuclear energy till the time when renewable energy comes to such a level that we are able to dispense with fossil fuels and nuclear energy," the minister said while delivering the inaugural address at the 14th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit here organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). "India is moving forward and it needs energy," said Abdullah against the background of India importing over three-fourths of its oil requirements. "We have 1.2 billion people and 40 percent of our people don`t have access to energy," he said referring to the conference theme "Attaining Energy, Water and Food Security for All". Abdullah said the government plans to generate 30,000 MW of solar energy by 2017. "For a long time, we`ve been thinking separately, each nation for itself and that they will survive," he said. "Time has shown we can no longer survive alone. Let us think of this world as God`s gift to us, and we human beings who did everything to destroy it are now thinking and working together to save what God gave us," he said. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, in his address, said the gathering of experts and leaders at the conference, including former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, reflected India`s growing contribution to the global discourse on sustainability, both in terms of volume and impact. "Both at home and at all our deliberations in the multilateral arena, India has said that we believe no global effort to live in peace is possible without sustainable development, both development that is itself sustainable and development that sustains," Khurshid said. "Sustainable development is impossible without food, water and energy security," he added.