NEW DELHI: As part of the Partner Country Programme, India organized a renewable energy event on “Market Potentials and Business Applications for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in India” at Hannover. Four MoUs were signed at the renewable energy event organized by FICCI, Ministry of New and renewable energy, Government of India and the Indo German Energy Forum, the German Federal Ministry of Energy (BMWi) and the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE). This day-long event was held as part of India’s programmed as the Partner Country.
Mr. Thorsten Harden from the German Federation Ministry of Energy while speaking at the event said “we need to combine India’s advantage of democracy, demography and demand with Germany’s technological expertise. The 10th anniversary of the Indo-German Energy Forum will be celebrated in October this year. We see a new wave of change in India. RE-Invest 2015demonstrated industry’s commitment to the Prime Minister’s goal of 24X7 energy. We need to reshape the IGEF to meet the needs of the new renewable energy targets. Learning from each other’s experiences will help in delivering the solutions to meet the targets set.”Mr. Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, in his address said we can learn a lot from Germany. Germany’s own target of 80%renewable energy by 2050 is an impressive target. The challenge in India is who will buy the power. We need to bring down the cost of power, the cost of input, cost of finance, cost of evacuation and transaction. RE-Invest 2015 was an eye opener as it generated 273 GW of commitments in renewable energy, and a huge interest from the private sector. MNRE has also brought innovation by bringing in the concept of solar parks to centralize solar power generation and reduce costs. The World Bank is financing one solar park. This is an area KfWcould also look at financing.” He also added that Germany’s forecasting error for solar is 7% and for wind is 3%, whereas India’s forecasting error is 37%. This is an area where India could learn from Germany.Dr. Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI said “It is an opportune moment for us to discuss the renewable energy opportunity in Hannover as Hannover represents Germany’s innovation and manufacturing excellence and it coincides very well with India’s thrust on Make in India where we will need to look at excellence in manufacturing to enhance our competitiveness at home and globally. We believe Germany can help shape the ecosystem for renewable energy in India, an ecosystem that needs skill development, research and development, testing facilities, supply chain for manufacturing, and all this Germany is very well positioned to offer.”The Indo-German Energy Forum has several ongoing initiatives in India with the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Among these are the Renewable Energy Supply in Rural Areas(RESRA), TRIGEN, Solar Data Mapping and Monitoring (SOLMAP), Commercialization of Solar Energy in Urban And Industrial Areas (COMSOLAR), Integration of Renewable Energy into the Indian electricity system (I-RE).Renewable in India is meeting an unmet demand unlike in other countries where renewable sis replacing other sources of energy generation.
The Indian and German companies and institutions which spoke at the event included ACMECleantech Solutions, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, Fraunhofer ISE, German Solar Association, German Wind Association, KFW Development Bank, Mytrah Energy India,Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, Suzlon India, Vestas and Vikram Solar.