September 30, 2012
Washington — India and the US are exploring the possibilities of large scale cooperation in generation and storage of power from renewable sources like solar and wind power to make power cuts in India a thing of the past.
September 30, 2012
Washington — India and the US are exploring the possibilities of large scale cooperation in generation and storage of power from renewable sources like solar and wind power to make power cuts in India a thing of the past.
The two countries are setting up a group to discuss financing options for encouraging energy generation through renewable sources and integration of various renewable energy source with the grid and storage technologies.
The decision to set up the group was taken here Friday at the just concluded India-US energy dialogue co-chaired by B.K. Chaturvedi, member, Planning Commission, and US Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, US Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman and other senior officials from both sides were present during the dialogue, according to an Indian embassy release.
The dialogue also noted the enormous trade and investment opportunities, which have been opened up with discovery of US shale gas as also the investments made in this sector by Indian companies, it said
The US has also granted permission to Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) for export of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Sabine Pass terminal in US to India.
The dialogue discussed the impact of relatively less expensive LNG imports from US to India, on the Indian power sector and prospects of growth in India.
The dialogue also stressed the need for both countries to actively enhance generation of energy from renewable and low carbon resources, the embassy said.
The two sides also decided to engage in further cooperation in the utilisation of Carbon dioxide, released through Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in alternative uses, such as fertiliser manufacture, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and other such methodologies in order to make CCS commercially viable.
The dialogue agreed to the formation of a new Working Group on 'low carbon growth' for assessing the Carbon dioxide emissions from different industries and for initiating steps to reduce such emissions, the embassy said.
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the progress made during the dialogue process, including in the working groups and industry roundtable and reiterated their respective commitments to continue the process of enhancing energy co-operation between the two sides, it said.
Earlier four working groups – on oil & gas, coal, power and energy efficiency, new technologies & renewable energy – met here Sep 25-26 to discuss a wide variety of issues including cooperation in electrical grids, cleaner fossil fuel, and energy efficiency.
Courtesy: IANS 
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
