NEW DELHI BI-WEEKLY ESTH REPORT OCTOBER 2008

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 002787 STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS STATE FOR STAS STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS HHS PASS TO NIH STATE PASS TO USAID STATE FOR SCA, OES (STAS FEDOROFF),OES/PCI STEWART; OES/IHB MURPHY PASS TO HHS/OGHA (STEIGER/ABDOO/VALDEZ),CDC (BLOUNT/FARRELL), NIH/FIC (GLASS/MAMPILLY/HANDLEY),FDA (LUMPKIN/WELSCH, GENEVA FOR HOFMAN) PASS TO MAS/DAS/JESTRADA PASS TO MAC/DAS/HVINEYARD SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO SENV AMED CASC KSCA ECON ETRD BEXP EINV PGOV TSPL, TRGY, TNGD, EIND, ENRG, KGHG, IN SUBJECT: NEW DELHI BI-WEEKLY ESTH REPORT OCTOBER 2008 NEW DELHI 00002787 001.2 OF 004 ¶1. SUMMARY: This edition of the New Delhi ESTH biweekly includes an update on India's outlook towards wind energy technology; the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1, India's first moon spacecraft; a report on the solar resource assessment workshop held at Solar Energy Center (SEC),Gurgoan and various meetings held and planned under the aegis of the Indo-US Vaccine Action Plan. The report includes an update on the FDA's training to the Drug Controller General India office (DCGI),and its interactions with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The cable reports a suspected Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak on the Indo-Bangladesh border and also provides an update on the Rota virus vaccine clinical trials. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- Wind Energy Industry Focused on Testing, Certification and Profit -------------- -------------- ¶2. SCI Office visits to two wind energy-related facilities in Chennai suggest the wind industry in India is focused primarily on return on investment from available technology, not on developing new technologies for more effective wind generation and electricity storage, or to provide energy to smaller villages not connected to the main power grid. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's (MNRE) wind research institute, the Center for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) in Chennai, does not engage in any research or development activities. Rather, C-WET primarily offers consultation services to turbine manufacturers for testing and micro-siting, issues MNRE-mandated turbine certifications, and publishes a wind atlas and wind power density maps based on data collected from more than 500 sensors across India. Its wind data dates back to 1985 and is available online at http://www.cwet.tn.nic.in/. ¶3. Indian wind energy manufacturer RRB has broken off from its parent company, Vestas, but continues to produce Vestas-designed equipment under license. RRB is upgrading facilities in order to produce an in-house 1.8MW turbine design by early next year. RRB sees a market for replacement turbines, and is also beginning to explore international export possibilities, with two turbines currently in Chicago for testing. Despite acknowledging the need of small off-the-grid villages for smaller turbines and better storage capability, RRB officers said it was not profitable and thus not pursued. The company is not conducting any innovative research and development activities in wind energy technology. -------------- Chandrayaan-I Launch Successful -------------- ¶4. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched Chandrayaan-I, India's first moon spacecraft, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) on Wednesday, October 22, 200Q The space craft was put into transfer orbit around the earth using their Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) within 18.2 minutes of its take off from Sriharikota. The "Chandrayaan-I" is carrying 11 payloads including two from the US. The spacecraft is expected to reach its desired lunar orbit, at a height of 100 km from the moon surface in two weeks time. The Science Counselor along with the U.S. Consul General in Chennai attended the launch. -------------- - Workshop on Indian Solar Resource Assessment NEW DELHI 00002787 002.2 OF 004 -------------- - ¶5. With India becoming an increasingly attractive destination for solar energy and the Government of India's (GOI) recent National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) highlighting the solar mission as a key component, there is an urgent need for an extensive and accurate solar resource assessment data. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and State University of New York, US along with the Solar Energy Center (SEC) under MNRE and the India Meteorological Department (IMD),GOI are working on a joint project towards achieving this objective. A workshop was organized by SEC in its campus at Gurgaon, New Delhi Capital Region, on 21 October 2008, as a part of Indo-US Energy Dialogue. The workshop reviewed the work carried out under the joint collaboration and discussed about ways to extend and expand the program. Mr.Padmanabhan from USAID, Delhi first gave a brief overview of the activities under the Indo-US Energy Dialogue started in 2005. Ms. Shannon Cowlin from NREL then presented the new solar resource assessment data base generated for the North western part of India (Rajasthan Region) using the satellite imagery and the methodology used to derive the data. The average annual solar irradiation in the Rajasthan region was estimated to be between 6.5 and 5.5 Kwh/sq.meter, thus showing the viability of this region for harnessing solar energy. Dr.Bibek Bandhopadhyay of SEC confirmed the matching of satellite data with the ground observation data got from IMD. IMD collects solar irradiation data from over 44 centers across India. ¶6. Prof. Rajan from the Aerospace Department of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore provided an overview of their work on mapping the biomass resources of India. Dr. Chandra from the National Informatics Center (NIC),Delhi said that the servers at NIC host a wide range of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data from various agencies including the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),Indian Remote Sensing Agency, the Survey of India and IMD. He further said that, if one needed to use any of the data from other agencies to more effectively utilize the solar resources assessment, they would be happy to facilitate interaction with the source agency. The meeting concluded with a proposal to work out the modalities for creating an updated all India solar resource data. The other participants in the workshop included members from SEC, NIC, IMD, SciFSN and Indian Institute of technology (IIT) Delhi. Dr. Garg from the Energy Studies Department, IIT Delhi said that they were interested in the data for their work on green buildings and energy efficient windows. -------------- -------------- AI Suspected Outbreak on Bangladesh border neighboring Tripura -------------- -------------- ¶7. According to the Press Trust of India, an alert was sounded along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura on October 20 following reports of a suspected AI outbreak in poultry in the Bangladesh districts of Sylhet, Srimanagal and Habigunj, bordering Khowai subdivision of West Tripura district and Kamalpur subdivision of Dhalai district. Mission is keeping a close watch on developments. -------------- -------------- NIAID-DBT VAP Hyderabad Meeting on Animal Human Interface on Avian Influenza -------------- -------------- ¶8. Under the auspices of the Indo-U.S. Vaccine Action Program (VAP),the Indo-U.S. Regional Avian Influenza Surveillance Discussion Group meeting from 16-18 October, 2008 was jointly held NEW DELHI 00002787 003.2 OF 004 in Hyderabad by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),the University of Hyderabad, and the GOI's Ministry of Science and Technology's DBT. The meeting focused on building both domestic and global networks for AI surveillance, sharing experiences from the U.S. based AI networks such as the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Surveillance, the University of Minnesota Surveillance Network, and the UCLA Center for Rapid influenza Surveillance and Research Network. ¶9. The discussions included wild bird surveillance, poultry farms, backyard flocks and live bird markets, and an overview of CDC and USAID collaborations with the GOI and the World Health Organization (WHO). Important outcomes included recommendations for AI sample sharing transparency, the need to augment infrastructure in the poultry sector and live bird markets, education and training on pandemic preparedness and sanitation needs, training of epidemiology experts, AI vaccine development, GOI vaccination policy in the poultry sector, and the need to improve laboratory infrastructure including building bio-containment facilities to serve every region in India. Also discussed was the need to create a database for regional AI surveillance and AI sample collection, to increase public-private partnership, and to maintain a virus repository. Hyderabad Consul General Mr. Cornelius Keur provided opening remarks and an overview of ongoing collaborations. Participants from the poultry industry, State animal husbandry departments, and academia attended the meeting. -------------- Upcoming VAP JWG Meeting -------------- ¶10. The Indo-U.S. Vaccine Action Program (VAP) will hold its Joint Working Group Meeting 23-24 October, 2008 in New Delhi. The meeting will include an update on the Rotaviral vaccine development and clinical trials update. The discussion will include an Emory-DBT-National Institute of Health agreement, a discussion on new projects, and on NIAID's help for DBT's Translational Research which will focus on translating inventions into products. NIAID's Carole Heilman is to serve on DBT's Advisory Board for Translational Research. -------------- BBIL ready for Rota virus clinical trials -------------- ¶11. India's Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech India Limited (BBIL) is supported by the VAP and is ready for Rota virus vaccine Phase 3 clinical trials. The Rota virus vaccine development team had met on 6-8 April, 2008 to study the results of a Phase 2 vaccine trial. The Phase 2 clinical trial data showed higher than anticipated levels of immune response in children, which is a very good sign. -------------- -------------- Upcoming FDA Medical Devices Workshop, AHWP Meeting and NBRA Consultation -------------- -------------- ¶12. FDA experts will provide training on medical devices to the DCGI and State inspectors on 30-31 October, 2008 in New Delhi. 'Medical devices' is one of six areas for U.S.-India collaboration with the DCGI's office. The other areas are improving the structure of the Central Drug Authority (CDA),e-governance, NEW DELHI 00002787 004.2 OF 004 pharmacovigilance, clinical trials and regulation for High Technology products. ¶13. FDA experts will speak at the 13th Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) Pre-Meeting Workshop 3-4 November, 2008 in New Delhi. The FDA experts will also attend the AHWP meeting from 5-6 November, ¶2008. This meeting is being organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with support by the AHWP and India's Ministry of Health. ¶14. FDA's Dr. Jesse Goodman will participate in DBT's International Consultation on the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) organized November 3-4 in New Delhi, by India's Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology. MULFORD