Secretary Chu Focuses on Clean Energy and Climate Change in

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 002334 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/EGC, OES/STC, EEB/ESC, STAS, AND SCA/INS STATE FOR SECC TODD STERN DEPT OF ENERGY FOR O'CONNOR, SANDALOW, JELKIND, PYOSHIDA, CGILLESPIE, MGINSBERG, CZAMUDA, TCUTLER USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/OSA/LDROKER/ASTERN/KRUDD STATE PASS TO USTR MDELANEY/CLILIENFELD/AADLER STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS TREASURY FOR OFFICE OF SOUTH ASIA MNUGENT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV EFIN EINV PREL TSPL KSCA KGHG IN SUBJECT: Secretary Chu Focuses on Clean Energy and Climate Change in Visit to India ¶1. (SBU) Summary: During November 13-14 meetings with Government of India (GOI) officials, scientists, students, NGO and industry representatives in New Delhi, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu stressed the vast scope for bilateral cooperation, noting that the world's current emphasis on clean energy was directly related to the need for global cooperation to combat climate change. Secretary Chu said that India and China are in the best position to build green infrastructure right from the start -- with 80 percent of India's building stock projected for 2030 yet to be built. GOI officials concurred, but said India would be dependent on thermal power and fossil fuels for years to come considering its need to electrify rural areas and build infrastructure. GOI officials expect no binding climate treaty to be negotiated at Copenhagen but are not prepared to stipulate now something that may derogate the UNFCCC framework. Nonetheless, Indian interlocutors consistently emphasized that there was more in common between the Indian and U.S. positions on climate change than reported in the press. They offered positive preliminary assessments of the proposed bilateral Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative (CERDI) and sought enhanced cooperation across the board, particularly on solar, cleaner coal technology, second-generation biofuels, energy efficiency, and energy storage. GOI officials, scientists and industry leaders stressed the importance of encouraging scientific collaboration and creating an enabling policy environment that harnessed private sector resources. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) DOE staff accompanying Secretary Chu on his visit were Chief of Staff Rod O'Connor, A/S for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow, PDAS for Policy and International Affairs Jonathan Elkind, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Director Arunava Majumdar, Director of Public Affairs Dan Leistikow, and Special Assistant Amy Bodette. Ambassador Roemer joined Secretary Chu for a November 13 ministerial dinner hosted by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (DCPC) Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Other ministerial-level meetings included Climate Change Special Envoy Shyam Saran, Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, and Minister of Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan. Additional sessions included meetings with the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi, the Energy Research Institute (TERI),and the Confederation of Indian Industries. EEST MinCouns joined Secretary Chu for all of his meetings, along with additional Embassy staff. Copenhagen Dominates Agenda -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In their small-group meeting, DCPC Deputy Chair Ahluwalia, Secretary Chu's counterpart in the Energy Dialogue, raised serious concerns with current draft of the U.S.-India Clean Energy MOU to be signed during the Prime Minister's visit to Washington, saying the GOI is not prepared to come to agreement on "bits and pieces" of the Copenhagen agreement two weeks before the summit, as that may be seen as a derogation of the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He added that the GOI "does not want to signal something" outside the UNFCCC, so the bilateral actions in the MOU such as CERDI must be kept separate from the multilateral negotiations. Secretary Chu stated that the United States views climate change outcomes and clean energy cooperation as being linked. A/S Sandalow stressed that lack of an expression of mutual expectations for a successful Copenhagen outcome could drive out the more positive messages of cooperation. ¶4. (SBU) Minister of Environment and Forests (MOEF) Jairam Ramesh told Secretary Chu that despite expectations that there will be no binding climate treaty negotiated at Copenhagen, there was a lot more in common between the Indian and U.S. position on climate change than is reported in the press. Bilateral cooperation on clean energy and climate change should be separate from the Copenhagen process in order to ensure such cooperation was not NEW DELHI 00002334 002 OF 003 derailed. In his meeting, Special Envoy for Climate Change Shyam Saran said the GOI recognized there would be no legally binding agreement at Copenhagen because the United States is not ready to make such a commitment. He added that India was doing its part, noting the National Action Plan on Climate Change and the National Solar Mission, which he said would be released "in a few days." ¶5. (SBU) Saran said India, as a developing country, would use the remaining negotiating time at Copenhagen to push the envelope on behalf of other developing countries. Saran said the GOI knew it "would not get a penny" from Copenhagen nor would it get significant technology transfer but it wanted to get as much of an agreement as possible in order to help the least developed countries. Resisting a U.S. "attempt to build a mezzanine" into the climate change framework, Ramesh said India wanted to be treated as a major developing country but not be named as such. Regardless, GOI Wants Enhanced Energy Cooperation -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) GOI energy ministries all expressed interest in strengthening and expanding energy cooperation, particularly on solar, cleaner coal technology, energy efficiency, and energy storage. Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Farooq Abdullah said he hoped the National Solar Mission would provide sufficient generation-based incentives to attract U.S. companies to bid on large thermal solar projects with the expectation of a 15 to 20-year payback. Abdullah also expressed interest in extending wind and hydroelectric power, specifically to the mountainous areas of northern India. Other MNRE officials requested U.S. participation in scaling up solar energy projects, zero energy buildings, and research on storage batteries. Minister of Science and Technology (MOST) Prithviraj Chavan expressed interest in finding opportunities to collaborate in solar energy and biofuels. Other MOST and MOEF officials focused on exploring joint ownership of intellectual property rights, developing research ties on green buildings, starting research initiatives modeled after the solar energy research initiative with the EU, and harmonizing energy research initiatives. ¶6. (SBU) Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde said his Ministry would like to focus on smart grids, cleaner coal technology and energy efficiency. Secretary Chu emphasized the need for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and described new possibilities for energy storage. While Minister Shinde's staff expressed skepticism about CCS, they expressed interest in staying involved in FutureGen. (Note: in a prior meeting with PDAS Elkind, MinPower staff had explained that political sensitivity about CCS was due to India's negative experience with gas storage due to the Bhopal disaster, as well as the high costs. The very different toxicity levels of carbon dioxide and methyl isocyanate were lost in the Indians' commentary. End note.) They expressed tremendous excitement at the concept of a liquid metal battery that could revolutionize energy storage, a concept that is being investigated through DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). MOEF Minister Ramesh said he would like to see cooperation on cleaner coal technology reflected in the bilateral Clean Energy MOU and believed the GOI would be amenable to a reference to CCS as long as cooperation on Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle technology was also mentioned. ¶7. (SBU) Coal Ministry officials noted that coal would continue to be the primary source of energy for India in the near future, as it was for the United States. (Note: Both the United States and India depend on coal for about 50 percent of their generation capacity. End note.) They wanted to focus cooperation on better utilization of fine coal, gasification, methane recovery, combustion efficiency, and business-to-business ties to improve production efficiency. Importance of Scientific Collaboration and Policy Environment -------------- -------------- NEW DELHI 00002334 003 OF 003 ¶8. SBU) At a roundtable at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA),MOST Secretary Ramasami suggested that a platform be created for scientists to discuss issues "scientist-to-scientist" and provide politically-neutral advice to the government; he proposed energy could be a focus area of this platform. Secretary Chu agreed, noting that scientists should focus on open source platforms, citing an open source Internet platform designed for experts to share information about energy-efficient buildings. At a TERI roundtable discussion hosted by Nobel-prize recipient RK Pachauri with NGO leaders, Secretary Chu discussed innovative programs on biomass gasification, rural solar-based lighting projects, wind power, and biofuels initiatives. In his IIT address, Secretary Chu encouraged India to take advantage of its unique opportunity to leap-frog technology and challenged students to contribute to future energy solutions. ¶9. (SBU) GOI officials recognized the importance of the policy environment, in the solar sector and generally. Ahluwalia requested U.S. private sector views on what India needs to do to create an enabling environment for private sector investment, noting he would like U.S. businesses to participate in "Ultra Mega Power Projects," especially in coal and petroleum projects. (Note: Ultra Mega Power Projects refer to a GOI initiative to bridge the energy deficit through separate projects of 4,000 MW or more to create 100,000 MW of additional power by 2012. End note.) ¶10. (SBU) In a clean energy roundtable hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industries, Secretary Chu engaged in an interactive discussion with renewable and energy efficiency industry leaders. He stressed the importance of government catalyzing research and new policy directions -- and then getting out of the way and letting the private sector take over. ¶11. (U) DOE PDAS Elkind cleared this cable. ¶12. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov/p/sa/newdelhi. ROEMER