Secretary Chu Focuses on Clean Energy and Climate Change in

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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