The report summarizes the proceedings of the recently concluded Renewcon Conference India 2010 held in Mumbai on 26th & 27th August 2010.
The two day conference brought together various stakeholders and industry participants in the solar and wind energy sectors. The proceedings included high quality and in-depth presentations on strategies, implementation, technologies and regulation on the advances in solar and wind power.
The conference was opened by Mr Karthik Rajaraman, Programme Manager, UBM India with Gayatri Ramnathan, The Editor of ‘The Energy Business’ chairing the opening session.
Delivering the keynote, Mr. Pradhan, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Power summarized the evolution of the Solar Energy Policy in India from the 1980s to the recently launched National Solar Mission. He reiterated the high priority of the solar mission in the Central Govt. schemes and the high level of expectations from the mission.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. V.K. Garg, Chairperson of Joint Regulatory Commission (JERC) touched upon the solar power tariff regulations and the various issues faced by the developers such as land scarcity and loss in terms of transmission of electricity. He highlighted the various steps undertaken by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to address the various technical faults and synchronization of the solar energy produced with the grid, solar system mechanisms and metering, customization of software control etc.
Following the keynote, a panel comprising of Mr. Gopal Agrawal, Vice President SBI Capital, Mr. Venkateshwara, IREDA, and Dr. VK Garg of JERC deliberated on ‘Attracting appropriate sources of investment to drive the commercial success of your solar energy project’. The participants shared their views on funding for renewable energy projects , the need for linkages between industry and financial institutions and the risk perception considering lack of data on solar radiation, technology availability, investment requirements and subsidies, regulatory risk and the implementation timelines. On the industry side, Mr. Anjan Gosh, Head of Business Development, Tata BP Solar urged the audience to focus on de-centralized solar energy projects. He expressed the hope that a robust solar energy segment would go a long way in minimizing the ever increasing energy deficit in the country. He shared information on the several successful projects implemented by Tata BP Solar and how these had helped transform several rural communities. He strongly reiterated that Solar energy is uniquely placed to transform the face of India through access to energy and ensuring energy security. 
At a panel discussion on ‘Analyzing the Power Purchase agreement (PPA) framework to ensure its suitability for the solar energy sector’, participants included Dr. P.K. Mishra, Chairman, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr Anjan Ghosh of Tata BP Solar, Mr Aseem Sharma, COO & Executive Director at Sunborne Energy and Ravi Raina, President India Operations, Astonfield Renewables. The panel deliberated on the tariff structures and factors such as capital costs, interest rates, returns and depreciation. Some panelists underlined the need for the Govt. to maintain the focus on tariff frameworks to avoid this becoming an impediment to the sector’s growth in the Indian energy market.
Amongst other notable presenters, , Mr. Aseem Sharma, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Sunborne Energy presented on the potential of concentrated solar thermal technologies to achieve cost – effective and highly efficient solar energy equipment and component sector. He provided an insight into different types of solar technologies available in India and in the international market and compared the state of the Indian market for solar thermal and solar PV technologies.
In his presentation, Mr. Praveen Kumar Sood, Chairman, Regnant Group, emphasized on the need for developers to carefully choose their battery systems and understand their working for better output, efficiency and longevity in battery lifecycles. Mr A.K Gidwani, Chief Manager, Strategy, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), presented on the opportunities in the solar energy market and made a strong business case on expected rewards from investments in the sector.
In his presentation, Mr. Shaji Josh, Chief of Solar Initiative at Larsen & Turbo ECC, recommended that the project developers need to be particularly cognizant of technology, longevity, speed and light for ensuring a robust solar energy plant and for securing a cost effective and highly effective supply of Solar Energy.
The speaker also reflected on the strategic risks with regards to radiation risk and the evacuation risk.
Towards the end, Mr. Bikash Kumar, Vice President of Crystalline Technology at Moserbaer, spoke on 'Leveraging advanced photovoltaic technologies to achieve cost effective and highly efficient solar power generation' and shared the Moserbaer experiences and learnings with the audience.
The second day of the conference focused on the advances in the Wind sector in India. The session was chaired by Gayatri Ramanathan, Editor of The Energy Business , who opened the session by providing a comprehensive overview on the current status of wind energy in India.
Delivering the keynote, Mr Pramod Deo, Chairman of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), analyzed the evolving structure, dynamics and key players in the Indian wind energy industry. Mr Deo spoke in detail on the tariff regulations in India and the changes introduced post 2003 and stressed that the new law has enabled a more pro-consumer regulatory system thereby enabling the consumers the choice to purchase electricity according to their preferences.
Mr. Deo also spoke on the upcoming Renewable Energy Certificates scheme and the path for achieving grid parity and the need for better efficiency in transmission and energy losses. He also spoke on the CERC’s ‘Clean Energy Fund’, which provides incentives for State transmission entities to build the grid line, and monitor better efficiency in sub stations.
Following the key note, a panel comprising of Krishna Chaitanya, Investment Principal at Actis , Sunil Jain, Chief Operating Officer at Green Infra and Ojasvi Gupta- Associate Vice President for Project Advisory and Structured Finance at SBI Capital Markets deliberated on the strategies for attracting and securing innovative sources of investment to enable successful implementation and operation of a wind energy project. The discussions highlighted the pros and challenges likely to be faced by the developers while setting up these projects. The panelists emphasized the need for the developers to perform their own research on technology, wind generation data and the grid parity potential before venturing into projects. Other useful recommendations by the panelists highlighted the need for generation based incentives and better data availability. Panelists also emphasized the need for collaboration amongst the various developers to ensure data (tracked mostly at an individual level by developers) is collated across a larger pool.
In a session on ‘Making the business case and identifying potential partners to drive the success of your wind energy business in India’ Mr. Sameer Mathur,General Manager of Business Development at Reliance Power, presented on the indicators to be considered for shaping a comprehensive business case. He laid particular emphasis on site location and micro-siting for energy estimation & validation.
Participating in a panel discussion on ‘Understanding how the CERC along with the SERCs are driving a more cohesive regulatory framework for the commercial success of India’s energy sector', Dr Pramod Deo of CERC, Mahesh Makhija, Director of Business Development at CLP Power India and Chintan Shah, Vice President of Strategic Business Development at Suzlon shared their insights based on learnings from various field projects.
In the afternoon session, amongst the various participants, Mr Avinash Rao, DGM at CLP Power India, provided a detailed walk-thru on the practical issues likely to be encountered by the developers while setting up a cost effective wind farm.
In his presentation, Mr. Chaturdatta Palekar, Principal Consultant at PwC focused on 'Leveraging joint wind and solar power plant architectures to drive the cost efficiency of a wind power project‘. Mr Palekar also presented on a unique hybrid model, whereby the energy needs are met both through wind and solar. The speaker also provided insight into the various hybrid projects (almost 230 +) deployed in the North-East.
Mr Palekar concluded his talk by stressing on the importance of generation based incentives and felt that the hybrid systems could work out successfully in the case of rural electrification and small scale projects as well.
The final presentations of the day were delivered by Mr. Avinash Rao, DGM at CLP Power India and Dr S Gomanthinayagam, Executive Director of the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET). While Mr. Rao spoke about the need, challenge and potential of delivering high performance low-cost wind energy equipment for the Indian market, Dr. S Gomanthinayagam spoke on ‘Leveraging local R& D capability to drive the innovation and cost-effectiveness of indigenous wind energy equipments and systems’. Dr. S. Gomanthinayagam stressed on the need for a paradigm shift in the industry for raising the R & D field efforts in the sector. He specifically referred to the ever growing demand in the country for wind mill technologies, which are currently being through imports from countries like China and Germany and as such provide an attractive avenue for domestic industry to tap into.
The conference ended with a concluding note from Gayatri Ramnnthan. The Conference was organized by The Energy Business Conferences with support from SESI (Solar Energy Society of India) and INwea. Other partners included Regnant Group, Cooper Brussmann, National Instruments, Tinsley India, Sumip & Pustron, and Sun Age Consultancy.
This report was compiled by Ruchi Jain.
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