VZCZCXRO6572
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
DE RUEHNE #2278/01 2351258
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221258Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3103
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2630
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 3382
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2447
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 NEW DELHI 002278 
 
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/PDAS/RHARNISH; 
OES/PCI STEWART; OES/IHB MURPHY; OES/GTHOMPSON 
STATE FOR EEB/DAVID HENRY 
PASS TO MAS/DAS/JESTRADA 
PASS TO MAC/DAS/HVINEYARD 
PASS TO NSF/MLUECK 
SLUG TO DOE/DAS/JMIZROCH; DOE/MGINZBERG 
SLUG TO DOE/ (TCUTLER/GBISCONTI/CGILLESPIE) 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TRGY SENV KGHG TSPL TNGD EIND KSCA ECON
SUBJECT:  PROSPECTS FOR COLLABORATION ON SOLAR ENERGY 
BRIGHTEN WITH INDIA'S NEW CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  001.2 OF 010 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary. The recently announced National Action 
Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) envisages solar energy as a 
key element to India's energy security and climate change 
strategy.  It calls for the formation of a new National 
Solar Mission (NSM), which is expected to lead to more 
integrated Government of India (GOI) action in the solar 
energy front and boost local solar industries.  The Indian 
solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is already booming with an 
annual growth of 35 percent and investment proposals worth 
USD 15 billion in one year (2007-2008) driven by government 
incentives, high fuel prices, increasing local demand, and 
a strong export market.  The solar PV industry?s plans to 
expand capacity to over 2 to 3 GW by 2012 is five years 
ahead of GOI plans in the  NAPCC of 1 GW annual solar PV 
production capacity by 2017.  The renewed GOI interest is 
also expected to rejuvenate R&D on solar energy at the 
national labs which has been lagging behind.  Having set up 
a big vision for solar, the GOI is looking for 
collaborations with the US in both R&D and commercial 
spheres including help in formulation of its strategy for 
NSM that will accelerate the implementation of the NAPCC. 
There continue to be some logistical hurdles as well as 
misgivings on the forward movement of joint initiatives. 
However, it is an opportunity for not only enhancing the 
existing US-Indo cooperation but for creating new 
engagements in all areas of solar technology.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
SOLAR ENERGY A KEY SPOKE IN THE GROWING INDIAN ENERGY WHEEL 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) To sustain its economic growth, India needs to 
drastically augment energy production in the coming 
decades.  Even India's current installed capacity of 144 GW 
is insufficient to prevent frequent and severe power 
shortages due to the over 15 percent differential between 
the peak power supply and demand.  According to a recent 
McKinsey report for the Ministry of Power (MoP), in the 
short term India needs to nearly triple its power 
generation to about 335 GW, with an investment of over USD 
600 billion to sustain 8 percent growth.  India's 
Integrated Energy Policy estimates the country will need at 
least 800 GW power by 2032 for energy security.   India 
will need to consider all forms of available energy to meet 
the huge demand. 
 
¶3.  (U) Solar energy could be a useful contributor to the 
Indian power basket.  India has abundant solar resources - 
about 3000 hours of sunshine every year, equivalent to over 
5,000 trillion kWh.  However the total installed capacity 
of solar energy based systems (PV and thermal) including 
grid connected and distributed is only 0.1 percent of the 
total power generated in the country or about 2 percent of 
total installed capacity of renewable energy of 12 GW, as 
compared to nearly 65 percent in the case of wind energy (8 
GW).  While solar remains important to the estimated 1.5 
million Indian households off the electrical grid that use 
it for hot water, lighting, water pumping, traffic signals, 
television, and other low power applications, India's 
overall solar install-base is still quite low compared to 
Europe, North America, and most recently China. 
 
¶4.  (U) Responsibility in GOI for activities related to 
solar energy span across the government, but the nodal 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  002.2 OF 010 
 
 
ministry is the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy 
(MNRE).  MNRE offers several financial incentive programs 
to increase solar energy technology production and use, 
including a feed-in tariff and a remote village lighting 
program.  MNRE also operates the Solar Energy Centre (SEC) 
near Delhi, a dedicated unit for development of solar 
energy technologies, promotion of solar applications and 
testing and calibration of products.  Other key government 
organizations include the Council of Scientific and 
Industrial Research (CSIR) under the Ministry of Science 
and Technology (MoST), which does basic and applied 
research on solar and other technologies.  Its oldest 
institution is the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in 
Delhi, with core competencies in electronic materials and 
materials characterization.  The CSIR also supports Central 
Electronics Limited (CEL) in Sahibabad near Delhi, a public 
sector enterprise that produces PV modules. Other agencies 
with funding for solar include Department of Space (DoS), 
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of 
Information Technology (DIT), the Department of Science and 
Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Power (MoP).  In 
total, GOI has allocated over USD 1 billion for solar 
energy based R&D and deployment of solar based products by 
various agencies in the eleventh five year plan (2007- 
2012). 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
GOI Releases Big Solar Vision but no Central Strategy Yet 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The recently released National Action Plan on 
Climate Change (NAPCC) highlights solar as a key element to 
India's energy and climate change strategy.  The NAPCC 
identifies eight National Missions including one "to 
significantly increase the share of solar in the total 
energy mix."  The National Solar Mission (NSM) will fine 
tune existing policies or formulate new ones to support (1) 
the deployment of commercial solar technologies in the 
country, (2) the establishment of a solar research facility 
to coordinate country-wide activities, (3) the realization 
of private sector capacity to deliver complete system for 
use of solar energy, (4) networking Indian researchers with 
international initiatives to promote collaborative research 
and (5) providing grants to promote all the above 
activities. By the end of the twelfth five-year plan in 
2017, the Mission aims to facilitate local PV production of 
1GW/annum and the establishment of an integrated power 
generation facility of 1GW using concentrated solar power. 
The Mission also hopes to use solar energy to achieve 80 
percent coverage of low temperature (less than 150 deg C) 
applications including water/air heating, cooking, drying 
of agricultural and food products, water purification, 
detoxification of wastes, cooling, and refrigeration, as 
well as 60 percent coverage of medium temperature (150 to 
250 deg C) applications including heat based industrial 
processes using large area solar dish concentrators. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Despite the renewed emphasis on solar in the 
NAPCC, the former Secretary of the MNRE, Mr. Subramanian, 
confirmed that the coordination committee to formulate and 
oversee the actual plan for the implementation of the NSM 
by the end of the year has not yet been constituted.  Dr. 
Bhargava, Adviser on solar PV at MNRE, conveyed that a 
common strategy on solar is being developed, but government 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  003.2 OF 010 
 
 
stakeholders do understand the need to work together for 
effective output.  Scientists at the Solar Energy Center 
(SEC) under the MNRE were unaware of how the NSM would be 
implemented, though they said SEC would "probably" be 
designated the coordinating research facility mentioned in 
the plan. 
 
¶7.  (U) Besides the NAPCC the Prime Minister?s Energy 
Coordination Committee (ECC,) in an effort to accelerate 
India?s adoption of renewable energy, has approved the 
initiative to enact a new "Renewable Energy Act" by MNRE. 
The law looks to stipulate mandatory procurement of 
prescribed minimum renewable energy in each state of India. 
MNRE believes this will enable India to meet 20 percent of 
India's energy requirements from renewable energy by 2020. 
Currently renewables account for 8 percent of Indian power 
needs and this includes wind, solar, biomass, geothermal 
and other technologies.  MNRE had entrusted the Pune-based, 
non-profit and non-governmental organization, The World 
Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) with the 
responsibility of formulating the draft of act, which 
according to WISE is ready now. 
 
8  (U) With rising crude oil prices and with a view to 
reducing the oil subsidy burden, Indian PM has asked MNRE 
to ensure that the kerosene lanterns in rural areas should 
be replaced with solar lanterns at the earliest.  Many Non 
Governmental Organizations (NGO) have also joined this 
initiative along with MNRE.  The Energy Research Institute 
(TERI), Delhi along with many international NGOs including 
Clinton Global Initiative, have initiated a program called 
"Light a Billion Lives" (LaBL) with the aim of distributing 
200 million solar lanterns across the world, with India 
being one of the key destinations.  Another NGO called 
Bharatiya Vikas Trust (BVT), Manipal - Karnataka,  along 
with an entrepreneur Dr.Harish Hande's company Selco and a 
public sector bank - Syndicate Bank, India has developed a 
non subsidy based model for lighting up rural households 
without electricity using solar lamps.  They have together 
supported over 100,000 families in 100 villages.  It may be 
mentioned here that USAID had also supported BVT in the 
initial stages and Dr. Hande of Selco, Bangalore continues 
to work with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 
for development of sustainable energy products. 
 
----------------------------------- 
PV Industry Growing Fast 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Despite the absence of a unified government solar 
strategy, domestic solar PV manufacturing is taking off. 
The Indian PV market was valued at USD 15 billion in 2007, 
and is expected to reach USD 70-100 billion by 2012.  The 
surge is encouraged by high oil prices, technological 
advances, surging European PV market, low local labor costs 
and GOI incentive programs. The incentives include support 
price of Rs 12 (approx 30 cents) per kilowatt of solar PV 
based power and Rs 10 (approx 25 cents) per kilowatt of 
solar thermal power contributed to the grid.  However in 
the initial phase this incentive is for a maximum of 50 MW 
of PV and solar thermal based power generation.  MNRE has 
also announced the setting up of 60 solar cities through 
public-private partnerships, with the goal of having a 
solar city in every one of the twenty nine Indian states 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  004.2 OF 010 
 
 
and no more than five in any given state. 
 
¶10.  (U) Another important incentive program is the Special 
Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS) managed by MNRE and the 
Ministry of Information Technology's (MIT).  SIPS supports 
setting up of semiconductor based manufacturing facilities 
by subsidizing up to 20 percent of the initial capital 
investment in Special Economic Zones and up to 25 percent 
in other parts of India for a period of 10 years.  Special 
economic zones offer added benefits including flexible 
employment laws, established support infrastructure, tax 
rebates, several regulatory and fiscal incentives and an 
internationally competitive and hassle free environment for 
exports.  These incentives are available for capital 
investment of over USD 600 million to start new projects 
and over USD 250 million to expand existing projects.  The 
scheme has led to proposals worth nearly USD 15 billion 
including over USD 1 billion each from Reliance Industries, 
Moser Baer, Signet Solar, Solar Semiconductor, Bhaskara 
Silicon and Nanotech Silicon.  Several companies investing 
under SIPS on solar energy projects include Tata BP, Titan 
Energy, KSK Energy Ventures, Webel SL Energy, and Photon 
Energy Systems.  Most of these companies have either US 
partners or originated in the US. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) These companies are working on a variety of 
solar technologies including silicon based crystalline and 
polycrystalline solar cells, amorphous silicon thin film 
solar cells, novel nanomaterials based solar cells, Copper 
Indium Diselenide / Copper Indium Galium Diselenide based 
thin film solar cells, concentrator cells, solar thermal 
based manufacturing, and hybrid solar cells.  They are also 
looking out for newer technologies and partners.  Moser 
Baer PV (MBPV) is partnering with several US companies, 
including California-based Applied Materials and Solfocus 
to establish a first of its kind large Thin Film (TF)PV 
production facility and a concentrator solar cell 
production facility respectively.  The TF PV process is 
expected to produce single PV panels of size over 2.6 m by 
2.2 m, using a technology similar to the seventh generation 
flat panel displays manufactured in Japan.  The Indus 
Entrepreneurs (TiE), a leading global entrepreneurship 
nurturing organization which originated in Silicon Valley, 
recently started a "Clean Tech Focus Group" in Bangalore to 
identify opportunities for investment in India.  The group 
believes that by 2010 approximately USD 19 billion will be 
invested in clean technologies with a major share in solar 
energy based technology. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) SciOffs spoke with Bharat Heavy Electricals 
Limited (BHEL), India's largest engineering and 
manufacturing company in the conventional power sector and 
the fifth largest producer of PV cells, about their 
increasing investments in solar.  Dr. R. K. Bhogra, Head of 
the Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell Plant (ASSSCP) in Gurgaon 
near New Delhi, said that the recent entry of large 
companies like Reliance and Tata has increased investor 
confidence in the sector.  The budget for ASSCP increased 
from approximately USD 75 million in 2006 to a projected 
USD 225 million in 2009, with a focus on their in-house 
developed double junction amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin 
film technology (as opposed to Moser Baer and others 
focusing on single junction a-Si:H thin film technology). 
BHEL's crystalline silicon business is also expected to 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  005.2 OF 010 
 
 
grow from 3MW production capacity to a proposed 100MW 
production capability, with a focus on individual 
installations greater than 100kW. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) One of the biggest problems facing all the PV 
manufacturers in India working with the conventional 
crystalline or polycrystalline silicon technology is the 
global shortage of silicon wafers and lack of any Indian 
sources.  Dr.Kaul, General Manger of Production at CEL, 
India's largest PV manufacturer until a couple of years 
ago, told SciFSN that getting silicon wafers has been so 
difficult that they have been unable to run the plant at 
maximum capacity of 15 MW and are wary of expansion.  He 
added that the planned silicon wafer production facilities 
by both the government and the private players like 
Reliance and Bhaskar Silicon would not happen at least 
before 2010.  He also mentioned that once they are assured 
of silicon wafers they can easily expand their 
manufacturing capacity as crystalline silicon technology is 
a mature and established technology.  It may be mentioned 
here that Bhaskar Silicon expects its Haldia facility in 
West Bengal to be ready to produce 2500 tonnes of poly 
silicon by late 2009, when the first phase would be ready 
and plan to expand the capacity to 5000 tonnes of poly 
silicon in another two years.  They hope to especially 
cater to small and medium enterprises involved in PV module 
manufacturing, besides their own plan to produce 250MW of 
PV modules per annum. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) SciCouns and SciFSN visited Moser Baer PV 
manufacturing facility in Greater Noida near New Delhi. 
MBPV is one of the fastest growing PV companies in India 
with ambitions of being the world's largest PV producer. 
MBPV is an offshoot of Moser Baer, the world's second 
largest optical disc manufacturer. Dr.Rajiv Arya, Senior 
Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) told 
SciCouns that MBPV had taken a decision to move to PV as it 
could leverage its expertise on large volume TF based 
optical disc production to manufacture solar panels and 
derive similar advantages of scale and cost in PV domain. 
He said that MBPV had already invested USD 3.2 billion on 
research, development and manufacturing of PV products and 
hopes to produce modules capable of generating over 1 GW 
power by 2012. He showed their first trial TFPV panel of 
2.6m x 2.2m, which when fully ready could produce nearly 
360 W power, which is more than double the capability of 
the current largest PV module in the market.  He further 
added that MBPV has already finalized discussion with some 
states including Rajasthan and West Bengal to establish 
grid connected PV based power plants and soon hopes to set 
up power plants in most states in India. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Government-funded R&D Trailing Industry Growth 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶15.  (U) Despite rapid private sector growth, the mostly 
government-funded Indian solar research scene had been low 
key with insufficient resources and little industry 
participation.  Only a few institutes have active solar 
research programs, including the Indian Association for 
Cultivation for Science (IACS) in Jadhavpur, the Indian 
Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, the Indian 
Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai, and aforementioned 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  006.2 OF 010 
 
 
SEC and National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi. 
These facilities generally focus on solar PV materials and 
devices; there is little work on PV panels and associated 
systems and even less activity on solar thermal.  SEC and a 
few small and medium entrepreneurs conduct development work 
on sub-systems associated with solar energy storage and 
delivery.  During visits to SEC and NPL SciOffs found only 
small-scale projects with outdated equipment. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Increased funding in the latest five-year plan, 
however, suggests the R&D situation may be changing.  Based 
on the recommendation of the steering committee for S&T for 
the eleventh plan and the Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) 
Report of the Planning Commission, MNRE has more than 
doubled its budget allocation for renewable energies from 
nearly USD 1 billion during the tenth plan period to USD 
2.5 billion in the eleventh plan period.  Dr. Bhargava of 
MNRE mentioned to SciFSN that the research budget for solar 
energy related activities increased nearly ten fold in the 
in the eleventh plan.  MNRE alone has planned for 
allocation of USD 550 million for solar PV and thermal 
based research, rural lighting and electrification and 
urban and industrial applications.  CSIR labs plan to 
invest over USD 150 million for solar PV based research, 
and they will work with CEL to jointly develop 18% 
efficiency silicon solar cells using 15cm and 20cm wafers 
by the end of 2012.  In total, the estimated allocation for 
research and product development activity related to solar 
energy is close to USD 1 billion during the eleventh plan 
period.  This may further increase once the NSM is 
formalized. 
 
¶17.  (U) GOI has also identified several Centers of 
Excellence which are receiving additional funds for setting 
up advanced user facilities in the country.  These include 
institutes mentioned earlier like IACS (amorphous silicon 
technology), IIT Mumbai (hybrid solar cells), IISc (organic 
solar cells), and NPL (crystalline / polysilicon solar 
cell).  MNRE has further identified Bhabha Atomic Research 
Center (BARC) under the Department of Atomic Energy as the 
nodal center for development of solar concentrator 
receiving towers, BARC and National Thermal Power 
Corporation (NTPC) as the joint nodal center for hybrid 
thermal power generation systems, and BARC and IIT Mumbai 
as a joint nodal center for development of solar thermal 
power generation systems.  Each center of excellence will 
have associated industrial partners so that new 
technologies reach the market in the shortest time.  Other 
key areas being funded include sub-systems like batteries 
and associated electronics, silicon crystal growth, dye 
sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, solar 
concentrator cells, high temperature solar thermal based 
power generation systems, and development of solar thermal 
based urban and industrial applications. 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Increasing Collaboration with US a GOI Priority 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶18.  (SBU) SciOff conversations with MNRE staff revealed 
they are keen to increase existing collaboration.  In his 
second day on the job, the new Secretary of MNRE Mr. Deepak 
Gupta said that "everything under the sun" is on the table 
and they are very open to working with the US on all 
aspects of solar technology.  The previous Secretary of 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  007.2 OF 010 
 
 
MNRE Mr. Subramanian agreed and added that joint projects 
should focus on technologies that the private sector can 
bring quickly to market.  Neither specified which 
technologies they would focus on. 
 
¶19.  (SBU) Dr. Bhargava, MNRE Adviser on Solar PV, 
described MNRE?s fruitful past collaboration with the US 
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on a solar PV 
facility.  SEC itself was set up with USAID funds and in 
collaboration with NREL.  He mentioned that they were 
working with NREL when they discovered that certain thin 
film PV panels degraded faster in India than in the US 
because of harsh local atmospheric conditions.  NREL and 
SEC are currently working together to characterize the 
potential for solar energy in India - NREL provides 
satellite data which SEC corroborates with ground data.  In 
the future, Dr. Bhargava said that MNRE wants to continue 
working jointly with the US, as opposed to simply receiving 
grant money, and that it could be useful to work with NREL 
and others to set up and validate a 1 GW solar power 
generation facility. 
 
¶20.  (SBU) Regarding the specific technologies ripe for 
collaboration, Dr. Tripathi, MNRE Adviser for solar 
thermal, also said his Ministry would like to increase work 
with US agencies and institutes like NREL, Sandia and 
Berkeley labs.  The areas of increased collaboration could 
include setting up standards for energy efficient 
buildings, learning more about energy auditing and green 
buildings, and having MNRE personnel trained in the US. 
Dr. Tripathi wanted to learn more about the tariff 
structures, methodology, and practices used in the case of 
grid integrated power systems in the US.  He said that they 
would appreciate help in setting up GOI Centers of 
Excellence in solar thermal energy based technologies, 
amorphous silicon solar cells, concentrator solar cells, 
novel nanomaterials based inexpensive solar cell 
technology, and polymer/organic solar cells. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) Dr. Bandopadhyay, Director of the SEC, said that 
there is "no lack of funds" for solar R&D but things aren't 
happening because of a "lack of initiative" which more 
collaboration with the US could address.  SEC would like 
someone to "hold its hands" on developing solar cooling, 
including solar absorption based air conditioning systems. 
SEC would also like to expand work on green building design 
by educating India's 30,000 plus registered architects, and 
it hopes to work closely with Lawrence Berkeley Labs in 
this regard. 
 
¶22.  (SBU) Dr. Vikram Kumar, Director NPL, said resources 
are increasingly available to improve facilities and 
salaries, but money alone can't solve the technical 
challenges of expanding solar use.  NPL already has a good 
relationship with the US National Institute of Standards 
and Measurements (NIST).  The Director said they hoped to 
grow their relationship with NIST further by setting up a 
wide range of standards for the various new nano materials 
and devices which could be useful for solar energy based 
applications.  NPL staff scientist Dr. V. N. Ojha said he 
is particularly interested in working with NIST on quantum 
electrical metrology and nanometrology to support hi-tech 
solar cell development. 
 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  008.2 OF 010 
 
 
¶23.  (SBU) Dr. Bhogra of BHEL said they would be interested 
in collaborations on "anything" related to amorphous 
silicon to achieve efficiencies greater than 5.5 percent, 
crystalline silicon to achieve efficiencies of 18-20 
percent, and technologies using thinner wafers, which are 
increasingly the industry standard.  He mentioned that they 
were especially looking to thin film PV technology as they 
would like to learn and work with US partners to develop 
Building Integrated PV (BIPV) systems.  Dr. Kaul from CEL 
mentioned that they would be interested in low cost, lower 
thermal budget crystalline silicon growth process from US 
as opposed to the current high cost and high energy 
consuming Siemens process for growth of crystalline 
silicon.  Dr. Rajiv Arya of MBPV said that he would like to 
expand collaborations with the US to include US Labs like 
NREL for testing and calibration of their panels and for 
help in setting up similar facilities in India.  He further 
added that they would also be open to research 
collaboration with ongoing programs like the Helios Project 
at Berkeley for futuristic solar technologies. 
 
¶24.  (SBU) As part of the US-India Joint Working Group on 
Energy, the Subgroup on New and Renewable Energy 
Technologies has also been discussing areas to collaborate 
in solar.  They met earlier this year and brainstormed key 
areas of cooperation between the two countries, including 
solar cities, concentrated solar power, a workshop on zero 
energy buildings, testing and certification, grid 
integration in both solar and wind, and solar lighting 
opportunities.  However, no immediate plans exist to 
realize solar-related collaboration in these areas.  MNRE, 
along with CSIR, has also expressed keen interest to 
SciCouns to participate in the Helios project, an ambitious 
project initiated by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory 
(LBNL) and University of California Berkeley with public 
and private funding to develop new and sustainable 
methodologies to "store" solar energy in the form of 
renewable transportation fuel and low cost and higher 
efficiency solar panels. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Logistical Hurdles 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶25.  (SBU) Stakeholders shared some key non-technical 
hurdles to US-India collaboration.  According to staff 
scientist Dr. Chakraborty working on surface sciences 
(characterization of nanomaterials for solar applications) 
from NPL, colleagues have had to postpone or cancel 
meetings in the US because of their inability to secure a 
visa, and he himself had been waiting for a visa to visit a 
collaborator in Penn State for over 8 weeks.  Dr. Vikram 
Kumar, Director of NPL, echoed the visa concern, and also 
said it has been difficult to get researchers from the US 
to make extended visits to India for reasons such as 
difficult living conditions, insufficient US government 
support for bilateral programs, and relatively poor quality 
of research in Indian institutions.  Finally, MNRE 
officials and Dr. Bhorga from BHEL both lamented that there 
has been numerous bilateral and multilateral discussions on 
cooperation in renewable energy including solar, with few 
tangible results. 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  009.2 OF 010 
 
 
Comments 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶26.  (SBU) Overall the public funded solar energy research 
facilities that the SciOffs visited were relatively small- 
scale and not state of the art.  Despite these 
shortcomings, they met many knowledgeable scientists and 
engineers positioned to perform world-class research.  They 
heard several times that funding is no problem, and Indian 
scientists wanted to forge stronger US-India collaborations 
? perhaps partly to accelerate their progress. 
 
¶27.  (SBU) Indian R&D and academic institutes are looking 
for advanced technology partners in all areas of solar 
energy, as they now have significant funding support for 
research and human resource capacity building.  This offers 
opportunities for collaboration under ambitious programs 
like the Helios Project and India's desire to establish a 
hybrid 1 GW power generation facility.  As the Indian 
market moves to higher capacity solar PV based power 
generation, it will also need better storage technologies 
and electronics for handling the power generated. 
 
¶28.  (SBU) Solar thermal technology may have the most unmet 
potential for US-Indo collaboration, including both the low 
temperature based residential and commercial applications 
and the high temperature based power generation and 
industrial applications.  As the global leader in solar 
thermal, U.S. companies could be excellent partners to help 
develop simple and inexpensive technologies for water 
heating, cooking, food processing, air conditioning, 
refrigeration and other applications. 
 
¶29.  (U) In the case of solar PV, the Indian PV industry is 
growing at over 35 percent per annum, and companies are 
looking for opportunities for investment and R&D partners. 
Some companies have already invested in state of the art or 
rather first of a kind technologies like the large area TF 
PV technologies and concentrator solar cells production 
line and are looking for accelerated growth.  The areas of 
technological opportunity include novel thin film solar 
cell technologies like organic /polymer solar cells, 
nanomaterials based solar cells, electrochemical solar 
cells, and setting up standards for materials, devices and 
panels.  The enhanced focus on thin film technology can be 
further attributed to the shortage of silicon wafers and 
local sources and also to the possibility of building 
integrated PV, as more buildings and cities move to clean 
and green technologies. 
 
¶30.  (SBU) Given the accelerated plans for investment in 
solar PV in India, the market may well exceed government 
production targets.  For example, the planned annual 
capacity by 2010-12 for just five of the over 20 PV 
companies in India, namely MBPV (1 GW), Tata BP (0.3 GW), 
Signet Solar (0.3 GW), Silicon Semiconductors (0.3 GW), and 
BHEL (0.1 GW) is 2.1 GW which is larger than the NSM target 
of 1 GW per annum by 2017.  The solar industry growth 
story, with the PV segment being the initial driver or 
catalyst, could be similar to the Indian telecom sector 
which transformed itself in just 5 years into a major 
global player.  However, solar energy may still be a 
relatively small fraction (less than 0.5 percent) of the 
total Indian energy pie at least for the next 5 years. 
 
NEW DELHI 00002278  010.2 OF 010 
 
 
Most industries which have invested in India are clearly 
not looking at GOI subsidies beyond SIPS and are driven by 
market dynamics; so the growth of solar industry seems to 
be assured. 
 
WHITE