VZCZCXRO3255
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
DE RUEHNE #2787/01 2981032
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241032Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3896
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2938
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 3697
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2752
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
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 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