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DE RUEHNE #2335/01 3230641
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 190641Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8623
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
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RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
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RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMCSUU/HQ USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMCSUU/NGIC INTEL OPS CHARLOTTESVILLE VA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 002335 
 
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. 
 
 
 
NEW DELHI 00002335  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶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 
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 
 
NEW DELHI 00002335  003 OF 003 
 
 
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 
-------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
 
¶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