Govt. of India has the objective of electrification of all the villages of India by 2020. But it is not about having grid connection; it is about meeting power requirements so that industries can grow.

Renewable Energy India 2014 – Asia’s Largest Renewable Energy Event

3 – 5 Sept, 2014, India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, India

REI Expo 2014 – A UBM Event will have a three day conference featuring insightful discussions, educational conference sessions and networking exchanges with  power sector’s leading companies. It will also focus on new technologies and trends representing the future of the power and energy sector. The Planning Commission shall release  a comprehensive report on the Renewable energy sector on the first day of the exhibition. The exhibition will also host a CEO Conclave which will focus on the Policies and regulation in the renewable energy sector. Additionally there are sessions organised on Financing and Implementation of Renewable energy Projects.

Interview with Mr. Rajneesh Khattar, Group Director, UBM India

 1. Please start with introducing UBM & Renewable Energy Expo to our readers and its services to the industry?

UBM India is India’s leading live media and events company that engages people and enriches businesses. We at UBM India provide the industry with platforms that bring together buyers and sellers from around the world, through a portfolio of exhibitions, content led conferences & seminars, tech media, live events, data services and powerful media brands. UBM India hosts over 20 large scale exhibitions and 40 conferences across the country every year; thereby enabling trade across multiple industry verticals. A UBM Asia Company, UBM India has offices across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. UBM Asia is owned by UBM plc which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. UBM Asia is the leading exhibition organiser in Asia and the biggest commercial organiser in mainland China, India and Malaysia.

Renewable Energy India Expo (REI 2014) is an annual event that aims to accelerate growth of the Indian renewable energy sector by offering sustainable development opportunities to businesses in this industry. The event brings together decision makers, influencers, technical experts and professionals from leading companies involved in the renewable energy generation, transmission and distribution from across the globe. The show is the only Indian platform for industry stakeholders to exchange ideas and information about the current and futuristic trends and expectations of this sector. It also acts as a window for the industry to access innovations, product launches and an opportunity to absorb clarity on the Indian regulatory framework for mainstreaming and up scaling of renewable energy.

2. How many industries & associations are associated with UBM & REI?

In terms of total participation in REI, we are close to 500 companies that will come from 35 countries; major participation will be in the form of various country pavilions. Year after year we have been growing from pillar to post and we probably have the highest of international flavor to our show. That is what, domestic audiences come to our show, because they want to catch up with the updates to the technological innovations that are happening in the West. This year we have 8 countries pavilions, Japan, Italy, Germany, USA, Catalonia, EBTC, Taiwan, Canada and Belgium. So that makes our show probably the largest, when it comes to the heavy mix of domestic & international. In UBM India there is no alliance with any industry but we have lot of supporting organizations, trade media & analysts. For example, Bloomberg, and a special team from Bloomberg is coming to the show. ISGF, which is “India’s Smart Grid Forum”, will be driving a Smart grid conference at our show. Our show is the only show certified by US Commercial Services. We have support from CWET, which is “Center for Wind Energy Technology, Chennai”, VTT, a research body in Finland, who will be doing bio-sections at our show.

Of-course this is a commercial show, but my objective as a head of this show is, to make this expo as a knowledge hub. So if you look at the analysis part of our show, they not only come to meet the companies, but they also come to explore the huge knowledge ocean, which they will be enriched with and that’s the kind of take away. So I really push people to make this event a knowledge hub and this year the KPMG, a global organisation is with us and driving a state energy sectary meet on the floor, to get energy secretary from MP, AP, Punjab putting them all together under one roof.

3. Most of the global companies sees India a one of the biggest market. What are your views on Indian Industry as a consumer & supplier both?

This is pretty true looking at the fortunate geography of India. If you talk about solar, I think India is the rarest in the world which has so much of sun exposed areas and that is wealth of gold, coming at free of cost as compared to the countries like, Finland that have no sunlight, for more than 6 months. In India, there are regions like Rajasthan, that have plenty of sunlight availability 365 days a year, or you can see down south, regions in the western parts, wind energy is full-flashed. So all the technology & innovation, which happened within this sector or what we have to do is to harness this god gifted potential. So the important role is you have no dearth of input materials. However, we don’t opt for solar based equipment very easily, the only reason behind this being, the lack of awareness. People have to be made aware and people have to be self-disciplined. If you look at other countries where solar is very much in vogue, there could be two possibilities, one could be a country like China that is a communist country, they push everything, leaving no option, or second like in Western countries, people are responsible towards the environment and they are more disciplined and understand the need of their responsibility towards the future generations. So the requirement is of a mind-set change and the younger generation today is mind-full of it. So we need to generate more sense of responsibility & awareness. And of-course the ease of availability of such equipments will do a lot.

4. To create this awareness towards Renewable Energy what actions are required?

Every stake-holder has to contribute in this campaign. I will be absolutely wrong, if I would say it’s only Govt’s job. The Govt. has their role to play, as this is the sector which is heavily policy screw. One change of the policy changes the entire face of the sector. Recently, there has been a talk about Anti-dumping duties. That makes all foreign companies reach to a WTA level and investment levels are going up. Organizations like us have our own role to play because we are trying to do on an annual basis and in between, right through the year we spread this message by doing stand-alone conferences in tier 2 & tier 3 cities. The idea is to reach out to those territories. Like we did a conference in Tirupur, and the response grows, as we go more from tier 1 to tier 2 to tier 3 respectively. These people are rich & interested to invest, but they lack with connections & knowledge. We are planning to put small shows in Bhopal, that is more of regional & local interest.

5. What kind of role REI plays to relate commercial aspects & technological concerns together?

We do lots of business matching at our show. The foreign companies having technological expertise reach out to us; so when they send us their profiles, we shoot out those profiles and disseminate those among our exhibitor base and people immediately pick-up to whom they want to meet. So we have a full-flashed business meeting lounge in our show for pre-fixed meetings apart from those on floor or on-site. Additionally we have a 3-days’ conference agenda, in which is on our web-site.

6. What will be driving factors of renewable energy in India?

There is a massive potential in terms of growth of this sector because we are far behind the numbers, far behind other countries, like China & Europe. But the good thing is that, now we are on track and taking off in this direction. In-fact in year 2010 January, there was a launch of the National Solar Mission, Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and the objective of this mission is that there is a mandate to complete 20,000 MW from a base of 500 MW in a span of about 12 years. Along with the roadmap, the Ministry of Renewable Energy (MNRE) has also set out the schemes & policies which will help India to achieve the goal, breaking the mission in 3 phases. As far as the key drivers are concerned, technology is not an issue. Technology wise India is rich; the most important part is of-course the manufacturing which is a little behind. India needs to encourage local manufacturing. The moment you have the indignations you will have good quality at best prices. When you continue importing you are getting prices at cheaper prices from China & Taiwan but then the kind of projects where it goes for 20 – 25 years, what will be the guarantee? So there is no safe cover and when you do a local manufacturing, the indignations, it automatically drives the employment so it’s good for India on both the fronts. One most important driving parameter is the ease of getting finance. In India the major problems are high interest rates, high cost of land, rigid policies for clearance & operations, so all that leads to the delay of projects & increases the cost. So Govt. policies are required to be more supportive, swift & prompt.

7. What is the role of foreign investment in Indian Solar Industry?

Foreign investments are good from many fronts. When the foreign money comes, we get foreign currency and faith of a foreign company into your country. Even between China & India, we score more in terms of safety. When a foreign investor comes to India to invest they bring foreign technology after technology there will be the technological innovations in India where we have enough of intelligence. So today in cell line or module cell, despite the machinery comeing from outside, the government wants production to start at highest levels. For this, supportive Govt. policies are required, for example, putting a line in SEZ region, will give additional benefits & tax exemptions and there is a association talking to Mr. Piyush Golat, current Minister of Renewable Energy, to a priority landing status to Renewable companies. That will garner the finance at a lower cost.

8. How do you see Indian Solar trends as compared to the global perspectives?

Each country is at a different level of life-cycle. For sure US or Europe are technologically more advanced country and they are much ahead of us in the life cycle. India is on the learning curve we have our own advantages for sure, but it will definitely take time for solar cars or solar cities, to be opted in India, as there is all technology driven & policy trends. Technology alone can’t do wonders and so are the policies. It’s a mix & combination of all these factors which can help India. For example Smart cities, these concepts are far ahead in the West. In India, Ministry of Power has created a road map for smart grids with only 14 pilot’s projects that are on, as opposed to the West where they are already delivering and operational on commercial levels. So typically what West does today, we will do in a couple of years.

9. Talking about renewable energy, we can’t forget India have regions, don’t have basic power supplies. What steps are required to bring these regions on a same mainstream platform?

Non-accessibility of power in rural, mountain areas or forest areas; the big reason is India is so diverse & a huge geography and social – economic parameters come into the picture. Now the Govt. of India has the objective of electrification of all the villages of India by 2020. But it is not about having grid connection; it is about meeting power requirements so that industries can grow. So the best solutions for those far-flung areas are to go with roof-top systems or Off-grid systems. Why isn’t every house-hold or community of a small village their own power generating unit? That can happen only through roof-top systems and this is probably the only way to reach out of far-flung areas like Leh & Laddakh. There are many modern such villages in India, not at all connected to grid and generating their own electricity, like one in West Bengal. There are lots of agencies in India who work on EMI systems for such solar systems, so that’s micro financing is going into small standalone equipments.

10. What are the highlights of 8^th Renewable Energy Expo, 2014?

We have got an excellent opening ceremony, one of a global phenomenon, there are senior officials coming in from Japan, High-commissioner from UK, Minister counselor coming from US embassy, Senior acting ministers from Govt. of Canada, and we have representation from planning commission. We will be giving a theme presentation at the show. We will cover the Indian perspective & a perspective from UK, US & Canada, overview from entire globe. Then we will have a fire-starter session, driven by Bloomberg and it talks about, if any structural shift in clean-tech in India has started and then there are sub-points from the Govt. of India. We will have state-level dignitaries coming on board, talking about state-level perspectives. India’s Smart Grid Forum will be during 3 sessions on Smart Grid. We expect a good visitor’s response as we have huge pre-registration entries and are expecting is double number of on-site visitors as in the past. We expect approx. 12,000 visitors count for this show. We have created a start-up pavilion this year, for those companies who have that technology but are not the giants.