The eighth edition of the annual Environment and Energy Conclave of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, held on 28th August 2015 in ITC Sonar, brought together Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India and Shri Manish Gupta, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge, Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Government of West Bengal along with the decision makers from Government and Industry in the realm of Power and Energy. It was a Summit conference on Power!
Both Shri Goyal and Shri Gupta were effusive in their praise about The Bengal Chamber and its work in the space of Energy and Environment in the last few years.
The Conclave was graced by Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency; Shri Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Chairman, Coal India Limited; Shri P S Bhattacharyya, Former Chairman, Coal India Limited & Currently Executive Director, Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (DFPCL); Mr. Deepak Amitabh, Chairman and Managing Director, PTC India Limited and Mr. Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS International) among others.
Dr. Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment was the Valedictory Speaker.
The other speakers included Shri Niranjan Das, Chief General Manager (Environment), Coal India Limited; Mr. Sanjay Seth, Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency; Mr. Sanjoy Chakraborti, Executive Director, CESC Limited; Mr. Shrirang Karandikar, Chief Executive Officer, India Power Corporation Limited; Mr. S Datta, Principal Consultant - Lighting, Energy Efficiency Services Limited; Prof. Rahul Tongia, Ph.D., Fellow, Brookings India / Brookings Institution; Adj. Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; Tech. Advisor, Smart Grid Task Force, Govt. of India; Advisor, India Smart Grid Forum; Shri V Subramanian, Former Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; Mr. J Mukherjee, Managing Director, GP Green Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. S Kamath, Partner- Infrastructure & Government Services, KPMG India Private Limited and Mr. Jan Grimbrandt, Chairman and CEO, Boson Energy SA (Luxembourg).
This year, the Conclave took inspiration from the Government of India’s “Swachh Bharat” (Clean India) mission. The driving objective behind the programme was to bring on board the latest developments in the country both in the policy realm as well as in the investment and operational areas to realise ‘Clean and Smart’ power for India.
The Conclave was held in the background of energy being one of the drivers of a growing economy like India. It is an essential building block of economic development. The Indian power sector, which is critical for the nation’s growth, is still overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels. Apart from increasing generation from renewables, ensuring fuel linkages and new technologies / best practices in coal mining, technological upgrades in power generation, transmission and distribution, focusing on smart grids and the likes, the need is to ensure collective R&D effort and collaboration in the direction of having a clean energy path. Investments from G20 nations, setting up a global virtual centre for clean energy research and development and focusing on energy conservation across the board are being prioritized.
CUTS Special Publication, “Mainstreaming Sustainable Development: A Quick Diagnostic of Key Challenges and Opportunities for Water, Energy & Food Security in South Asia” was released in the presence of Shri Piyush Goyal and Shri Manish Gupta and other dignitaries present.