The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the tenth edition of the Annual Environment and Energy Conclave on 23rd and 24th August 2017 in ITC Sonar Kolkata.

The Chamber has, over the past decade, been providing a relevant and sustainable forum towards promoting clean technology access and energy and environment management. The annual Environment and Energy Conclave, an international forum for Climate Change mitigation and business response, is held every August and is the preferred forum for discussing environmental and climate challenges and mitigation actions. The Conclave focused on the critical aspect of the changing scenario in energy management. The following four pillars of technology applications in energy, which are pivotal to the concept of convergence, would be addressed in depth:

• Changing character of Grid due to renewables integration, distributed generation, and storage.
• Prosumer level convergence.
• Digital infrastructure, IoT and energy management.
• Electric mobility.

This being the tenth year, the Conclave reached a greater dimension showcasing exhibition stalls and B2B Pavilion. UK was the Partner Country having Delegation Members participating in the Conclave. There was participation also from Germany, Italy, Georgia and Luxemburg.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) was our Knowledge Partner.

International Solar Alliance (ISA) also partnered in the Conclave with future prospect of working in collaboration with the Chamber in the area of solar energy. ISA is a common platform for cooperation among sun-rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn who are seeking to massively ramp up solar energy, thereby helping to bend the global greenhouse emissions curve whilst providing clean and cheap energy. Countries, bilateral and multilateral organisations, companies, industries, and stakeholders aim to reduce the cost of finance and cost of technology for the immediate deployment of competitive solar generation, storage and technologies adapted to countries' individual needs and to mobilize billions of dollars for solar. The initiative was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of 2015 by the President of France and the Prime Minister of India.

On 23rd August, the Conclave featured Visionary Addresses by Thought Leaders. This included:

• Energy transformation on the sustainability landscape by Mr. P S Bhattacharyya, Former Chairman, Coal India Limited
• Global Success Story of Energy Efficiency Made in India by Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
• Following COP 21: Current Realities from Indian and Global Perspectives by Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute
• Prospects and Challenges of Renewables in the transformational journey of Sustainable Energy by His Excellency Shri Upendra Tripathy, Director General, The International Solar Alliance (ISA)
• Regulator’s Role in transformational face of energy by Shri Gireesh B Pradhan, Chairperson, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
• Energy Future : Politics and Policy by Mr. Franzjosef Schafhausen, Member and Chairman of the Trustees of the “Institute of Energy Economics of the University of Cologne – ewi; Managing Director, “E.U.K - Consulting”, Neuss; Former Director General Department of Climate Change Policy, European and International Policy Federal Ministry: Environment, Nature Conservation, Building & Nuclear Safety (BMUB)

Mr. Sanjib Bezbaroa, Executive Vice President Corporate, EHS, ITC Limited and Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group shared industries perspectives on Energy Security- The ITC Approach and Industry Story on Sustainability respectively.

The Forum offered a Special Session on 'Sustainable Energy: A Transformational Journey': Highlights of a joint collaboration between academia and industry by Dr. Mohsen Assadi, Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger and Dr. Sudipta De, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University and Key Resource Member, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber. There was a Presentation by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) on Investment Opportunities for Overseas Projects and Role of EESL in facilitating the process and exploring partnerships in UK and Europe.

On 24th August, in the Inaugural Session, Shri Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, Hon'ble Minister-in-Charge, Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Government of West Bengal delivered the Inaugural Address. Mr. Sutanu Ghosh, President, The Bengal Chamber made the Concave Presentation. The other speakers included His Excellency Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in India on ‘UK-India Partnership on Clean Energy’; His Excellency Archil Dzuliashvili, Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of India, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on ‘Emerging Energy Hub: Opportunities for collaborations’; Mr. Franzjosef Schafhausen, Member and Chairman of the Trustees of the “Institute of Energy Economics of the University of Cologne – ewi; Managing Director, “E.U.K - Consulting”, Neuss; Former Director General Department of Climate Change Policy, European and International Policy Federal Ministry: Environment, Nature Conservation, Building & Nuclear Safety (BMUB) on ‘Sustainable Energy: Global Perspectives’; His Excellency Shri Upendra Tripathy, Director General, The International Solar Alliance (ISA) on ‘Role of International Solar Alliance in Solar Transformation’ and Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute on ‘Policy, Business Models, Investments for Energy Transformation’.

The Inaugural Session featured a Special event of Signing of the MoU between The Energy and Resources Institute and Cenergist Limited UK.

Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber moderated the Inaugural Session.

Session 1: ‘Changing character of Grid due to renewables integration, distributed generation and storage’ focuses:

• Likely Changes in the way the transmission, scheduling, load dispatch
- Strengthening of grid to ensure reliability and energy security
- Scheduling and operating the grid with more renewable power which has very low / insignificant variable cost but maybe intermittent in nature
- Use of high-end technology (smart smarter) to manage grid
- Microgrids
- Changing business model with introduction of grid level storages

• Operations of Distribution Business
- Lesser focus on centralized generation being taken to the point of consumption and increasing focus on small sized distributed generation close to the point of consumption
- Technology enabled changes beyond the metering point – change in the overall demand pattern


• Demand Response / Virtual Power Plants (VPP) / Low cost Distributed Generation
• Energy efficiency tools – individually or collectively
• Innovations in Storage – Transforming Energy Business


The Power Panel included Mr. Anand Kumar Bansal, CEO, India Uniper Power Services Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Rajiv Malhotra, ED&CRO, PTC India Ltd.; Mr Alekhya Datta, Fellow, Electricity and Fuels Division ,The Energy and Resources Institute; Dr. Mohsen Assadi, Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger; Mr. Rajiv Malhotra, ED&CRO, PTC India Ltd.; Mr Alekhya Datta, Fellow, Electricity and Fuels Division, The Energy and Resources Institute and Dr. Mohsen Assadi, Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger. The Panel was chaired by Mr. Aloke Mookherjea, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Session 2 was held on ‘Disruptions for innovations in Energy’.

Innovations and disruptions in the energy paradigm which are expected to be the game changer for the future will be discussed. Just as the shale gas and oil revolution burst onto the scene in the new millennium, reshaping the global energy landscape, distributed generation is approaching critical mass. As more and more industrial, commercial, and even residential consumers install their own generation—be it roof-mounted solar panels, gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plants, or even conventional diesel backup generators—they get the opportunity to sell power into the grid. This has originated the new concept of ‘Prosumers’, an increasingly important actor on India’s urban scene who could help the country reach its ambitious goal of 40 GW of rooftop solar power capacity by 2022. For major cities in developing countries, the prosumer could be an essential ingredient in meeting the growing need for electricity.

Similarly, the disruption in the fuel economy with electric vehicles or the new-age solar roof tiles powering homes and new storage technologies are all transforming energy businesses and indeed the way of life. More than ever, digital technology has increasingly been making its way into the power generation, transmission, and distribution sector.

The speakers included Mr. Aditya Sharma, Senior Vice President Asia, Boson Energy SA on ‘Distributed Clean Energy Solutions’; Mr. Mitesh Dhanak, Managing Director, Cenergist Limited UK on ‘Digital Infrastructure, IoT and energy management’; Mr. Debanjan Bandyopadhyay, Partner and Lead – ERM’s operations in Kolkata, ERM on ‘Emerging Sustainability Drivers for the evolving Indian Renewables’ Industry’ and Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group on ‘Electric mobility’. Mr. S. Radhakrishnan, Past President, The Bengal Chamber chaired the Session.

Presentations were made by UK Delegates on ‘Climate Change--Role of Energy efficiency and Renewable Energy in West Bengal’, ‘Climate Risk Management in Power Sector in India--learnings from international practices’, ‘Climate Risk Management in Power Sector in India--learnings from international practices’, ‘Technologies in BIPV and floating solar; Opportunities and challenges in the solar sector in India’, ‘UK Solar energy Perspective and access to green finance’ and ‘Cost effective emission reduction in India’. Ms. Shahida Khan, Deputy Head of Mission, British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata moderated the Session.

Dr. Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), & Director, Society for Environmental Communications; & Publisher, Down To Earth delivered the Valedictory Address on “¬¬Green Above. Green Below- Synergy in the Approach to Sustainability”. Mr. Arun Kumar Mukherjee, Chairperson Emeritus, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber moderated the Session.