International Symposium And Exhibition On Cogeneration

October 23, 2002

NEW DELHI - The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Department of Energy (USDOE) and the World Alliance for Decentralized Energy (WADE) are sponsoring the 3rd International Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and Decentralised Energy (DE) Symposium and International Conference and Exhibition on Bagasse Cogeneration at Hotel Grand Intercontinental, from October 24-26.

Jointly organized by Winrock International India and Cogeneration Association of India, the symposium will highlight the significance of cogeneration and decentralized energy in South Asia, foster international partnerships and promote information sharing on sugar mill cogeneration.

The event will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Non Conventional Energy Sources M. Kannappan and attended by Minister of Power Anant Geete. A public exhibition, will showcase the progress of cogeneration worldwide and in India. A "Handbook on Sugar Mill Cogeneration in India," the first of its kind, will be released by Mr. Kannappan. This handbook will act as a reference guide for prospective co-generating companies. The event assumes further significance as it runs parallel to the ongoing COP-8 meet in Delhi.

Under its Greenhouse Gas Prevention Project (GEP), USAID provided technical assistance, training and grants amounting to $ 7 million to nine private sugar industries to set up advanced cogeneration activities using bagasse (sugar-cane waste) fuel for power generation. To date, eight such projects have been commissioned with aggregate installed capacity of 175 MW.

India has an estimated potential of generating 100,000 MW from CHP/DE sources. So far only 3% of this has been achieved. Existing barriers related to policy, regulatory framework, fiscal incentives, technology upgradation and capacity building will be discussed at the conference. Additional conference co-sponsors include Rabo India Finance, Tata Power Ltd, Thyssen Krupp India Ltd, Thermax Babcock & Wilcox Ltd., ILFS Limited, Triveni Engineering Ltd, and Alstom Power India Ltd.

NOTE: Press are welcome to attend and cover the conference, which will be inaugurated on Thursday, October 24, 2002, 5:00 p.m. at Hotel Grand Intercontinental. For more information, please contact Raja Bhattacharya, US Embassy, at 4198818.