Indo-US energy talk resumes today
Delayed by Khobragade row and sequel; stock to be taken of progress in different areas, discussions on issue differences
 "Indo-US energy talk resumes today")
The dialogue assumes significance with the US seeking to aggressively expand its markets for renewable energy technologies, gas and civil nuclear energy. Led by Ernest Moniz, the government’s energy secretary (read minister) and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission here, the two sides will discuss issues in the areas of sustainable growth, electrical grid and power generation.
A working group on nuclear energy is likely to meet on Wednesday in Mumbai, said an official. The previous meeting of the joint civil nuclear working group was in July 2013. The bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement was finalised in July 2007 and signed in October 2008. Despite being at the forefront of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s agenda, there has not been much progress on nuclear energy collaboration due to the controversial clause on supplier liability.
“The discussions in the Mumbai meeting are likely to centre around India’s civil nuclear liability law,” an official told Business Standard.
In the area of data mining for the energy sector, the two sides agreed last Wednesday to collaborate on creation of an Indian data base, on the lines of the US’ Energy Information Administration.
During the day-long discussions, stock will be taken of the progress made by the five designated working groups in areas such as oil and gas, coal, power and energy efficiency, new technologies and renewable energy, civil nuclear co-operation and sustainable development. The talks were previously held in September 2012. A ministerial-level dialogue was scheduled to take place in January. It got postponed due to the diplomatic tussle over India's deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, arrested there in December over visa fraud charges.
The US department of energy has so far given its approval for export of liquefied natural gas from five liquefaction terminals, set up by various companies in the US, to countries with which the US does not have a free trade agreement. With two of these five terminals, GAIL, the Indian public sector entity, has offtake agreements totaling nearly six million tonnes annually. These terminals are expected to be complete and in a position to export cargo by late 2016 or early 2017, officials added.
However, energy cooperation has hit a rough patch of late, with the US dragging India to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body over the government's mandatory domestic content requirements under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. It has filed two cases against India at the WTO for phases I and II of the programme.
During his visit, Moniz might meet the Prime Minister, while also meeting heads of Indian power companies. The energy dialogue was launched in 2005 as part of broader areas of cooperation. In 2009, the US department of energy and the government here signed an agreement titled, 'Partnership to advance clean energy'.