9th Indo-German Energy Forum

The 9th Indo-German Energy Forum was held in hybrid mode at the Ministry of Power (MoP), New Delhi and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Berlin on 29 April 2022. The meeting was chaired by Hon'ble Secretary Shri Alok Kumar, MoP, Government of India and Hon'ble State Secretary Dr. Patrick Graichen, BMWK, Government of Germany. Both sides updated each other on the latest developments in the field of energy policy with a focus on the ongoing energy transition. The Co-Chairs of the IGEF Subgroups presented accomplishments, gave an update on current activities, and requested approvals for proposed activities and priority topics for future cooperation. Both Co-Chairs emphasised that energy storage and green hydrogen are needed to further decarbonise both economies. Energy efficiency measures, combined with the introduction of green hydrogen, will support the decarbonisation of hard to abate sectors such as steel and cement. Future land constraints for the additional renewable energy capacity required can be overcome through the implementation of agrivoltaics or offshore wind. Flexibilisation of existing thermal power plants to enable large scale grid integration of intermittent renewable energy power generation remains important for bilateral cooperation between India and Germany. While the technical feasibility could be demonstrated successfully through test runs carried out by Stakeholders of the Indo-German Task Force on Flexibilisation in India, legal framework conditions shall be adapted to improve the economic viability of the flexible operation. Both Co-Chairs also agreed to cooperate in setting up simulator trainings, to train operators to run their plants in flexible mode. More than 70 representatives from governments, business associations and companies attended the meeting either physically or virtually.