AMCHAM’s ECP member companies met for an interactive session on ‘Innovation, Technology and Management Approaches to Remain Competitive and Succeed in the Energy Sector’ under the Chairmanship of Mr. Rajendra Shrivastav, Market Business Leader, AES India, on 8th August 2017 in Gurgaon.

Ms. Mehnaz Ansari, Country Representative – South Asia, USTDA also attended this meeting and emphasized that USTDA is keen to revive the Energy Cooperation Program (ECP) and wanted to take this initiative to the next level. She also noted that now traditional energy is coming back as a priority for the administration and they are already working actively in refining and shale gas sector with the government of India. Another priority area for USTDA is energy storage and they are open to look at energy storage projects. Ms. Ansari also talked about the Refinery Mission which is coming up for the officials of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and five major public sector refineries. This mission will be led by Minister of Petroleum with BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and Reliance and would like to see ECP taking the lead to get members on board for the Reverse Trade Mission (RTM). Apart from this RTM, USTDA also has plans to conduct workshops in India. Ms. Ansari asked AMCHAM to prepare a proposal for a workshop and submit it to USTDA for approval. It was proposed that the same be planned in the early part of 2018.

ECP member companies introduced themselves and stated that many issues and challenges they are facing are similar to all members. For which Mr. Rajendra from AES India suggested that all member companies should join hands together with USTDA and do advocacy. Ms. Disha Banerjee, Director Policy & Communication, Smart Power India also talked about the challenges which they are facing in UP as regulatory framework for mini grids is a major issue there. Mr. Mallikarjun from Ingersoll shared that Bureau of Energy Efficiency has come up with ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) in partnership with USAID. Under this initiative 22 states are already in the process of implementing it and at present this is voluntary and not mandatory. He showed his keen interest that AMCHAM should take up this activity under ECP for supporting the implementation of ECBC in states. The meeting concluded with the statement from Ms. Mehnaz that USTDA is ready to support ECP and its members in all possible ways as energy is always a priority for them.