India eyes Australia's prowess in energy sector to fuel growth

Brisbane: India is eyeing Australia's clout in LNG and its expertise in renewable energy and clean coal technology to fuel the growing economy, as the world's largest democracy moves towards building a sustainable infrastructure.

The third edition of the India-Australia Energy Security Dialogue, which commences on February 7, seeks to build a stronger relationship as well as strengthen the institutional framework between the two countries across all segments of the energy value chain.

Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal is leading a high-powered Indian delegation to Australia to explore the state of art technologies in energy production and also find ways to enhance business-to-business collaboration. Confederation of India industry (CII) is leading a delegation to the four-day dialogue, which will witness roundtable meetings between the government of the two countries as well as businesses from both sides.

 Goyal, who has also been nominated as the co-chair of the India-Australia Energy Security Dialogue, will hold roundtables with the government and industry in Sydney, Brisbane and the capital city Canberra. The roundtables will cover efficient coal mining, clean coal technologies, coal gasification, business opportunities for LNG production & trade, and coal bed Methane at Brisbane.

In Sydney, the dialogue will focus on renewable energy and challenges for grid integration, efficient coal-based power generation and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as well as smart grids, smart meters and energy efficiency.

The minister will also hold roundtable meetings with the business community, investors, industry analysts, among others at Sydney. Goyal will hold bi-lateral meetings with Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg and Australia's Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb in Canberra. Senior officials from PSUs such as GAIL, Coal India Ltd, Petronet LNG, IOC, HPCL and BPCL will also participate in the dialogue.

The private sector will be represented by Adani Renewable Energy Park, Suzlon Energy, GVK Hancock Coal, etc. India-Australia Energy Security Dialogue was established following the visit of then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to India in October 2012. It was formed to discuss areas of mutual interest in energy security and key issues in India and Australia's energy markets, as well as regional and global trends, and development in both the countries. Two meetings of the Energy Security Dialogue were held in New Delhi and Brisbane in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Australia has the 11th largest known reserves of natural gas and is likely to be second largest exporter of LNG in the near future. It also has significant expertise in the large scale deployment of rooftop solar.