IGEF Subgroup I Meeting on Flexibilisation of Thermal Power Plants

On 4 March 2020, the first Subgroup I meeting of the year on Flexibilisation of Thermal Power Plants under the Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) took place. It was co-chaired by Dr. Christine Falken-Grosser, Head of Division Bilateral Energy Cooperation, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Government of Germany and Shri Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power (MoP), Government of India. The meeting was attended by participants representing Indian and German power plant operators such as NTPC, POSOCO, Steag, Uniper, Siemens and the European Powerplant Association VGB, the Indian power planning authority Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the German Embassy in New Delhi as well as the Excellence Enhancement Centre EEC, KfW Development Bank, GIZ and IGEF Support Office.

The Co-Chairs briefed each other on recent developments in the power sectors of their respective countries and were informed on energy issues by the participants from the private sector. Co-Chair Shri Dewangan made it clear that coal-fired power in India still has a long life expectancy providing the baseload, “Coal will remain to provide the baseload for a very long time”. Co-Chair Dr. Falken-Grosser informed about the status of the current climate package with the introduction of CO2 prices for transport and heating and gave an update on the future hydrogen policy to come. Furthermore, Dr. Claudia Weise, VGB and Mr. Rakesh Chopra, EEC updated the audience on the activities of the Task Force Flexibility such as flexibility test runs in existing power plants in India and capacity building measures including workshops, training and fact-finding missions in both India and Germany.

Dr. Falken-Grosser and Shri Dewangan both expressed gratitude for the fruitful cooperation and proposed to have the next Subgroup meeting around the upcoming 9th Indo-German Energy Forum in Berlin, Germany in autumn 2020.

IN