The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Indo-German Energy Forum Support Office (IGEF-SO), in partnership with Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), organized “Smart Cities Conclave on Solar in Cities, Building Energy Efficiency and E-mobility” a special business delegation to Germany, from June 16-23, 2018.

GIZ is working under the Indo-German Solar Partnership (IGSP) project on concepts to increase the deployment of solar rooftop capacity in Smart Cities with a specific concept of Demand Aggregation in a multi-stakeholder environment. Distributed generation of electricity from green solutions such as solar rooftop plants also play a crucial role in developing a smart city along with sustainable e-mobility and associated charging infrastructure.

The objective of this delegation was to promote sustainability and especially in smart cities, through solar rooftop, energy storage, building energy efficiency, passive house technology and E-mobility for a sustainable transportation system in cities. The Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal, retrofitting, redevelopment, green field development program by the Government of India with the mission to develop 100 cities across the country and the aim of this delegation was to visit, understand and explore ways to adapt German best practice models for India.

The tour began with a visit to PA-ID, Kleinostheim, where the delegates visited first prototype of PV Port. PV Port is standard 2kWp Plug and Play rooftop PV system designed for Indian market with a focus on Micro, Mini and Off-Grid sector. After this, there was a presentation by EnergyNautics, Darmstadt, German Energiewende (German Energy Transition) and Building energy efficiency.

The second day of the delegation began with a presentation at Passive House Institute (PHI) on the concept of Passive houses. PHI is an independent research institute that has played an especially crucial role in the development of the Passive House concept - the only internationally recognised, performance-based energy standard in construction. PHI specialises in superior energy efficiency in buildings. The delegation then visited the first ever Passive House in built in Darmstadt. The delegation then visited commercial battery manufacturing company AKASOL AG, Darmstadt followed by a visit to ELISA which is the first test track for electric trucks.

The delegates then proceeded to Munich, where they attended InterSolar Europe 2018 and got a guided tour through trade fair visiting companies with special interest in India, solar associations, institutes and capacity development provider. After this, they were received at the official booth Inauguration of German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and BSW German Solar Association booth. The delegation also participated in the Indo-German energy dialogue organised by IGEF-SO on solar PV rooftop market development in India. Finally, the delegation toured back to Frankfurt and the delegates visited SchwörerHaus, a manufacturer of pre-fabricated homes with the highest energy efficiency standards.