With a focus on enhancing grid management, e-mobility, and financial instruments and technologies for energy efficiency in India, the second edition of the International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency (INSPIRE 2018) took place in New Delhi. The three-day symposium was organised by the Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) and World Bank. Based on the theme of Innovation, INSPIRE 2018 honoured four pathbreaking innovations in clean energy and energy efficiency as part of #InnovateToINSPIRE, a first-of-its-kind energy innovation challenge.

 

Towards supporting investments in new, innovative and scalable business models, EESL and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant of $13 million to establish an Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund (EERF). EERF aims to expand and sustain investments in the energy efficiency market in India, build market diversification and scale up existing technologies.

 

INSPIRE 2018 was inaugurated by Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy, Raj K Singh in the presence of senior dignitaries including A.K Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power, S.N Sahai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Junaid K Ahmad, Country Director India, World Bank, Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director, Asian Development Bank and Rajeev Sharma, Chairman, EESL.

Speaking at the occasion R.K Singh said, “Platforms like INSPIRE 2018 bring together stakeholders to deliberate upon the solutions for India’s energy ambition. The symposium will encourage the cross-stakeholder partnerships needed to accelerate our efforts towards advancing universal access to power, energy security and sustainability.”

 

For India to achieve its climate change commitments of reducing carbon intensity by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, the large-scale energy efficiency and clean energy programmes that EESL is pursuing will play a significant role.

“Energy efficiency is one of the strategic pillars of our engagement in India, and includes a recently launched programme with EESL, to help scale up the deployment of energy saving measures in residential and public sectors, strengthen institutional capacity and enhance access to commercial financing. Beyond our direct lending, we are working towards mobilising $25 billion commercial financing for clean energy globally,” said Junaid Ahmad.

 

During INSPIRE 2018, EESL and GAIL, a wholly owned subsidiary of GAIL (India) signed an MoU to develop natural gas based co-generation and trigeneration projects in commercial and industrial sectors in India. This MoU is set to benefit industries such as hotels, hospitals, airports, commercial malls, commercial/government buildings, integrated residential complexes, educational institutions, data centre, among others, with the advantages of combined heat and power technology.

 

Rajeev Sharma, Chairman, EESL believes innovation is the most important enabler for resolving environmental problems while reducing costs. “We believe that with scale and financial support, innovative solutions can drastically transform markets, economies, societies, and nations. With this thought, we embarked upon this year’s INSPIRE.”

 

He further stated, “I am confident that the event will not only see fruitful deliberations on the various aspects of sustainability but also come out with pertinent recommendations and suggestions to support the policy landscape in energy efficiency.”