The immediate impact has been on the energy collaboration. The US energy secretary Ernest Moniz’s planned visit to India last month, was postponed and this has led to the postponement of some of the decisions which the US was planning to do in respect of some energy projects with India.

As regards the civilian nuclear energy projects, at the last India-US summit held in Washington on September 27, 2013, Indian Prime Minister and the US President noted that in the civil nuclear power sector, negotiations between US companies and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India are proceeding and already NPCIL and the US company Westinghouse have concluded a preliminary contract. Follow up negotiations have been held in respect of this nuclear power project in Gujarat but the process has been very slow and the removal of the irritants is taking time. As regards the general Electric-Hitachi’s proposed project in Andhra Pradesh, talks have been delayed due to the present agitation in Andhra Pradesh. Effective discussions will be held only after the Lok Sabha elections and establishment of peaceful environment in Andhra Pradesh. Both the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board have been working to finalise an arrangement for the exchange of technical information and cooperation in nuclear safety matters. US sources have said that a key example of cooperation under this arrangement would be the NRC of US working with the AREB to assist with AERB’s work to prepare to certify and license the operations in India of US origin nuclear power plants.

In the area of energy, the U.S. Department of Energy and Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas are working to renew an MOU for Cooperation in Gas Hydrates aimed at increasing the understanding of the geologic occurrence and the potential of methane production from natural gas hydrates in India and the United States.

On May 3, 2013, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) signed an agreement to conduct a study to support Essar Oil Limited in further assessing its coal bed methane license areas for the presence of commercial grade shale deposits, moving India closer to a potential new domestic energy resource offering cleaner alternatives to coal. USTDA signed a new grant agreement during the Strategic Dialogue for a second study to support Deep Industries Limited in assessing its conventional oil and gas license areas for the presence of commercial grade shale deposits. The follow-up discussions are to take place in March this year.

The Department of State held an energy security roundtable with Indian counterparts in May 2013 and discussed the development of an Asian natural gas market to provide more secure and diversified supplies of natural gas throughout the region. The U.S. will continue to engage with India including through the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue to address challenges such as financing gas infrastructure, share data on regional and global natural gas trends, and partner on market development capacity building activities. The Department of State’s Unconventional Gas Technical Engagement Program (UGTEP) has promoted unconventional gas development in India by hosting a delegation from the Ministry of Petroleum and natural gas in the U.S. and holding a workshop in New Delhi in 2013. UGTEP is increasing its engagement with India by funding a tight gas and shale oil resource assessment shortly.

At the request of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, USTDA brought representatives of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and directors of state-owned refineries to the United States to meet with U.S. companies specializing in a range of refinery efficiency and residue up-gradation technologies. The Indian refiners are looking for ways to improve refinery efficiency and productivity by integrating slurry hydro-cracking and advanced conversion process technologies, presenting opportunities for U.S. firms in this sector. The delegation visited Chicago, Houston, and New Orleans in 2013. Further follow-up visits are planned in 2014.

The U.S. Department of Energy is working in two Indian states – Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu – that are in the process of implementing the Energy Conservation Building Codes (ECBC). One city in each State (Jaipur in Rajasthan and Chennai in Tamil Nadu) has been selected to showcase implementation at the local level; the work should have benefits beyond those cities. DOE through Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is working with India to adopt Building to Grid (B2G) best practices to improve the energy efficiency of data centers and measures to improve energy efficiency performance of exemplary IT office buildings.

DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is collaborating with India’s Solar Energy Centre (SEC) to increase understanding of how solar photovoltaic modules perform in different climatic environments over long periods of time and to develop testing procedures to help improve product reliability. NREL is updating solar maps for India with new data obtained on aerosol optical depth from the Indian Space Research Organization. DOE/NREL and India’s Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) are collaborating to enhance existing wind resource characterizations for priority areas in India. This will be further expanded in 2014.

The United States and India acknowledged the important role of their joint efforts in the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a global forum to share best practices and promote policies and programs that encourage and facilitate the transition to a global clean energy economy. The Government of India hosted the fourth Clean Energy Ministerial on April 17-18, 2013, in Delhi, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh providing opening remarks. At the Clean Energy Ministerial, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy launched the beta version of the Indian Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Database (IREEED), an online repository of India's central and state government renewable energy and energy efficiency policies, regulations, and incentive programs for the benefit of policy makers, project developers, businesses, and consumers. The United States and India co-lead the CEM’s 21st Century Power Partnership and the Super Efficient Appliances and Equipment Deployment (SEAD) initiative. India’s participation in the Clean Energy Ministerial has led to significant domestic achievements, such as becoming the first country in the world to comprehensively regulate the performance, safety, and quality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Through the CEM, India is also paving the way forward for a new model of power sector work, focusing on peer-to-peer engagement with international experts on grid integration of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.

There are indications that the present leadership of the Government of India under the Congress party may not come back. If that is so, many of the ambitious programmes may be under review by the new Government. Whether the new regime is led by NDA or by any Third Front Party, the India-US relations will come under scanner and there can be a reappraisal of some of the collaborations. That way, the US administration will be anxiously waiting for the outcome of the Indian elections. (IPA Service)