Clean Technology

Energy is a fundamental underpinning for India's economic boom. With a population of 1.3 billion and a rapidly expanding economy, India is already the fourth largest energy consumer in the world.

India needs to invest about USD 1.25 trillion in energy infrastructure in the period 2006-2030 to meet projected demand.

Although much of this demand will be met from India's massive coal reserves, infrastructure construction bottle necks and environmental concerns mean that clean and alternative sources of energy - wind, solar, hydro and biomass - will be essential.

In 2008 India Horizonz was commissioned by Grow Wellington - the economic develop agency for the Wellington region - to prepare a report on the demand for sustainable and renewable energy technologies in India.

As well as conducting secondary research, we interviewed key decision makers and thought leaders in India on the need for renewable energy technologies.

We found that renewable energy is not just a luxury or a 'green fad' for India, but will be vital to many aspects of the country's development.

India needs to exercise all its options for power generation to meet burgeoning demand, and unlike developed countries with mature grid infrastructure there will be myriad niches for back-up, supplementary and off-grid power for the foreseeable future.

India can leverage substantial renewable resources - especially solar, but also hydro, biomass (from agricultural residues and fuel crops grown on waste land) and wind - and is investigating the potential of geothermal and methane hydrates.

As part of its goal to build the Wellington region's excellence in clean technology, Grow Wellington was particularly interested in exploring export opportunities the Wellington region in a bid to help develop new sectors based on existing capability.

We have done detailed work on opportunities for clean energy in India via a report for Grow Wellington. We interviewed key decision makers and thought leaders in India on the need for renewable energy technologies.

You can read the report here, please note that this is a large document (100+ pages and over 3 Megabytes).

So if you have some clever Kiwi cleantech you should look at Indian, we have the knowledgde and networks and may be able to help, happy to hear from you anytime.