6. ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

National Electric Mobility Mission (2012) (MoHI, 2012)

National Smart Grid Mission (2015) (MoP, 2015)

National Mission on Advanced Ultra Super Critical Technology (2017) (MST, 2017a)

National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage (2019).

The last of these was recently launched to accelerate the transition to electro-mobility, following NITI Aayog’s recommendations to form a consortium in the battery industry, guide innovation efforts with common technology roadmaps, and co-ordinate RD&D activities on advanced batteries. The success of each of these missions will rest in part on the co-ordination and integration of a multi-stakeholder strategy for technology development or acquisition.

Energy technology RD&D landscape

Public-sector RD&D actors

The RD&D landscape in India has historically been largely occupied by the public sector. Funding for energy RD&D mostly comes from the central government, and is governed by over ten ministries and affiliated departments that fund research either with annual public outlays or through their administrative control of public sector undertakings (PSUs) which perform research.

Key public stakeholders involved in energy RD&D are listed in Table 6.1 below. NITI Aayog, as the government think tank, is also an important player in the innovation landscape. In many instances, RD&D execution is limited to government laboratories, PSUs or certified academic institutions. In some cases, private-sector organisations are invited to apply for government funding, but require eligibility certification. Few awards or grants seek small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) participation.

Table 6.1 India’s public sector institutional landscape for energy RD&D

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Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a PSU promoting innovation for start-ups and SMEs, notably through the new Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC).

• DBT also oversees an MI unit to co-ordinate national efforts in clean energy for MI (see Box 6.2). The MI unit also co-funds research activities linked to the three MI innovation challenges for which India is a co-lead.

Department of • DSIR promotes industrial RD&D in India and hosts the Council of Scientific and

Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a network of nearly 40 government laboratories. Industrial • Two CSIR labs, the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, and the Indian Research (DSIR) Institute of Petroleum, specifically focus on energy. Over 15 others pursue some

energy RD&D, mostly in efficiency of fossil fuel use and renewable energy sources.

Department of • DAE funds nuclear power RD&D, supported by the advisory Board of Research in

Atomic Energy Nuclear Sciences. DAE oversees two research centres, the Bhabha Atomic (DAE) Research Centre and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, with RD&D

topics including advanced reactors, waste management, fuels and materials.

• DAE also grants financial support to extramural RD&D including: basic and applied physics; materials, engineering and metallurgical sciences; systems design; reactor and repository design; and chemical and process engineering.

Ministry of Coal • MoC’s PSU, Coal India Limited (CIL), co-ordinates coal-related RD&D through its

(MoC) Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI). RD&D focuses on exploration, production, safety and environmental impacts. Other ministries, such as MoST and MoP, focus on mitigating the impacts of coal use (e.g. efficiency, carbon capture).

• Recent RD&D performers include the CMPDI itself, CIL coal-producing subsidiaries, Indian academic institutions, a number of Australian government and academic institutions, and in a small number of cases, Indian private-sector industrial partners.

Ministry of Earth • MoES leads science and technology for ocean resources. It engages with

Ministry of Heavy • MoHI supports RD&D in the automotive sector through the Automotive Research

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Ministry of Power • MoP conducts power sector-related RD&D under the supervision of the Central

(MoP) Electricity Authority, which reviews and approves projects. RD&D is guided by the National Perspective Plan on R&D in the Power Sector (2002), a 15-year plan which identified research needs in eight key areas: thermal, hydro, nuclear, new and renewable energy sources, transmission, distribution, environment, and conservation and energy efficiency.

•The Central Power Research Institute, a national laboratory for applied research in electric power engineering, conducts RD&D either in house or with industry, utilities, PSUs, academia and research institutions. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is a statutory body which promotes RD&D in energy efficiency.

•The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India’s largest utility, is a PSU under the MoP. The NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA), the company’s RD&D unit, focuses on four main technology areas: climate change and environment (e.g. CCUS), waste management (e.g. energy-from-waste [EfW]), new and renewable energy (e.g. solar, batteries, micro-grids and biodiesel), and efficiency improvement and cost reduction (e.g. fusion, grid power electronics and power plant efficiency technologies).

•The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), another PSU, solicits RD&D proposals directly from power plants (e.g. silt reduction, turbine components and station design). Other PSUs conduct some degree of RD&D, including the Damodar Valley Corporation (hydro) and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (hydro and wind).

Public-sector RD&D priorities and co-ordination

At present, individual ministries are generally responsible for setting RD&D priorities, as they fund fuelor resource-specific RD&D. For example, the MoC funds coal production research. As a result, most elements of India’s public-sector innovation system support

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As a percentage of GDP, public spending on all RD&D in India has remained flat over the last two decades. India’s gross expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP has been flat over the period 2015 to 2017 at approximately 0.69% (DST

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analysis).1 This spending level ranks below that of other emerging economies such as the People’s Republic of China (“China”) (2.1%) and Brazil (1.3%). In absolute terms, however, public RD&D spending tripled from 2007 to 2017. The government has signalled a need to further support RD&D activities, for the country to progress “from net consumer to net producer of knowledge” (Ministry of Finance, 2018), including in the energy sector in accordance with Mission Innovation commitments.

In general, it is challenging to examine trends in energy RD&D expenditure among the various ministries and public departments due to a lack of detail on current budgets and expenditure. As part of MI, the MoST estimated that total central government funding for clean energy RD&D in 2014/15 was USD 72 million. India has pledged to double this by 2019/20. Table 6.2 displays reported clean energy RD&D spending under MI. Available data and preliminary analysis suggest a growth trajectory towards doubling over the fiveyear MI period. As of 2017/18, India’s public-sector clean energy RD&D totalled USD 110.61 million.

Table 6.2 Clean energy RD&D spending in India (INR crores unless specified)

Source: Mission Innovation (2018), Country Report and Progress Update, http://mission-innovation-india.net/wp- content/uploads/2018/05/INDIA-Country-Report.pdf.

These MI amounts do not include major government RD&D expenditure on nuclear power (estimates point to INR 2 492 crores, or about USD 370 million) and fossil fuel energy

1 DST indicators show expenditure/GDP stood at about 0.67% in 1990/91. It then increased and peaked at about 0.84% in 2008/09, before dropping and remaining below 0.70% since 2014/15.

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