EUROPE | October 2020| ISSUE 5

Message From SESEI

Greeting from Project SESEI!!!
Dear Readers,

A very warm welcome to all the readers to the fifth edition of our “SESEI Newsletter Europe” covering the period from July to September 2020. This newsletter provides information, latest updates on policy and standards development as well as notifications and market intelligence on the Project priority sectors covering ICT, Smart Cities, Automotive, Electrical Equipment including Consumer Electronics, Energy Efficiency and Environment, etc.

The nationwide lockdown imposed across India was the biggest in the world, forcing 1.3 billion Indians to stay indoors. Except for some essential services and activities, the rest of India’s $2.9 trillion economy remained shuttered during the lockdown period and economic activity came to a grinding halt in the country. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the lockdown is being relaxed to bring normalcy in the businesses, industries, and economic activities.

Finance Ministry is assessing impact of pandemic on the economy, and associated severe contractions in the GDP, which it witnessed in the last two quarters. Govt. will be taking appropriate measures to bring the GDP back on track by announcing stimulus to boost the economy, business, and investment friendly policies. Concurrently, India is also gearing up to become self-reliant (Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan) in important infrastructure sectors and is calling for private funding & investments and announcing several policies and announcements to objectify this goal. In this newsletter, we are providing you with the glimpse of all such announcements and activities.

Government has started promoting 'Make in India' products on government procurement portal “Government e-Marketplace (GEM)”. It has become mandatory now for the sellers to enter the 'Country of Origin' while registering all new products. Government is encouraging start-ups, small local sellers, MSME’S to list their products and start offering goods and services to govt. organisations, PSUs, state government, etc. The other significant move is prescribing the mandatory standards for imported goods for quality. BIS is also revamping its website, incorporating quality standards, and the information about the international norms along with a new mobile app launched called ‘BIS-Care’ and three portals – the Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS on www.manakonline.in . Through this application, consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products and lodge complaints using this app.

Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly becoming priority area in India. For the Smart Cities Union Housing Ministry has launched a framework that would help cities follow a climate sensitive road map while planning and implementing their actions, including investments. The framework has 28 indicators across five categories covering energy and green buildings, urban planning, green cover and biodiversity, mobility and air quality, water management and waste management.

In the automotive sector a program “Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies (DTEE)” has been launched by Indian think tank of Govt. - Niti Aayog in a collaboration with the International Transport Forum (ITF), and the Wuppertal Institute, and is supported by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, which will design a framework for assessing transport emissions and help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through new modelling tools and policy scenarios.

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has also prepared a draft hydrogen fuel cell vehicle feasibility roadmap on which the comments are being invited. The primary objective of this report is evaluation of the safety of using H2 powered vehicles. The H2 specifications for fuel cell vehicles will align with ISO 14687 until appropriate notification takes place as per the requirements of the Bureau of Indian Standard Act of 2016.

Niti Aayog is also working on inviting investments for cell manufacturing and is proposing direct incentives for integrating Energy Storage and E-Mobility. India being the fourth largest manufacturer of automobiles and the largest in two-wheelers, it should optimize the opportunity to integrate energy storage, batteries and vehicle manufacturing for a viable commercial market.

In the ICT sector, I am also very pleased to inform you that OneM2M Specifications (Release 2) has been adopted by the Telecom Engineering Centre as the national standards for IoT/M2M, specifically catering to the need for common M2M service layer that can be readily embedded within various hardware and software and relied upon to connect the myriad of devices in the field with M2M application servers worldwide based on OneM2M Standards. SESEI along with Project partners contributed significantly towards adoption of these OneM2M standards as national standards for India. DoT is also gearing towards 5G trials and auction of 5G spectrum by late 2020.

In the Power Sector, Prime Minister has announced mega plan of "One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG), which will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.

With this I would like to invite you to read the newsletter at your leisure and use the information provided for your benefit.I would like to conclude by praying for safety and good health for everyone. Happy Reading!!!!

Warm regards,
Dinesh Chand Sharma (Seconded European Standardization Expert in India)
Director – Standards & Public Policy
Mobile: +91 9810079461, Desk: +91 11 3352 1525
E-mail: dinesh.chand.sharma@sesei.eu

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Electrical Equip. /Consumer Electronics

One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative

2020-10-23 312 0

India’s mega plan of "One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG) — a trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe. The idea was first floated by Modi in 2018 during the first assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA). Policy experts describe it as part of India’s answer to China’s “One Belt One Road” project.

According to the draft plan of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the ambitious OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.

TAGS #MNRE #OSOWOG #ISA

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India to have 60% power capacity from renewable energy by 2030

2020-10-23 326 0

India can integrate more than 30% of wind and solar in its power system, while still maintaining security of supply and without raising the total economic costs of its electricity system, according to a new report by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). The report also identifies a number of strategies to achieve this. The report, titled ‘Renewable Power Pathways: Modelling the Integration of Wind and Solar in India by 2030’, was launched with the report titled ‘Bending the Curve: 2025 Forecasts for Electricity Demand by Sector and State in the Light of the COVID Epidemic’.

TAGS #Renewable energy #TERI

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State joint venture to support smart meter rollout in India

2020-10-23 264 0

A joint venture company is being established to provide the infrastructure to enable India’s distribution companies to accelerate their smart meter rollout. Press reports indicate that the joint venture under the ministry of power will provide a ‘common backend infrastructure facility’ with a standardised and scalable architecture that the discoms can ‘plug and play’. Such an architecture should simplify the rollout of smart meters by avoiding duplication and enabling the meter data management to be scaled as required.

TAGS #Electrical Equipment

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Power minister launches pan-India real-time market in electricity

2020-10-23 313 0

Power and renewable energy minister launched the pan-India real-time market (RTM) in electricity, placing India amongst a few electricity markets in the world having it. RTM is an organized market platform to enable the buyers and sellers pan-India to meet their energy requirement closer to real time of operation. RTM would bring required flexibility in the market to provide real-time balance while ensuring optimal utilisation of the available surplus capacity in the system and would also help manage demand pattern diversity in the country with an organized market.

TAGS #Electrical Equipment

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Electronics manufacturing in India to grow 30% annually for next 5 years: IT Secretary

2020-10-23 288 0

The government is expecting electronics manufacturing in the country to register an annual growth rate of 30 % over the next five years and clock Rs 11.5 lakh crore (€135 billion) additional production during this period, electronics and IT secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney. Also, the exports of electronic products will grow in the range of 40-50 % annually over the next five years, he added. "Electronics manufacturing in India has been growing quite significantly. We have registered 23 % cumulative annual rate of growth over past five years. Now in this journey the growth is expected to be 30% year on year for next five years," official said at the Invest India Exclusive Investment Forum - Japan Edition.

TAGS #ElectricalEquipment

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Ministry of Power (MoP) has released following notification

2020-10-23 267 0

Draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 for stakeholder comments till September 30, 2020. Read more/Download
Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) to provide Purchase Preference (linked with local content) in respect of Power Sector Read more/Download
Measures for contributing towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat/Self Reliant' and ‘Make in India’ through phased indigenisation in Power Sector. Read more/Download
Power Sector as Strategic and Critical Sector-Testing of imported equipment, components, and parts. Read more/Download

TAGS #MoP

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Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued following notifications/guidelines

2020-10-23 304 0

RFP for Developing a Long-Term Vision, Implementation Plan, Road Map and Institutional Framework for implementing One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG). Read more/Download
Request for comments on draft specifications for technology neutral Lithium batteries for solar off-grid applications. Read more/Download
Order for formation of Project Development Cell (PDC) for "Attracting Investments in India". Read more/Download
Modifications in Scheme for “Development of solar parks and Ultra Mega solar power projects” – Read more/Download

TAGS #MNRE

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