Que: Please provide us an overall perspective about the parallel exhibitions of Intersolar India and The Smarter E India? Also, what are the special themes that will be focused on during these exhibitions?

Ans: With three parallel energy exhibitions, The Smarter E India is the country’s meeting point for the solar energy, electrical energy storage, and electric mobility industry. The aim is to integrate the three crucial facets - generation (Intersolar India), storage (ees India) and application of energy (Power2Drive India) and facilitate a definitive platform through The Smarter E India. The acute industry demand, where sector coupling is the key to the decentralized energy sector, gave birth to the main themes and concepts of parallel exhibitions at The Smarter E India. The trade fair brings together local experts and international stakeholders in the energy sector and renders an efficient platform to create new benchmarks in the field of renewable energy. Besides these 3 predominant themes, the trade fair will also focus on solar rooftops and floating solar.

Que: What is your view about the solar energy industry of India? Also, what will trigger its further growth in the upcoming time?

Ans: The Indian solar industry is in the consolidation phase. The Indian market has successfully brought down the prices to a level where grid parity Pan India is no longer a distant dream, making clean energy easily available to average Indian citizens.

With the grid parity setting in, India needs to focus more on rooftops instead of ground-mounted systems. Also, we are yet to explore the potential of micro-grids, agricultural applications, C&I segment, hybrid systems among other upcoming technologies.

India's recent status of the lowest-cost producer of solar power further reflects an ongoing shift towards renewable power as the driver of global energy transformation. The key triggers that will further boost the solar energy market in India, is the cost-effectiveness and the rising rate of vehicular pollution in the country.

Que: E-mobility is the next step for the automotive industry. In your opinion, do you think India is ready for it? If not, what are the steps that need to be taken?

Ans: The conversation and interest in electric vehicles are not new in India. With the alarming rate of pollution in major metropolitan cities such as Delhi, does India have a choice but to switch to clean energy? Among the world’s 20 most polluted cities in the world, 13 are in India. Vehicular pollution is one of the major contributors to air pollution, switching to renewable energy has become imperative, now more than ever!

With homegrown brands like Revolt Intellicorp, Sun Mobility and Sahara Evols making headway into e-mobility the Indian EV market is in its prime. The holdup here is that India lacks significant infrastructure and necessary technology to support Electric Vehicle manufacturing. Efficient components such as high-density batteries remain a key challenge. Another challenge is the lack of sufficient charging points across the country. A few initiatives backed with solid infrastructure will foster the application of renewable energy considerably and aid in reducing the overall carbon footprint as well.

Que: Will The Smarter E India also address the need to build adequate charging infrastructure across India?

Ans: Like I said earlier when there is an upsurge in demand the supply is bound to increase as well. The operating cost of EV is just Rs. 2 per kilometer against Rs. 6-7 per kilometer on petrol. Initiatives have already been undertaken by the government to create charging stations at various public places like Delhi Metro among many others.

The Smarter E India, industry experts will showcase a wide range of innovations and address the issues of adequate charging infrastructure which will significantly bolster the EV industry.

Que: What will be the focus area of technical conferences? Could you please list the key subjects that will be discussed during the conference?

Ans: The Smarter E India 2019 will host an extensive range of conferences. The conferences will bring key government officials and industry experts in one arena and give crucial insights and opportunities to engage and collaborate with industry peers.

This year, the major themes of the conferences at The Smarter E India are India’s 5 years solar PV market outlook, financing solar OV growth, future of renewable energy in India, C&I solar rooftop business, hybrid systems (IEEE) residential rooftop businesses, energy storage, O&M of PV systems, smart grids, recycling of PV system, solar power generation systems (IEEE).