"Fast-tracking energy conservation in micro, small and medium enterprises"
2 February 2011, New Delhi

Mr Amit Kumar, TERI placed the importance of the MSME sector in perspective by pointing out that its 26 million units employ about 60 million people and contribute about 45% of manufacturing output. Dr Marianne Osterkorn, Direct General REEEP emphasized the vital need for Energy Efficiency in maintaining a competitive MSME sector, as this sector drives the overall economic development of India. Mr Jitendra Sood, BEE mentioned that an energy saving of about 1.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent is targeted in MSME sector by 2017. Dr Gerolf Weigel, Counsellor, SDC spoke on the TERI–SDC partnership which follows two broad strategies: (1) developing technology delivery models and (2) seeking a link to policy makers.

Three case studies were presented: two projects supported by REEEP (TERI’s technology intervention in Coimbatore foundry cluster and Alliance to Save Energy’s project on carbon financing with rice mills in Madurai), and the project by TIFAC in Howrah foundry cluster. A brief demonstration followed on the website developed for “SAMEEEKSHA”, a knowledge sharing platform on MSMEs jointly launched by TERI, SDC, BEE and the Ministry of MSME. TERI also shared key learnings from the side-event organized with SPRU and ECN during COP-16 at Cancun. The panel discussion brought out a few key messages for upscaling energy efficiency in MSMEs: (1) Adopt a cluster perspective for knowledge sharing; (2) Develop a technology bank with a basket of options; (3) Establish links between industry and academia to develop cluster/sector-specific technological solutions.