US-India Energy Dialogue
Workshop on Energy Modelling Date: April 29, 2014
Venue: New Delhi
Nihit Goyal (Senior Research Engineer) and Mohd. Sahil Ali (Research Economist) from CSTEP attended a workshop on Energy Modelling, organised by the Sustainable Growth Working Group of the US-India Energy Dialogue at the Planning Commission in New Delhi. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Arunish Chawla, Personal Secretary to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, and was attended by representatives from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Brookehaven National Laboratory (BNL), TERI, IRADe, CEEW, BEE, NCAER, and IMT, Ghaziabad. Dr. Amit Kanudia and Nihit Goyal presented CSTEPs work on India Multi-Region TIMES model and scope for its extension and refinement. The aim of the workshop was to showcase the energy modelling efforts by Indian and US teams and chart a roadmap for future engagements. Dr. Chawla mentioned the role of energy modelling in the Final Report of the Expert Group on Low Carbon Inclusive Growth strategies, as well as individual modelling efforts by think-tanks such as CSTEP, TERI and IRADe. He stressed the importance of modelling energy in sectors such as power, transport, and industry. This was followed by presentation from Mr. Paul Friley (BNL) on the national modelling experience on MARKAL platform, and Ms. Merydydd Evans on the global modelling experience with Global Change Assessment Models (GCAM). Subsequently, CSTEP, TERI, IRADe and IMT presented their methodologies and energy models for India. In the afternoon session, Mr. Friley presented on baselines in the US and Dr. Kirit Parikh (IRADe) presented on the Indian experience with baselines. There were discussions on methodologies for arriving at baselines/ current policy scenarios, as well as the deviation of historical baselines from actual data. There was a consensus that baselines should be interpreted with caution since it is impossible to simulate or project shocks to the economy or energy system. It was agreed that there base-year for future modelling efforts should be as recent as possible. Future collaborations between US and Indian modellers from the Energy Modelling Group under the Energy Dialogue were discussed. A workshop is planned tentatively for October, 2014, for which energy and environment issues common to both US and India would be modelled.
