Thursday, July 7 2005 11:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Leading the developing countries for mobilisation of clean energy sources, India is going to the G-8 summit in Scotland this week with a slew of measures seeking to link international programmes in the renewable sector.

Prime on the country's agenda at the G-8 summit would be looking for collaborations in the area of carbon capture, development of low cost solar photovoltaic and energy storage.

Following a workshop by energy experts of G-8 and G-5 nations at Oxford on May 11 and 12, the country is also proposing joint ventures in bio-energy, including biomass and biogas-based power generation, built-in environment and distributed generation, particularly in India and China.

The recommendations made at the Oxford meet on climate change and renewable energy by a five-member Indian team with experts from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), also highlighted the need to have international demonstration projects on bio fuels.

Spokesperson of the Indian delegation at the consultation and Director of the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority S P Gon Choudhuri told PTI here that G-5 countries -- India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico had agreed to the recommendations since it meant affordable energy for the developing nations.

"The Indian delegation identified four key rationales for research priorities among G-5 nations - affordable energy, cleaner environment, economic efficiency and security for energy supply," said Gon Chaudhuri.

Existing co-operation to advance clean coal technologies and carbon capture, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, nuclear energy and renewable was currently operational with some key developing countries complementing the technologies being progressed by the International Energy Agency (IEA), he added.

The G-8 countries had recognised the pressing need to meet growing global energy demands while addressing the challenges of energy security, air pollution and climate change.