Context: With an aim to enhance constitution of the India Energy Modelling Forum (IEMF)—jointly launched by NITI Aayog and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the US–India Strategic Energy Partnership—on 2 July,NITI Aayog announced its governing structure.
Background

• India and the US have a long-standing collaboration on energy. The Sustainable Growth pillar, one of the four of the US–India SEP, is being chaired by NITI Aayog and USAID.
• This pillar brings together Indian and USresearchers and decision-makers to collaborate in three focal areas: energy data management;energy modelling, andpromotion of low carbon technologies. IEMF was launched under the area of energy modelling.
• Through collaborations with global energy modelling forums, such as Stanford Energy Modelling Forum and Energy Modelling Platform for Europe,IEMFhopes to share and learn from best practices.

Key Points

• As a part of the Sustainable Growth pillar of the US–India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP), IEMF aims to engage Indian researchers, knowledge partners, think tanks and national and international government agencies and departments for modelling and long-term energy planning.
• The governing structure of IEMFwill consist of an inter-ministerial and a steering committee.

The inter-ministerial committee will be convened by NITI Aayog and headed by its CEO,and comprise senior officials from 

• the ministries of petroleum and natural gas; 
• power; 
• new and renewable energy; 
• coal; 
• environment, forest and climate change; and department of science and technology. 

This committee will review the studies/modelling activitiesand provide directions and new areas of research.
The steering committee will comprise representatives of the:

• Government(ministries of environment, forestandclimate change; new and renewable energy; statistics and programme implementation; Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council; Coal Controller’s Organization; Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell; Central Electricity Authority; and NITI Aayog)

Industry Associations(FICCI and CII)

• Academia(IIT Bombay, Ahmedabad, and Delhi)
• Policyresearch organizations, think tanks and funding agencies(Prayas Energy Group; Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, CEEW, CSTEP, IRADe, TERI, GIZ, DFID, WRI, PNNL, IIASA).
• This committee will shortlist policy issues to be taken up for study and might form various taskforces depending on the specific studies/modelling exercises to be carried out.

About their Convener

• The convener of this committee will be selected on a rotational basis for two years and will act as the interface between the inter-ministerial and steering committees and the working groups/taskforces. Prayas Group, Pune, will be the first convener of the steering committee.

India Energy Modeling Forum (IEMF)

• The IEMF seeks to provide a platform for policy makers to study important energy and environmental issues and ensure induction of modelling and analysis in informed decision making process.
• The Forum aims to improve cooperation and coordination between modeling teams, the GoI, knowledge partners and think-tanks, build capacity of Indian institutions, and identify issues for joint modeling activities and future areas of research.

What is Energy Modelling?

• Energy modeling or energy system modeling is the process of building computer models of energy systems in order to analyze them.
• There exists energy modelling forums in different parts of the World.
• Such models often employ scenario analysis to investigate different assumptions about the technical and economic conditions at play.
• Outputs may include the system feasibility, greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative financial costs, natural resource use, and energy efficiency of the system under investigation.
• Governments maintain national energy models for energy policy development.

Outcomes of the forum

• Discussions on energy modelling in India and the world explored how energy modelling can play an important role in decision-making.
• The panelists laid focus on bridging the rural-urban divide and factoring in energy pressures from the informal economy within models.
• Deliberations included a spotlight on how the impact of the evolving character of India’s cities, industries and especially the transport sector should be included in the any India-centric models.
• The shift towards electric mobility, an increasing emphasis on mainstreaming of renewable energy options and overarching environmental concerns were also stated as key factors for determining India’s energy future.