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US Congress delegation in India to explore coal use efficiency

A delegation of the US Congress is visiting India to explore cooperation between the countries in improving the efficiency of coal usage.

Industry body today FICCI hosted an interaction between its members and representatives of the US Congress David B McKinley (Representative for West Virginia from Republican Party), who led the delegation, the chamber said in a release.

The representatives included Michelle L Grisham (Representative for New Mexico, Democratic Party) and Trent Kelly (Representative for Mississippi, Republican Party), it added.

"FICCI emphasised the pivotal role of coal-based power generation for electricity generation in India," it said.

It was observed that India has also achieved considerable progress in coal beneficiation, fuel gas control and fly ash disposal as environment-mitigating measures, it added.

"It was felt that significant scope for learning from US' experience exists in developing efficient rural delivery models across vast stretches of a country like India. Role of decentralised generation and off-grid renewable energy sources in US as a means to extend coverage was also discussed," it added.

Members of the US Congress took cognizance of various developments in Indian power industry and observed that US is also grappling with many similar challenges pertaining to use of clean coal and increase of renewable energy sources in their supply basket, it said.

Both sidesexpressed optimism at chalking out key areas of energy cooperation between both the countries, the release said.

source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com