MHI-led Consortium to Implement Feasibility Study with India's Tata Group

DMIC is a mega infrastructure project on a scale of US$90 billion spanning an overall length of 1,483 kilometers between Delhi and Mumbai, India's political and commercial capitals, respectively. The master plan calls for development of the area within a corridor that will include industrial parks, power plants, airports, ports, railways, roads and commercial facilities. As part of DMIC, a smart community proposal looks to create energy-conserving, low-carbon, next-generation urban infrastructure through the introduction of multiple advanced energy-saving technologies and urban transportation systems.

Based on a joint statement issued at the Japan–India Annual Bilateral Summit held in December 2009, in which Japan pledged to contribute to the promotion of a smart community and the DMIC development plan, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has delegated the smart community F/S to six Japanese consortiums, including the one led by MHI.

Besides MHI, the MHI-led consortium consists of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., and Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-POWER). The consortium concluded its initial study and submitted a report to METI in March 2011, subsequent to which METI placed a follow-up order for an advanced study on commercialization of a smart community project in Gujarat state.

Signing the MOU with the Tata Group, India's premier business group, has significant meaning for the MHI-led consortium. Participation of Tata Group companies in specific studies as powerful local partners will facilitate and accelerate the study and analysis phases of the project, the targets of which are to concurrently achieve sustainable economic growth in India and to establish a low-carbon society, primarily through introduction of energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies.

The scope of the F/S will be focused on a smart community platform and cover broad areas, including a smart factory, energy management system, water and waste solutions, lithium-ion battery applications for electric vehicles and an energy storage system, and a concentrated solar power system that utilizes solar thermal energy for power generation. The MHI-led consortium and the Tata Group will combine their respective technologies and capabilities so as to increase the feasibility of the smart community project. The consortium will submit a report on the F/S results by March 2012.

Through proactive participation in this project together with the four other consortium member companies and the Tata Group, MHI aims to create a new business model leveraging Japan’s advanced energy-saving, low-carbon technologies.