India and the US recently launched a public-private hydrogen task force to help scale up technologies to produce hydrogen from renewable energy and fossil fuel with the objective to cut the cost of deployment for enhanced energy security and resiliency.
The announcement came post the recently concluded US-India Strategic Energy Partnership virtual meeting, where the U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan reviewed the progress made by SEP and prioritized new areas for cooperation.
According to the joint statement released by the government, the two countries signed an MOU to collaborate on India’s first-ever Solar Decathlon India in 2021. The Decathlon aims to establish a collegiate competition to prepare the next-generation professionals to design and build high-efficiency buildings powered by renewables.
Additionally, the two sides also launched collaboration between the US Department of Energy National labs and the Indian National Institutes under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy as part of the newly launched South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE), supported by USAID, for joint research on development and deployment of advanced clean technologies.
Both sides have also agreed to look at possible cooperation through joint activities and information exchange on sustainable biofuel production and use, in particular, bioethanol, renewable diesel, other advanced biofuels, and the possible developments in sustainable biofuels for air and sea transport.
Further, work is also underway to explore cooperation in the promotion of bilateral investments in the private sector and utilizing the economic value of converting bio-waste into biogas.
Apart from harnessing innovation in hydrogen, the two sides also reviewed their collaboration over modernizing the distribution sector. The two sides have been collaborating in this area through various reform measures for achieving reliable, round-the-clock power supply through increased private participation, deployment of smart meters in India, and by establishing Smart Grid Knowledge Centre in India as a “Global Centre of Excellence” for smart grids.
The joint statement also confirmed that United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US International Development Finance Corporation are developing a concept to establish a new $25-million credit guarantee for the Small and Medium Enterprise sector to deploy rooftop solar.
The SEP was formed in 2018, recognizing the significance of energy to the U.S.-India bilateral relationship and aims to build upon the longstanding energy partnership between two countries.
