India, US Agree to Collaborate on Emerging Fuels

India and the United States have agreed to develop their energy partnership by improving emerging fuels to the list of areas of cooperation which previously included power and energy efficiency, oil and gas, renewable energy and sustainable growth, an official statement said. This was followed by a ministerial meeting of the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).

“Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri co-chaired a virtual ministerial meeting with US Secretary of Energy Ms. Jennifer Granholm to launch the revamped US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP),” the statement from the oil ministry said.

The SCEP was unveiled in accordance with the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and President Mr. Joe Biden at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate held in April this year.

“The two sides announced the adding of a fifth Pillar on Emerging Fuels, which signals joint resolve to promote clean energy fuels,” it said.

It added that “a new India-US Task Force on Biofuels was also revealed to build up on the scope of work on cooperation in biofuels sector.”

With this, the SCEP inter-governmental engagement now spreads across five pillars of cooperation — Power and Energy Efficiency, Responsible Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Growth and Emerging Fuels.

The statement said, minister Mr. Puri and the Secretary evaluated the progress, major accomplishments, and prioritized new areas for cooperation under the various pillars.

“The meeting also reviewed the progress on the India-US Civil Nuclear Energy cooperation,” it was said without providing any further details.

“Minister Mr. Puri highlighted that the revamped clean energy partnership will strengthen the efforts from both sides to take advantage of the complementarities that exist between the US and India – advanced US technologies and rapidly growing India’s energy market, for a win-win situation through a cleaner energy route with low carbon pathways,” it said.

After the overhaul, there would be considerable emphasis on upscaling cooperation under the renewable energy pillar by working on numerous projects and system-friendly practices in India’s renewable energy sector.

“The US Secretary lauded India’s renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030, and offered to closely collaborate in realization of this target by India,” the statement said.

“Both sides will reinforce the electric grid in India to support large-scale integration of renewables, including through smart grids, energy storage, flexible resources, and distributed energy resources, and ensure reliable and resilient grid operations, as well as promoting energy efficiency and conservation measures,” it added.

The two sides also proclaimed rechristening of Gas Task Force to India-US Low Emissions Gas Task Force, which would continue to forge collaboration between the US and Indian companies on innovative projects to support India’s vision of a gas-based economy.