India and THE US convened the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) Ministerial meet and reviewed the initiatives undertaken across the technical pillars, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said on Tuesday.

The ministerial meet was convened by the US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri in Washington DC.

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The initiatives undertaken across the technical pillars under the SCEP, including Power AND Energy Efficiency, Responsible Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy, Emerging Fuels and Technologies, and Sustainable Growth were reviewed.

The ministers welcomed progress made under the partnership to drive clean energy innovation, strengthen energy security, and accelerate clean energy transitions, including through more focused efforts on clean energy manufacturing and building resilient, responsible, stable, secure and diversified supply chains.

While recognizing the need to work towards a just, orderly and sustainable energy transition, which prioritizes access to reliable, affordable, and clean energy supplies, the sides welcomed the important role that energy trade plays in supporting the national priorities of both countries.

The ministers recognized the progress the two countries have made to accelerate development and deployment of emerging clean energy technologies, advancing renewable energy deployment and reliable grid integration, promote energy efficiency, and advance decarbonization of high-emitting sectors like industry, buildings, and transport.

Both the sides stressed the importance of supporting large-scale grid integration of renewable energy while enabling flexible and reliable grid operations through energy storage.

The two countries highlighted the importance of modernizing the power distribution sector to supply 24×7 reliable power to consumers, welcomed support for India’s smart metering deployment, as well as expanded efforts on inverter-based resources, power market reforms, system inertia estimation, and cybersecurity.

The ministers also commended the Indian Railways (IR) efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 and welcomed collaboration to support India’s first round-the-clock renewable energy procurement of over 1.5 GW and development of an energy efficiency policy and action plan for all railway facilities.

The two countries reiterated their commitment to enhance energy efficiency and welcomed collaboration on super-efficient appliances to improve efficiency standards. They also welcomed new collaboration on electrification of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

At the discussion, the ministers stressed the importance of supporting large-scale grid integration of renewable energy while enabling flexible and reliable grid operations through energy storage.

Further, both the countries welcomed collaboration on the new National Centre for Hydrogen Safety in India and partnership on the 2nd International Conference on Green Hydrogen held in September 2024.