Washington, June 14 (ANI): Recalling the 2009 U.S.-India MOU on clean energy, energy efficiency, energy security, and climate change, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna have reaffirmed their countries' strong commitment to work collaboratively in bilateral and multilateral fora to help ensure mutual energy security, combat global climate change and support the development of low-carbon economies that will create opportunities and fuel job growth in both countries.
The two countries will continue to consult regularly on the future of global oil and gas markets, expanding sustainable energy access to support jobs and economic growth in both countries, collaborating in research and technology, and increasing U.S. exports of clean energy technology.
Recognizing the implications of energy access for national security, both countries will continue their efforts to advance mutual energy security and ensure access to secure, reliable, and affordable energy supplies.
Highlighting the role of natural gas as a bridge fuel toward a clean energy future, the United States will continue to support India's efforts as its seeks to increase natural gas as a share of its energy mix.
Through the State Department's Unconventional Gas Technical Engagement Program, the United States also agreed to share U.S. experience and best practices in establishing the necessary environmental protection and regulatory framework as India prepares for its first shale gas bid round, scheduled for 2013.
Both countries recognize the need to work collaboratively through the IEA in the event of global supply disruptions.
The United States welcomed India's leadership in the progress that has been made on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline and agreed to support the project and other energy-related regional efforts through continued diplomatic engagement.
To further support these efforts, the countries announced the next meeting of the Energy Dialogue in September 2012.
The U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) aims to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, energy secure economies through the research and deployment of clean energy technologies.
Over the past two and a half years, PACE has mobilized more than 1.7 billion dollars in public and private resources for clean energy projects in India.
A progress report on the U.S. Government's PACE implementation efforts can be found here.
In April 2012, both sides announced the first consortia awardees under the PACE Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center.
The joint U.S.-India consortia will dedicate efforts towards the discovery of transformational scientific and technological solutions in the areas of building efficiency, solar energy and advanced bio-fuels.
The 125 million dollar effort in these three technology areas will involve over the work of more than 95 government, private and university entities over five years.
The two sides will continue technical cooperation on renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment through the U.S. Department of Energy and its national labs, supporting work on solar resource assessment and mapping, solar technologies training for Indian financial institutions, improved wind resource estimates, data center and IT office building efficiency and Energy Conservation Building Code implementation at the local level. (ANI)
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