The United States Department of Energy (DoE), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) jointly launched the US-India Hydrogen Task Force, under the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP).
- The Task Force aims to promote focused public, private cooperation among the two countries which will help in rapid development & deployment of hydrogen energy technologies. It will help in decarbonizing high-polluting industrial sectors and achieve a greener, cleaner planet.
- Maithani, Adviser to MNRE will lead the Task Force as the India Co-Chair while Dr. Ken Vincent will be the Co-Chair from the American side.
- The formation of the task force was announced by US Deputy Secretary of Energy, David M Turk in April 2021.
US-India Hydrogen Task Force
i.The Hydrogen Task Force will serve as a forum for thought leaders to achieve affordable hydrogen solutions. The members of the task force will assess technology status, study innovative policy options, and make recommendations.
ii.It will be organized into a Steering Committee at the Government level, an Industry council, and working groups or subcommittees in identified priority areas.
iii.The inaugural session of the task force was attended by senior government officials from US Department of Energy (DoE) & India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and others.
iv.Hydrogen which is considered as a clean fuel will be essential for India as it is looking to reduce its oil dependency. India imports 85% of its oil and 53% of gas demand.
India-US Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP)
i.It was established in April 2018 at the direction of then-President Donald J. Trump & Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
ii.SEP organizes interagency engagement across 4 primary pillars of cooperation. They are Power and Energy Efficiency, Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy & Sustainable Growth.
iii.In April 2021, India and US agreed to revise the India-US Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) with focus on promoting clean energy with low-carbon pathways & accelerating green energy cooperation.
Recent Related News:
April 2, 2021, India and US agreed to revise the India-US Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP).
About US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)
President & CEO – Dr. Mukesh Aghi
Head Office – Washington DC, USA
About Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
Minister of State (I/C) – Raj Kumar Singh (Lok Sabha – Arrah, Bihar)
