US delegation led by John Kerry lauds India's rural electrification target

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry holds talks with  R.K. Singh, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy here on Monday. The meeting was to discuss further collaboration on climate change issues and to work towards a genuine partnership between the two countries

New Delhi: A delegation led by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry met R.K. Singh, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, here on Monday. The meeting was to discuss further collaboration on climate change issues and to work towards a genuine partnership between the two countries.

The US envoy appreciated India for its Energy Access drive and commitment to achieve 450 GW of Rural Electrification (RE) by 2030. They also lauded India for electrifying 28.02 million homes in 18 months and achieved universal household electrification.

The Minister informed the US delegation about the government's intent to move towards a clean energy transition. He further informed that the biggest challenge for infusing RE was 'storage' which needs to be addressed immediately to make power accessible to the masses. He mentioned that huge bids for Green Hydrogen and Electrolyzers are planned for the upcoming months, and requesting the US delegations to send their companies to participate in the bids.

He also highlighted India’s upcoming projects in Ladakh on Green Hydrogen and Green Energy Corridors. Singh also showed his concern towards over 800 million people across the world who do not have access to electricity. He urged the US delegation to join the International Solar Alliance which can benefit many countries. Both sides agreed that Indian labs could work with the US labs with the objective of reducing costs and finding alternative chemistry for making energy transition economically viable.

The US delegation informed that both India and US have similar goals and shared the same zeal towards climate change issues and this partnership would be an inspiration to the rest of the world to revise their Nationally Determined Goals (NDCs) and strengthen the fight towards climate change.