As part of President Obama and Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to strengthening and expanding the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Upendra Tripathy today signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing the “PACEsetter Fund,” a new joint 50 crore rupee ($7.9 million) fund to accelerate the commercialization of innovative off-grid clean energy solutions.
The fund will provide grants to support development and testing of innovative products, systems, and business models to improve the viability of off-grid renewable energy businesses. The grants will target companies that sell small-scale clean energy systems to individuals and communities without access to grid-connected power or with limited or intermittent access to power. The two governments expect to announce the initial call for proposals for the PACEsetter Fund during the August 19-20 India Off-Grid Energy Summit.
The PACEsetter Fund is the principal funding arm of Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE), an initiative of the Governments of the United States and India to harness commercial enterprise and bring clean energy access to unserved and underserved individuals and communities. Other PEACE activities include the development of a quality assurance framework for mini-grids and support for the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN), which seeks to develop the decentralized clean energy sector in India. Future planned activities include a private sector investment initiative and a new focus on super-efficient appliances.
