DOE announces new U.S.-India project to modernize the grid

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) will collaborate on a $30 million project to modernize the grid under the U.S.–India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R), the DOE announced on Wednesday.

“Smart grid and storage technology will transform how we produce and consume electricity, which has the potential to decrease carbon pollution by scaling up renewable energy deployment,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said. “Working collaboratively with India will accelerate solutions to drive down technology costs and improve grid resilience and reliability in both countries.”

Through the initiative, the DOE and MST will invest $1.5 million in smart grid research annually for five years, subject to congressional appropriations. The private sectors of each nation will match the effort, totaling $30 million in research investments for the project.

PACE-R was launched in 2009 to advance research and development of clean energy technologies. The initiative has three branches – PACE Research (PACE-R), PACE Deployment (PACE-D) and PACE Access (PEACE).

The PACE-R program is a jointly funded $50 million initiative that has funded three research consortia that focus on biofuels, energy efficiency in buildings and solar energy. The new smart grid program is its fourth consortium.