US, India partner on advanced grid initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced an award of $7.5 million for a joint initiative with India to advance the development of the power grid.

The Indian Ministry of Science and Technology and industry partners will match DOE’s contribution resulting in $30 million for the project

The initiative, known as the U.S.-India collAborative for smart diStribution System with STorage (UI-ASSIST), will bring together experts from academia, DOE’s national laboratories and the energy industry
in India and the United States to research and deploy new smart grid and energy storage technologies.

“This new consortium demonstrates U.S. and Indian commitments to ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy in both countries,” U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said. “We know that continued grid innovation will promote economic growth and energy security in the United States and India.”

UI-ASSIST was chosen as the new consortia for Smart Grid and Energy Storage under the U.S.-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC). The project is supported by the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) and DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

UI-ASSIST’s American team is led by Washington State University and comprised of MIT, Texas A&M University, University of Hawaii, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Snohomish County (WA) Public Utility District, Avista, Burns and McDonnell, ETAP Operation Technology, ALSTOM Grid/GE Grid Solutions, Clean Energy Storage, ABB, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

India’s team is led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and includes the partners IIIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, IIT Bhubaneshwar and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) New Delhi.