New Delhi, NFAPost: The United States Department of Energy (DOE), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), along with the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), launched the US-India Hydrogen Task Force, under the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).
The Task Force represents industry and government stakeholders to assess technology status, study innovative policy options, and make recommendations.
The Inaugural Session, discussing the high-level priorities for the task force was attended by senior government officials from the US Department of Energy, Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Road Transport Highways and NITI Aayog; and representatives from US India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Secretariat for the Task Force.
Commenting on the initiative, US-India Hydrogen Task Force Co-Chair, and Director of Office of Asian Affairs, Office of International Affairs at Department of Energy (DOE), Ken Vincent noted through strong international collaboration, the US and India can help solve the climate crisis by finding ways to scale up access, affordability, and deployment of critical hydrogen technologies.
“The US-India Hydrogen Task Force bridges government research with unique industry perspectives so that we can reach the collective goal of decarbonizing high-polluting industrial sectors and achieving a greener, cleaner planet,” said Ken Vincent.
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Adviser Dr. Maithani will lead the Task Force as the India Co-Chair. Commenting on the initiative Dr. Maithani said Hydrogen has the potential to play a key role in low-carbon energy pathways, by enabling penetration of renewable energy across key economic sectors.
“The India-US Hydrogen Task Force framework will foster focused public, private cooperation among the two countries and pave the way for accelerated development and deployment of hydrogen energy technologies,” said Dr. Maithani.
USISPF Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Nolty Theriot said USISPF members are represented across the hydrogen supply chain, and the organisation is very excited about the launch of this new public-private partnership.
“The US India Hydrogen Task Force will help scale up technologies to produce hydrogen from renewable energy and fossil fuel sources and bring down the cost of deployment for enhanced energy security and sustainability,” said Nolty Theriot.
The US India Hydrogen Task Force is a high level bi-lateral collaboration between the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) that brings together industry and academia, intending to integrate the private sector inputs to bring in latest technology and adopt business models towards development and deployment of hydrogen technologies.
The Hydrogen Task Force will be organized into a Steering Committee at the Government level, an Industry council, and working groups or subcommittees in identified priority areas. The focus will be on strengthening cooperation on hydrogen between industry and institutions from both countries.
The Hydrogen Task Force aims to serve as a forum for thought leaders to achieve affordable hydrogen solutions. The vision is to enhance energy security and resilience by scaling up low/zero-carbon hydrogen technologies and deployment.
