Power Minister Piyush Goyal speaking at the India-US Ministerial Energy Dialogue held at the US Department of Energy, emphasised that India is committed to pursue a green path to growth and that India will provide 24x7 power across the country by 2019 by creating cost effective infrastructure which is sustainable and inclusive of clean energy solutions.
Goyal pointed out that India-US collaboration in the energy sector offer great potential, in view of India's enormous energy needs and the US' resources, capabilities and technology. He also welcomed US-based companies to invest in the Indian energy sector and invited them to also participate in India's unconventional hydrocarbons sector, especially in the field of exploration and exploitation of alternate energy sources such as shale oil, shale gas and gas hydrates.
During the dialogue it was pointed that substantial headway has been made for the development of new technologies for distributed power generation through solar thermal route and development of new tools for improved building energy efficiency codes. The need to develop a robust energy data management system to develop better simulation of the energy scenario in India in the future was also recognised.
The focus of the meeting revolved on various dimensions of clean energy in order to ensure that people have access to adequate and affordable energy for better quality of life and sustainable livelihood. It was also agreed to explore addition of smart grids and energy storage for grid application as the fourth stream under PACE - R.