President Barack Obama and Indian President Narendra Modi signed a pact last week, extending a commitment originally established in 2014, to join forces to combat climate change with a huge commitment to renewable energy.
The pledge acknowledges commitments made in Paris last year at the COP21 climate talks and defines a path for both countries to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In particular, the U.S. has pledged to support India, the world’s third largest carbon emitting country and second fastest growing economy, in its ambitious goal of deploying 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. That would bring it up to a level of renewable capacity comparable to the U.S. today.
President Barack Obama and Indian President Narendra Modi signed a pact last week, extending a commitment originally established in 2014, to join forces to combat climate change with a huge commitment to renewable energy.
The pledge acknowledges commitments made in Paris last year at the COP21 climate talks and defines a path for both countries to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In particular, the U.S. has pledged to support India, the world’s third largest carbon emitting country and second fastest growing economy, in its ambitious goal of deploying 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. That would bring it up to a level of renewable capacity comparable to the U.S. today.
The sweeping announcement contains a wide array of initiatives including:
- Cooperation on rooftop solar in three Indian states
- A Greening the Grid initiative designed to accommodate the integration of renewables
- Developing enhanced solar resource maps for India
- Investments exceeding $3.5 billion targeting an additional 4.5 GW of additional solar
The two U.S. solar companies who will be developing these projects are 8minuteenergyand Sunlink.
Eight minutes is the amount of time it takes for energy to reach the Earth from the sun. The company named after this time interval will be providing 4 GW of solar in India. They currently have solar portfolio of 3,000 megawatts, with extensive holdings in California. They are beginning to expand into Latin America and India.
Image credit: Solar Electrical-Generation System via LLNL
Read more at ENN Affiliate, TriplePundit.
