U.S.-India State and Urban Initiative

The project was made possible by our donor U.S. Department of State-Bureau of Energy and Natural Resources. It was a three-year project from November 2016 to October 2019.

Deliverables

The project aimed to

• facilitate partnerships between stakeholders in India and the U.S.
• assess whether Indian states were preparing to meet the nation’s 175GW target for 2022
• building a publicly accessible knowledge base on the Indian energy sector
   

Outcomes

Dialogues MOUs signed (October 2018-2019):

• Utah – Rajasthan Strategic Energy Partnership for renewable energy integration, electric mobility, energy storage, transmission and distribution infrastructure strengthening;
• New Jersey – Telangana Sister State Agreement with Clean Tech Cooperation for clean tech cooperation broadly with an expressed interest from Telangana to collaborate on grid management tools, energy storage, and floating solar projects;
• Massachusetts – Tamil Nadu Strategic Energy Partnership for zero emission vehicle deployment, energy storage, renewable energy technology deployment (specifically wind), and institutional reforms to create a clean tech innovation-driven economy;
• Smart Power – BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) to create a branding/promotional campaign through a pilot in one of BRPL’s distribution network areas to get the community to aggregate demand for rooftop solar;
• Smart Power – BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) to create a branding/promotional campaign through a pilot in one of BYPL’s distribution network areas to get the community to aggregate demand for rooftop solar.

Additional support from CSIS for ongoing partnerships:

• University of Central Florida (UCF) – Government of Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Department Partnership (signed Sept 2018) where UCF sent 2 delegations to MP to formalize agreements with 5 state-based universities and presented 17 proposals for the Urban Development Department to have its Smart City CEO’s work with UCF scholars as part of the Smart City Mission
• Network for Global Innovation (NGIN) – Government of Maharashtra (signed Sept 2018). CSIS helped chart out the next steps for activating the MOU which is meant to help create a connected innovation model for the state of Maharashtra modeled by the NGIN.
• Xcel Energy – BSES Rajdhani Power Limited: CSIS facilitated a near complete agreement in a unique “sister utility” relationship between two utilities from India and the U.S. BRPL hopes to learn from Xcel how it is procuring smart power technologies and integrating large amounts of renewable energy
   

Publications:

• Podcasts: Assessing Progress in Tamil Nadu, Modi’s Energy Reforms Take Two, Strategic Importance of U.S. – India Energy Cooperation, The Other Power Politics, Balancing U.S.–India Energy Ties, India’s Electrification Agenda
• Commentaries: Creating a National Electricity Market: India’s Most Important Power Sector Reform, Election and Power Sector Update: Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, How to Power India’s Job Growth through Power Sector Reforms, Optimizing India’s Electricity Grid for Renewables Using AI and Machine Learning
• Reports and Briefs: Driving Change: U.S. – India Subnational E-Mobility Collaboration, Engaging India’s Electrification Agenda, Powering Chhattisgarh, Powering Assam, Powering Madhya Pradesh, Powering Odisha, Powering Rajasthan
• Engaging Indian States Website: tracking and updating its Engaging Indian States web platform on a weekly basis with updates from India’s states on power sector-related reforms, policies and new initiatives. In addition, on a quarterly basis, CSIS updated the state-wise solar and wind performance trackers and added a brand new tracker in August 2019 focused on U.S. government-led energy cooperation projects across India

CSIS engaged with 19 Indian states, 33 U.S. states, over 30 universities and research institutions, and more than 70 companies during this project. In total, CSIS facilitated 15 partnerships and projects.