'Impressed by India's progress in improving access to energy'

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SME Times News Bureau | 28 May, 2016
US Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Friday said he was impressed by India's progress in improving access to energy.

"In my two years here, I’ve been impressed by the progress the power ministry and its sister ministries have made in improving access to energy," Verma said at the PACEsetter Fund awards ceremony here.

The US Embassy and India's ministry of new and renewable energy on Friday announced grants to nine of India's top clean energy innovators.

The awards are funded through the PACEsetter Fund, a Rs.50 crore corpus maintained jointly between the two governments.

PACEsetter Fund awards were given to projects focused on improving commercial viability of off-grid renewable energy businesses, designed to bring clean and reliable electricity to India's off-grid communities.

"India is a nation on the move. The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic transformation; the coming decades will even more. Two third of India of 2030 is yet to be built," Verma said, adding development, especially in the field of energy, can be "leapfrogged" through the use of innovative technologies.

"If we can work together to make the right investments now, India of tomorrow can have access to clean and reliable power to fuel its economic rise, while also combating the effects of climate change," he said.

He said as the world tries to find a breakthrough in renewable energy, it may well be an Indian who could usher in the clean energy revolution.

"The person who ushers in this coming clean energy revolution may very well be an Indian. That’s where the PACEsetter Fund comes in. What we are celebrating here today is not the size of the grants, but the quality of the ideas and the intensity of the commitment," Verma said.