MNRE awards grants for PACEsetter fund programme

New Delhi: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) awarded grants to the awardees of the second round of PACEsetter fund programme in a ceremony organised by the ministry. Anand Kumar, Secretary at MNRE, and US ambassador to India Kenneth Ian Juster co-chaired the felicitation ceremony.

What is PACEsetter fund programme?

The PACEsetter fund programme was constituted by India and the USA in 2015 as a joint fund to provide early-stage grant funding to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative off-grid clean energy products, systems, and business models.

It provides early-stage grant funding that would allow businesses to develop and test innovative products, business models and systems. The fund's main purpose is to improve the viability of off-grid renewable energy businesses that sell small scale (under 1 MW) clean energy systems to individuals and communities without access to grid-connected power or with limited/intermittent access (less than 8 hours per day).

'This will improve energy access'

Stressing on the importance of access to energy for all, the US Ambassador said that innovation in off-grid and clean energy will improve energy access. Kumar appreciated the impact that the awarded projects would have on the common man. He also suggested that innovation realised through such projects could be replicated in other developing countries.

The winners' list

In the second round of awards, a total of 168 Expressions of Interest (EoI) were received. Out of these, four projects were selected for award of grants. The awardees include Society for Economic and Social Studies, New Delhi, Customized Energy Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Pune, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi and Raghavendra Suntech Systems Pvt Ltd (RSSPL), Bengaluru.