DELHI, India – At India Smart Grid Week (ISGW), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency signed a grant supporting U.S.-India collaboration on smart grid development. USTDA is working with long-time partner Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power DDL), a public-private electricity distribution company, on a second phase of technical assistance. The grant will help Tata Power DDL evaluate different combinations of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, energy storage systems, energy efficiency technologies and lighting, active demand response and electric vehicles, that it could implement to improve its electric grid. 

Tata Power DDL has selected Energy + Environmental Economics, Inc. (E3, San Francisco, CA), which carried out the first phase, to assess the costs and benefits of the DERs and come up with an optimal set for Tata Power DDL to implement in its service territory. The project will help Tata Power DDL to improve overall network efficiency and integrate renewable energy sources into its electricity distribution grid.

Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director Tata Power DDL said, “We have a very long association with USTDA to jointly develop the business case for implementation of new technologies in Power Distribution in India. This project will help India to induct new technologies and solutions and assist with deployment of renewable energy and DER solutions.”

Henry Steingass, USTDA’s Regional Director for South and Southeast Asia said, “USTDA is pleased to continue its decades-long engagement with Tata Power DDL on a project that will  further modernize their electric grid, as well as find ways to integrate new, innovative technologies into its existing operations.”

The grant was signed at ISGW, an annual conference and exhibition organized by the India Smart Grid Forum to bring together India’s leading utilities, policy makers, regulators, investors and smart grid experts to discuss trends, share best practices and showcase next generation technologies and products in the smart energy and smart cities domains. This year, Tata Power DDL is ISGW’s host utility.