India, UAE are nearing an agreement on a renewable electricity grid link
According to India's Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, a "significant deal" between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a renewable energy interconnection is imminent.
Raj Kumar Singh, who is in the Gulf Arab oil producer for the IRENA assembly in Abu Dhabi, where India is serving as the organization's president, told Reuters that the accord was still pending final permissions. He did not provide a timeline in more detail.
"There is a major agreement for an interconnection between the UAE electricity grid, and the Indian grid," Singh said, adding that this would be under the One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative by a group of countries to create renewable energy networks.
"Both sides have agreed," he said. "We believe it will come."
The OSOWOG programme intends to transfer renewable energy electricity by connecting grids, and it was first put forth by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As per Singh, the UAE has also stated that it would like to invest more in India's wind and solar energy projects.
The India embassy in the UAE announced on Twitter that India and the UAE also inked a Memorandum of Understanding on January 13 for the development of green hydrogen produced using renewable energy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates declined to react right away.
The Gulf state and India signed a comprehensive trade pact last year with the goal of boosting bilateral non-oil commerce to $100 billion over the following five years.
Singh endorsed the UAE's hosting of the COP28 climate summit this year and also supports Sultan Al Jaber, president-designate of COP28 and CEO of the UAE's national oil corporation ADNOC.
Some environmentalists who feared that fossil fuel companies would control the international response to the environmental crisis criticised Jaber's selection.
"He (Jaber) is the point man for renewables, for climate change," the Indian minister said. "When you look at energy transition you look at the whole energy sector, the whole basket, and in the oil and gas sector too, he's been working on green initiatives."
Jaber assisted in the establishment of Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company Masdar in 2006 and serves as the UAE's minister of industry and innovative technology.
The United Arab Emirates and other Gulf energy producers have urged for a practical transition that maintains hydrocarbons' role in energy security while committing to decarbonization.