II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4759 To establish the United States-India Clean Energy and Power Transmission Partnership to facilitate renewable energy cooperation with India, to enhance cooperation with India on climate resilience and adaptation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To establish the United States-India Clean Energy and Power Transmission Partnership to facilitate renewable energy cooperation with India, to enhance cooperation with India on climate resilience and adaptation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Prioritizing Clean Energy and Climate Cooperation with 5 India Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4759 IS (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. TITLE I—UNITED STATES-INDIA CLEAN ENERGY AND POWER TRANSMISSION PARTNERSHIP Sec. 101. Sense of Congress on clean energy cooperation with India. Sec. 102. Statement of policy. Sec. 103. Establishment of United States-India Clean Energy and Power Transmission Partnership. Sec. 104. Strategy for implementation of the Clean Energy and Power Trans- mission Partnership. Sec. 105. Partnerships for cooperation on research and innovation for clean en- ergy technologies and expanded power transmission and dis- tribution. Sec. 106. Initiatives for promoting clean energy technology financing in India. Sec. 107. Initiatives for technical assistance for grid improvement and energy efficiency in India. Sec. 108. Initiatives for generation of new renewable energy in India. TITLE II—OTHER COOPERATION MATTERS Sec. 201. United States-India climate change risk reduction and resilience co- operation. Sec. 202. Report on United States participation in Mission Innovation. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 3 Congress makes the following findings: 4 (1) India is the second most populous country 5 in the world with a population of approximately 6 1,334,000,000 people and the fifth largest economy 7 in the world with a nominal gross domestic product 8 of $2,940,000,000,000. 9 (2) India is among the countries most vulner- 10 able to climate change, with hundreds of millions of 11 people susceptible to events exacerbated by climate 12 change, such as the spread of infectious diseases, sea 13 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4759 IS level rise and extreme flooding, droughts, storms, 1 and landslides triggered by extreme weather. 2 (3) India releases approximately 2,500,000,000 3 tons (carbon dioxide equivalent) in greenhouse gases 4 annually, making it the third largest greenhouse gas 5 emitter after China and the United States. India 6 ranks seventh in the world in cumulative historical 7 emissions and is the twelfth largest greenhouse gas 8 emitter per capita. 9 (4) India has one of the largest energy markets 10 in the world, and energy capacity in India has in- 11 creased by 17.5 percent in 5 years to 365 gigawatts 12 of installed electricity capacity. 13 (5) Per capita energy consumption in India is 14 relatively low among emerging economic powers. 15 (6) Reliable access to power is crucial for the 16 storage of vaccines and antiretroviral and other life- 17 saving medical drugs, as well as for the operation of 18 modern lifesaving medical equipment. 19 (7) Access to power can also provide improved 20 information and communication technologies that 21 can greatly improve health and education outcomes, 22 as well as economic and commercial opportunities. 23 (8) In 2000, only 43 percent of the population 24 of India had access to power. That percentage has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4759 IS more than doubled in the last 20 years, with ap- 1 proximately 700,000,000 people in India gaining ac- 2 cess to electricity between 2000 and 2018. 3 (9) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has 4 prioritized improving citizen access to electricity and 5 electrifying every household in India. 6 (10) The Power for All initiative of the Govern- 7 ment of India aims to provide electricity to all 8 households in India 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 9 (11) Providing around-the-clock electricity will 10 require India to double its electricity output by 2030 11 at an estimated cost of $250,000,000,000, which 12 will create more than $30,000,000,000 in investment 13 opportunities. 14 (12) As of August 2020, coal makes up the 15 largest domestic source of energy supply and elec- 16 tricity generation for India. Renewable energy com- 17 prises approximately 35 percent of energy generation 18 in India. 19 (13) India imports 80 percent of its oil needs, 20 and that amount is projected to increase in the com- 21 ing decades due to aging oil fields and a lack of new 22 oil discoveries in India. India is increasing its oil re- 23 fining capacity to maintain supply to meet the rising 24 demand for energy. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4759 IS (14) India is projected to surpass the People’s 1 Republic of China in oil consumption by 2030. 2 (15) On September 22, 2020, the People’s Re- 3 public of China announced a pledge to achieve net 4 zero carbon emissions by 2060 in its updated Na- 5 tionally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agree- 6 ment, done at Paris December 12, 2015, but given 7 the need to accelerate the reduction of global emis- 8 sions along a 2050 timeline, that pledge is propor- 9 tionally insufficient to avoid an increase of 2 degrees 10 Celsius in the global average temperature. 11 (16) India, in contrast, is demonstrating that 12 energy security is a priority through concrete steps 13 including creating a unified national power system 14 and incorporating varied forms of renewable energy 15 to diversify its power sources. 16 (17) India’s unconditional emissions target, as 17 outlined in the Intended Nationally Determined Con- 18 tribution of India to the Paris Agreement, aims to 19 reduce carbon emissions in India by 33 percent to 20 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. 21 (18) In its Intended Nationally Determined 22 Contribution, India set a goal of generating 175 23 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022, which India 24 aimed to achieve by generating 100 gigawatts of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4759 IS solar energy, 60 gigawatts of wind energy, and 15 1 gigawatts of energy from other sources such as bio- 2 mass and small hydro. 3 (19) India has pledged to increase the share of 4 its installed electricity capacity that comes from non- 5 fossil fuel sources to 40 percent by 2030. 6 (20) India is among the top 5 clean energy pro- 7 ducers globally. Installed electricity capacity from re- 8 newables in India grew by 144 percent from 2014 to 9 2020, and between 2014 and 2019 there was ap- 10 proximately $42,000,000,000 in investment in the 11 renewable energy sector in India. 12 (21) Numerous global funds, private equity 13 firms, and multilateral finance institutions are con- 14 tinuing to invest billions of dollars in the growing re- 15 newable energy sector in India. 16 (22) India plays a critical leadership role in 17 Mission Innovation, a global initiative in which the 18 United States participates that has the goal of accel- 19 erating the pace of clean energy innovation to 20 achieve performance breakthroughs and cost reduc- 21 tions that will enable the provision of affordable and 22 reliable clean energy solutions. 23 (23) India leads the International Solar Alli- 24 ance, an 86-country initiative to mobilize 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4759 IS $1,000,000,000,000 in solar energy investment by 1 2030, to which the United States does not belong. 2 (24) Increased ownership of appliances and 3 cooling needs could lead to a doubling or even tri- 4 pling of energy use in India by 2040. One billion air 5 conditioning units are expected to be in use in India 6 by 2050. 7 (25) Under the Kigali Amendment to the Mon- 8 treal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone 9 Layer, done at Montreal September 16, 1987, India 10 has agreed to freeze its manufacturing and con- 11 sumption of hydrofluorocarbons in 2028. 12 (26) In 2009, the United States and India es- 13 tablished a formal energy cooperation dialogue, the 14 United States-India Energy Dialogue, which in- 15 cluded the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy ini- 16 tiative focusing on research into, deployment of, and 17 access to clean energy. 18 (27) The Partnership to Advance Clean Energy 19 Research element of the Partnership to Advance 20 Clean Energy initiative, commonly referred to as 21 ‘‘PACE–R’’, consists of research consortia under the 22 Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Cen- 23 ter launched in 2010 by the Department of Energy 24 and the Government of India with support from the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4759 IS private sector. PACE–R has focused on solar power, 1 advanced biofuels, energy efficiency, and smart grids 2 and energy storage. 3 (28) The Partnership to Advance Clean Energy 4 Deployment element of the Partnership to Advance 5 Clean Energy initiative, commonly referred to as 6 ‘‘PACE–D’’, funds programs to improve energy effi- 7 ciency, grid connectivity, clean energy finance, and 8 more. 9 (29) The Partnership to Advance Clean Energy 10 Access element of the Partnership to Advance Clean 11 Energy initiative, commonly referred to as 12 ‘‘PEACE’’, has focused on finance and technology 13 innovation, skills development, and ecosystem 14 strengthening for clean energy. 15 (30) In 2018, the United States Government 16 established the Asia Enhancing Development and 17 Growth through Energy initiative, commonly re- 18 ferred to as ‘‘Asia EDGE’’, to support sustainable 19 and secure energy markets throughout the Indo-Pa- 20 cific. Asia EDGE integrates elements of the Part- 21 nership to Advance Clean Energy initiative along 22 with new programs such as the South Asia Group 23 for Energy. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4759 IS (31) In 2018, the Governments of India and 1 the United States established the U.S.-India Stra- 2 tegic Energy Partnership, which includes pillars of 3 cooperation on renewable energy and sustainable 4 growth. 5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 9 States Agency for International Development. 10 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 11 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 12 mittees’’ means— 13 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 14 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re- 15 sources of the Senate; and 16 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 17 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 18 House of Representatives. 19 (3) CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES.—The term 20 ‘‘clean energy technologies’’ means any process or 21 product, or system of processes or products, that— 22 (A) is applied at any stage of the energy 23 cycle, including production, transmission, and 24 consumption; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4759 IS (B) generates, contributes to the genera- 1 tion of, or transmits energy that— 2 (i) produces zero greenhouse emis- 3 sions; or 4 (ii) significantly mitigates or captures 5 greenhouse gas emissions from existing 6 power production. 7 (4) CLIMATE SECURITY.—The term ‘‘climate 8 security’’ means accounting for and guarding 9 against the challenges and harms that are scientif- 10 ically attributable to the effects of climate change 11 on— 12 (A) United States national security and 13 subnational, national, and regional political sta- 14 bility; and 15 (B) overseas security and conflict situa- 16 tions that are potentially exacerbated by dy- 17 namic environmental factors and events, includ- 18 ing— 19 (i) the intensification and frequency of 20 droughts, floods, wildfires, tropical storms, 21 and other extreme weather events; 22 (ii) changes in historical severe weath- 23 er, drought, and wildfire patterns; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4759 IS (iii) the expansion of geographical 1 ranges of droughts, floods, and wildfires 2 into regions that had not regularly experi- 3 enced such phenomena; 4 (iv) global sea level rise patterns and 5 the expansion of geographical ranges af- 6 fected by drought; and 7 (v) changes in marine environments 8 that affect critical geostrategic waterways, 9 such as the Arctic Ocean, the Bay of Ben- 10 gal, the Indian Ocean, the South China 11 Sea, the South Pacific Ocean, the Barents 12 Sea, and the Beaufort Sea. 13 (5) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise specifi- 14 cally provided, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec- 15 retary of State. 16 TITLE I—UNITED STATES-INDIA 17 CLEAN ENERGY AND POWER 18 TRANSMISSION PARTNER- 19 SHIP 20 SEC. 101. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CLEAN ENERGY CO- 21 OPERATION WITH INDIA. 22 It is the sense of Congress that— 23 (1) robust cooperation on the development and 24 deployment of clean energy technologies should be a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4759.IS S4759 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4759 IS priority in relations between the United States and 1 India and the top priority in the countries’ energy 2 diplomacy; 3 (2) the collab [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]