With a view to generate green energy by using new technologies, India and the United States have set up new Rs 500 million ($8 million) PACESetter fund.

The fund will support the Promoting Energy Access Through Clean Energy (PEACE), for which memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the two countries.

This PEACE initiative will track of the US – India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) to accelerate the commercialization of off-grid clean energy through early-stage grant funding grants to develop and test innovative products, systems, and business models, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said in a statement.

The MoU was signed by Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and by Richard Verma, United States Ambassador to the Republic of India recently in New Delhi.

This ambitious cooperation is a new tract under the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), a flagship initiative on Clean Energy that combines the resources of several U.S. agencies and GOI Ministries. This has also been listed in the Joint Statement during the visit of President of USA to India in January, 2015, the ministry adds.

Both the countries will share 50 per cent of the funding for the project that will cost Rs 250 million  $4 million) each.

Under this, a Steering Committee comprising the Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the United States Ambassador to India, and three representatives from each side has been constituted.

It was agreed to cooperate through technical and commercial innovation and the advancement of clean energy in off-grid space.