International Smart Grid Action Network Launched
Representatives from more than 20 countries are meeting in Washington, DC, this week for the US government’s first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial. As the event kicked off this morning, three new international energy-saving and efficiency initiatives were announced: the Super-Efficient Appliance Development initiative, the Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership and the International Smart Grid Action Network.
Hosted by US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, the gathering was organised to find ways to accelerate the world’s transition to clean-energy technologies.
A group of more than 15 countries created the International Smart Grid Action Network to drive global cooperation on smart electric grids. The effort was announced after a meeting hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy which will host Thursday an industry workshop on electric vehicles.
The ISGAN will collaborate on smart grid policies and regulations, standards, pre-competitive research, workforce skills and consumer education. It is backed by energy ministers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, the European Commission, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“(T)oday we’re launching a global energy efficiency challenge,” Chu said in his opening remarks. “This initiative includes appliances, buildings, vehicles and the smart grid. All these things can transform the way we use and save energy.”
ISGAN will work with the International Energy Agency to develop a global smart grid road map highlighting technology and policies areas where governments can collaborate. It will create a forum to discuss standards policy for infrastructure needed to charge plug-in electric vehicles, and it will develop a set of case studies of successful projects.
In parallel with setting up ISGAN, ministers announced the creation of an international trade alliance. The Global Smart Grid Federation is an association of associations, linking groups such as the GridWise Alliance in the U.S. with counterparts in Australia, Canada, India, Japan and South Korea.
