Tata Power and IIT Delhi form smart energy alliance

Utility company Tata Power has partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi) to conduct joint research and development, testing and commercialisation of smart grid and energy technologies.

The two have agreed to support Indian startups and the development of innovative solutions that can help transform India’s energy landscape.

A MoU signed by Tata Power and IIT Delhi will leverage academia, research, and grid management expertise from the staff, students and researchers within the two organisations to help India accelerate its use of smart grid and energy solutions. The aim is to accelerate the digital transformation and energy transition in the country.

The focus will be on technologies including electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, machine learning, energy storage, microgrids and sensing and monitoring systems such as smart metering.

Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi said: “…this collaboration will result in the development of new technologies for the energy sector, which would prove helpful in the area of power generation and distribution.”

Dr Praveer Sinha, the CEO of Tata Power added that the MoU is part of efforts by the utility to take advantage of new solutions to enhance the management of its ever-increasing capacity from distributed energy resources.

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Today, Tata Power manages 4.2GW of clean energy generation from solar, wind, hydro, and waste heat recovery, accounting for 32% of its overall energy mix. Tata Power has recently achieved a milestone of 1,000 electric vehicle charging stations across India and technologies that may result from the partnership might enable the utility to install more chargers as well as ensure optimal operation.

Sinha, added: “This collaboration will create a testbed for new age implementable technologies in the energy space leading to strengthening of clean energy ecosystem in the country.” 

Tata Power and IIT-D might develop the Tata Power Virtual Center of Excellence to complement various technologies, labs, and infrastructure already ingrained at each other’s facilities.

The two will partner with the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre and IIT Delhi’s Startup infrastructure for incubation and development of startups.

Investing in startups can help speed up India’s shift away from coal to renewable energy and other climate-friendly energy technologies, according to Rajesh Aggarwal, the country’s Secretary at the Ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship.

Aggarwal said this during the launch of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest report on renewable energy jobs. He said partnerships amongst local organisations and with international institutions will help India to achieve climate justice and energy resilience to climate change.

He said increasing collaborations and reskilling of the workforce will enable India to make hydrogen economically feasible in the next 2 to 3 years, decarbonise the transport sector and increase renewables’ share in the energy mix to 70% by 2025 and 100% by 2050.

Aggarwal, said: “We have a vibrant sector skill programme and 20 new standardised courses have been launched to encourage green jobs. The Council for Green jobs has also been launched to equip students and the workforce with new skills and such measures will help us deliver 450GW of solar capacity by 2030.”