IIT-KGP to lead India in becoming a Clean Energy Destination

The multi-institutional centre at IIT-Kharagpur will work towards technological innovations on a range of issues related to power network, storage and Solar PV systems.

IIT-Kharagpur will lead a UK-India joint virtual centre in clean energy in partnership with a consortium to develop solutions for integration of renewable energy into Indian and UK power grid.

The multi-institutional centre at IIT-KGP, which is named UK India Clean Energy Research Institute (UKICERI), will work towards technological innovations on a range of issues related to power network, storage and Solar PV systems, to promote massive scale integration of Solar power at different voltage levels for on and off-grid, a spokesman of the Institute today said.

The consortium partners will develop high performance micro, string and central inverters, he said.

“The proposed research aims at making energy generation and delivery system a reliable, affordable and sustainable option in both UK and India. This will be carried out through research in power electronics, power network, accurate forecasting, energy storage and their smooth integration,” Prof Chandan Chakraborty of the Electrical Engineering Department, IIT-KGP, who is leading the project in India, said.

An experimental Solar power park at IIT-KGP will showcase technologies developed by the team.

The team from India involves several premiere institutes along with PSUs such as Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, Power System Operation Corporation Limited, Gujarat Power Corporation Limited etc and private organizations such as Veeral Controls Pvt Ltd, Tata Power Solar, Ecosense, Agni Power and Electronics Pvt Ltd, Vikram Solar, Hertz Power Control etc.

The University of Loughborough will lead the project from UK along with Imperial College, London, Manchester University, Warwick University and five other universities and many industries from that country.

The highlight of the consortium is development of indigenous technology for promotion of Solar power industries in India and UK, Prof Chakraborty said.

“We are excited to take part in a major clean energy initiative that requires very high quality research along with technology development, demonstration and deployment. We hope the results of this work will bring in a jump in technologies for Solar energy,” IIT-Kharagpur Director Prof P P Chakrabarti said. The project is an outcome of the India UK Strategic Partnership and consolidates collaborative research activities on renewables, network and storage technologies.

PTI