IIT Madras Partners with French Firm to Develop RE Research Park

French glass and building material major Saint-Gobain India and IIT Madras Research Park have entered into an MoU on Thursday to develop a 100% Renewable Energy (RE) – research park.

Saint-Gobain India will support IIT Madras Research Park with a funding of Rs one crore over the next three years and the collaboration is to boost the transformation towards a low carbon future and to aid India in achieving 100% renewable energy.

The partnership will focus on addressing the energy challenges and promote maximum use of alternate energy sources and develop sustainable models to ensure energy efficiency. IIT-M Research Park intends to create a robust energy storage mechanism within the campus that will allow it to operate primarily on energy generated from renewable sources.

“The partnership is an endeavour to support the institute’s purpose of ensuring 100% use of renewable energy sources and the model will be developed within the span of three years by the institute,” P Padmakumar, executive director – HR and Head-CSR, Saint-Gobain India said.

“We are committed to drive this transition towards Net-Zero Energy in India and aim to showcase the IIT Madras Research Park campus as a model for other commercial building complexes in the country to adopt as they shift towards renewable energy-based system,” Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, president, IIT-Madras Research Park and IIT Madras Incubation Cell said.

“Together, we will collaborate in areas of research & application on renewable energy storage, advanced technology, innovation, and knowledge for sustainable changes,” Jhunjhunwala added.

“Our collaboration with Saint-Gobain Research India will help further our understanding of sustainable and energy-efficient building materials, and its effective integration in the built environment,” said Jhunjhunwala.

IIT-Madras has recently launched a master’s program on Electric Vehicles (EV) as an inter-disciplinary dual degree (IDDD). The new course is aimed at boosting the students’ engagement with e-mobility and will be offered for its BTech and dual degree students.