IIT Roorkee Gets New Renewable Grid Integration and Green Hydrogen Labs at the Deptt of Hydro and Renewable Energy
The two labs demonstrate IIT Roorkee’s and the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy’s commitment to achieving India’s Energy Independence and Net Zero Carbon Energy Systems Goals.
Prof. K.K. Pant, Director of IIT Roorkee, dedicated two new labs at the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy: the Renewable Grid Integration Laboratory and the Green Hydrogen Laboratory. HRED created these labs to ensure that the Department and IIT Roorkee continue to play a significant role in India’s reliable, resilient, and Atmanirbhar transition to a clean energy grid.
The director also visited HRED laboratories that are conducting transformative research in all aspects of renewable energy, such as hydropower, energy storage, solar energy, biomass energy, water body management, and energy system modelling.
Prof Arun Kumar and Prof Sunil Singhal also showed and discussed other labs with the Director, Prof. KK Pant, and the Dy. Director, Prof. UP Singh.
Addressing the faculty and students, Prof. Pant said, “Establishment of the labs aims to significantly reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of renewable energy sources and envisages making India a global hub for green hydrogen production and export. Achieving net zero carbon goals requires decarbonization of the electric grid. Variable renewable energy will be deployed at large scale to develop resilient and renewable energy-based power systems.”
Prof. Mukesh Singhal, Head of HRED, stated that the Department is prepared and committed to conducting sustainable research and development in all areas of renewable energy. We already have laboratories for this purpose, and the addition of these two labs will improve the department’s capabilities.
Prof. Himanshu Jain, Faculty Incharge of the Renewable Grid Integration Laboratory, stated that the lab was created to conduct cutting-edge research in order to ensure the high reliability and resilience of India’s renewable energy-dominated electric grid. It is outfitted with hardware and software to conduct research in areas such as grid stability analysis in India, pumped storage hydropower, inverter control development, cybersecurity, and wireless charging of electric vehicles.
He also mentioned that the laboratory is being used by one research fellow, six PhD students, including one PMRF, and five M.Tech students to conduct research on renewable energy grid integration.
Prof. Amit Bhosale, Faculty Incharge of the Green Hydrogen Laboratory, emphasised the importance of the lab in anticipating developments in electrochemistry, specifically fuel cells and electrolyzers. The laboratory is also aligned with the goals of the prestigious National Hydrogen Mission, which was recently launched by the Government of India. Equipment and software required for research domains such as stack development, contact resistance management, and hydrogen production are also installed. The laboratory is currently managed by an Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow, six PhD students, one PMRF, and four M.Tech. students.
IIT Roorkee’s Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy (HRED) was founded in 1982 and will celebrate its Ruby Jubilee this year.
The Department’s vision is to tap the country’s vast renewable energy potential while also developing expertise and power generation capacity through research and development in hydropower and other renewable energy sources.
IIT Roorkee is a national institute that provides higher education in engineering, sciences, management, architecture and planning, humanities and social sciences. Since its inception in 1847, the Institute has played a critical role in providing technical human resources and know-how to the country.
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Content Credit: IndianWeb2