IIT-M, Denmark to collaborate on sustainable cooling, energy systems

CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) on Wednesday announced that it’s collaborating with industry and academia in Denmark for various research projects in areas of climate change mitigation and enabling green transition.

Accordingly, 4 projects are in the realm of ‘energy’ and focus on IIT-M Energy Consortium’s vision of enabling energy transition toward a low-carbon future.

They’d help in accelerating tech development through industry-academia-government partnerships, and collaborations with global partners to develop solutions. When they’re deployed at scale in India, it’d become tech solutions, a release from the IIT-M here said.

S. Krishnan, additional chief secretary, Department of Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce, said, “Tamil Nadu continues to be the leader in renewable energy. Over 50 % of the installed capacity in the State are from renewable energy sources with potential for expansion in wind, solar, and green hydrogen. All of it needs to come together in a way that works for the local economy of the State, country, and the world at large.”

Pointing out TN’s installed renewable energy was running at a capacity of 20 GW of which 10 GW are from wind, he added, “There’s potential for another 13 GW of wind energy onshore and 20 GW of offshore. The most promising offshore locations in India are off the TN Coast – The Gulf of Mannar.”

The State government has signed an MoU with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to develop a comprehensive Urban Cooling programme to meet the objectives under the TN State Action Plan on Climate Change. The UNEP in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, are implementing this national programme to support Indian cities to implement sustainable cooling and heat resiliency strategies.