EnVision, IIT Madras Research Park’s Flagship Energy Conference Sets Roadmap of Technologies

In an endeavour to position India as a driving force in the transition towards a cleaner, more sustainable future, IIT Madras Research Park along with India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) flagged off EnVision - India's First Energy Festival. The two-day conference will be attended by 500+ delegates, bringing together energy experts, industry leaders, policymakers, academia, researchers, and students to ideate, share perspectives to accelerate technology led energy transformation in India.

Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru Dr. T.R.B. Rajaa, inaugurated the two-day event. Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Padmavibhusan Dr. Anil Kakodkar and Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman Axilor Ventures and Co-founder, Infosys also graced the event.

Speaking at the inauguration Dr. TRB Rajaa said, “Tamil Nadu is 50% green, with 40% solar energy and 50% wind energy. We are now pushing ourselves to go up to 75%. Green Hydrogen is something that is extremely promising. Pump storage is a key part of the entire green hydrogen initiative that we are taking up in Tamil Nadu. Offshore wind energy is also something which Prof. Jhunjhunwala and I are very keen on. Now we are looking for 10 GW of initial deployment. Climate change is very close to my mind, and I have always said that people should have climate common sense. This is something the government of TN is also trying to inculcate into every single mind, from school to college. We are trying to make this a part of the society. We do know that climate consciousness does not come easily in a day. It’s time that as a society all of us should come together and be the change that we want to see.  We have a TN green fund which is a 1000 Cr fund to develop green products. I would love to have this team here and the energy festival come up with ideas to help the Tamil Nadu government and India reach its sustainable energy goal.”

“Is the earth moving towards Pralay (destruction)? The December 4th cyclone in Chennai and the cyclone in Southern Tamil Nadu, on 17th December certainly points towards this. India is number three in the world in terms of total GHG emission, even though its per capita emission is small. As India’s GDP grows, our GHG emissions will continue to grow. We need to reverse this as soon as possible. Also, when a climate-change event occurs, the low-income people in countries like India are the worst sufferers. We need to move urgently towards fossil-free energy. The best way to do it is to make Green Energy economically viable. This is already happening, but more is needed,” said Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President of IIT Madras Research Park, IITM Incubation Cell & RTBI.

“With this in mind, we have curated EnVision as a unique platform that brings together key stakeholders in energy - industry leaders, startups, researchers, policymakers and the wider community. We have some brainstorming events, which will take place in parallel to the conference. One is brainstorming on tomorrow’s solar technology, while another is on micro-nuclear energy. In a third brainstorming session, we look at Heating and Cooling, a primary source of GHG emissions today. The fourth such workshop is focusing on CSIR Labs and is titled Lab to Market for Net-Zero technologies. By sharing ideas, forging partnerships, and exploring critical energy themes over the next three days, I am confident that EnVision will serve as a catalyst to accelerate India's transition to clean energy”, he added.