CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) has partnered with Denmark for research in climate change mitigation and green transition, which includes the development of next-generation fuels and energy systems. Danish minister Lars Aagaard said that Denmark is collaborating with Tamil Nadu to establish the first offshore wind farm in the state.
The MoUs were exchanged in the backdrop of Denmark crown prince Frederik André Henrik Christian, minister Lars Aagaard and Danish energy delegation’s visit to the IIT-M research park. Senior officials from the Tamil Nadu government and IIT-M dean (industrial consultancy and sponsored research) Manu Santhanam, among others, were present at the event.
Speaking on next generation fuels, Lars Aagaard said, “Today, Denmark is paving the way for investments in new technologies, which must scale. We see great potential in sharing mutual knowledge with India and its bright engineers, which can help implement these technologies.”
“Tamil Nadu has a renewable energy installed capacity of 20GW, of which 10GW is from wind. There is potential for another 13GW of wind energy onshore and 20GW offshore,” said S Krishnan, additional chief secretary, Tamil Nadu Industries Department.
According to a release from IIT-M, an MoU was signed under Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership for four projects, of which three focus on the energy sector. The Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India will jointly fund the projects.
Danish multi-national corporation Danfoss and IIT-M exchanged two agreements for research in securing drinking water for coastal regions using renewable energy and green fuels, the company said in a statement.
Delivering the welcome address, IIT-M research park president Ashok Jhunjhunwala said, “India has a large number of low-income people who suffer when there are climate change-related events. India and Denmark need to go further than R&D collaboration and take it to commercialization. Every technology needs to have a return on investment as it scales.”