The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-Guwahati) and government-owned hydrocarbon exploration and production corporation, Oil India, have announced they will collaborate to develop and introduce modern technologies in energy and related sectors. The partnership will also focus on cooperation in the transfer of existing technologies, knowledge up-gradation and innovation partnerships, training and skill development, and other areas of mutual agreement, according to a statement by the Institute.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to seal the agreement. The MoU will facilitate a new path to explore numerous opportunities in applied and translational research for the sustainable energy sector. IIT-Guwahati is among the few top institutions in India that are dedicated to developing state-of-the-art technologies and a skilled workforce in the field of petroleum and its allied industries, an official from IIT-Guwahati claimed. He said oil and gas industries would benefit as the partnership will lead to the development of indigenous technologies.
The statement added that collaborations between industry and academia are mutually beneficial. It provides the industry work-ready talent with specialised knowledge and practical training. Academia benefits by having opportunities to work on relevant technologies and challenging problems. A representative from Oil India noted that the organisation looks forward to more collaborations with IIT-Guwahati and the current initiative can enhance the efficiency of the industry and contribute to greater profitability.
The Oil India engineering service group constitutes core engineering departments, including electrical, civil, field engineering, instrumentation, field communication, information technology and logistics. The group makes various essential engineering services available to core areas like exploration, drilling, the production of crude oil and natural gas, the transportation of crude oil, and the production of LPG to the company’s other businesses.
Over the last seven years, India’s installed solar energy capacity has increased 17 times. The country represents 17% of the global population but its historical cumulative emissions are only 4%, while current annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are only about 5%. India added 1,522 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity in October, which took the total installed RE capacity to 103.05 gigawatts (GW) as of 31 October, according to the monthly cabinet brief issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). This included 47.66 GW of solar, 39.99 GW of wind, 10.58 GW of biopower, and 4.82 GW of small-hydro capacity.
As per a news report, according to the October brief, projects of 50.98 GW capacity were at various stages of implementation while projects of 32.06 GW capacity were under various stages of bidding. The ministry note added that award letters were issued on 4 October to set up an aggregate capacity of 5,000 MW solar power plants using domestically manufactured solar PV cells and solar modules. India had set a target of 175 GW capacity by 2022, which would include 100 GW of solar energy, 60 GW of wind energy, 10 GW of small-hydro power, and 5 GW of biomass-based power projects. However, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, recently raised the nationally determined contribution target of non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 from 450 GW at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
