Come October and a post-graduate course in solar energy will be launched here, as Amity University and the NB Institute for Rural Development (NBIRT) signed an MoU on Wednesday.
“The one-year course with Amity University, thanks to Prof Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, vice-chancellor, Amity University, will go long way in creating green engineers for sustainable future in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of 1 lakh mw solar projects by 2022,” said S P Gon Chaudhury. NBIRT has been the brainchild of this renewable energy expert, who’s also an Ashden award winner and adviser to the state government’s power department.
He added, “India needs huge solar field engineers to achieve 100000 MW Solar target by 2022.We have Surya Mitra and reseachers in the field of Solar Energy. But what about middle level engineers who play an important role in commissioning. Unfortunately, we do not have any institution catering to this sector.”
India’s significant and sustained economic growth is placing enormous demand on its energy resources. However, there is a pervasive demand-supply imbalance that necessitates serious efforts by the government of India to augment energy supplies. The country imports about 80 percent of its oil. With the threat of a further increase in oil prices, serious problems with regard to energy security is anticipated. India also runs the substantial risk of lesser thermal capacity being installed. While dependence on imported coal is increasing, supply of indigenous coal is likely to decrease in the coming years because of production and logistic constraints.
Renewable energy can make a substantial contribution in each of the above mentioned areas. It is in this context that the role of renewable energy needs to be seen. It is no longer “alternate energy”, but is increasingly becoming a vital part of the solution to the nation’s energy needs.
The thrust given by National Climate Plan and Jawaharlal Lal Nehru National Solar Mission have suddenly created the need to train large human resource in the field of new and renewable energy especially with expertise in solar energy. Energy Institution in the country except few IITs, running MTech course in Renewable Energy. The NBIRT of Kolkata was the only College giving Renewable Energy Diploma to the students in association with TAFE, Queensland Government, Australia.
The PG diploma course is designed in such a way so that students get more practical knowledge to undertake field-level renewable energy projects. The institutions conducting Renewable Energy M. Tech/M.Sc and PG Diploma are MSc (Renewable Energy), Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, MTech (Renewable Energy Engineering and Management) and PG Diploma (Renewable Energy), TERI University, New Delhi, MTech (Energy Management) and PG Diploma (Renewable Energy), Allahabad Agricultural Institute (Deemed University), Allahabad (www.aaidu.org), MPhil (Energy), Gandhigram Rural University, Gandhigram (www.ruraluniv.ac.in), MPhil (Energy), Centre for Non-Conventional Energy Resources, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (www.uniraj.ernet.in). So, there’s a need to introduce PG Diploma in Renewable Energy (Solar Energy) Science and Technology.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
