CERC, IIT-D and Grid-India Sign MoU To Set Up Centre Of Excellence
An MoU has been signed between the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), IIT Delhi, and Grid Controller of India (Grid-India) for establishing a centre of excellence at IIT Delhi.
The MoU was signed by Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi; Sh. Harpreet Singh Pruthi, Secretary, CERC; and Sh. Paresh R. Ranpara, Director (Human Resources), Grid-India.
The proposed centre will work towards power sector regulation, policies, power markets, and grid operations. It will also act as a knowledge hub from which regulatory commissions, power system operators, utilities, and other organisations can draw expertise to meet their specific job requirements. The knowledge hub will aid in an informed decision-making and formulation of effective regulation through collaborative research and analysis. The CoE would aim at bridging the gap between industry and academia to find indigenous solutions to address current and emerging challenges in power system operation. The CoE would also act as a conduit for creating academic programs, resulting in good lawmaking and better regulatory techniques.
Speaking about the MoU, Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said, “We are excited about the new Centre of Excellence in Power Sector Regulation. We look forward to working together with Grid-India and CERC to provide research and policy inputs to transform our power sector.”
The centre of excellence will identify gaps and challenges in the current energy transition period in India, including regulations, markets, and grid operations, and then carry out academic, technical, and policy research.
The centre of excellence will povide training, skill development, and capacity development activities for creating a pool of specialized workforce and existing manpower of the regulators, system operators, and other stakeholders, including short-term training in quantitative techniques, tariff models, modeling and forecasting techniques, electricity markets, etc. It will aid in creating a knowledge hub and information base necessary to meet the current needs and future regulatory, operational, and strategic challenges, as well as acting as a conduit for offerings of academic programmes at IIT Delhi.
Mr Jishnu Barua, Chairman, CERC, said, “The Centre is expected to play a pivotal role in enhancing expertise of human resources for the sector and is likely to serve as a bridge between academia and the practitioners.”
The centre of excellence will also carry out system studies for making informed decisions about grid practices and associated regulations.
Mr Samir Chandra Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director, Grid-India, said, “Grid-India looks forward to this collaboration. This initiative marks a significant step towards advancing regulatory capacity in the power sector, fostering research, innovation, and informed policymaking and regulatory research for a more resilient and future-ready power sector ecosystem.”
