Power Ministry develops UTPRERAK to accelerate energy-efficient technology adoption

UTPRERAK will help improve the energy efficiency of Indian industry: Union Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal.

The Government of India’s Ministry of Power has established a dedicated Centre of Excellence to expedite industrial adoption of clean technology and, as a result, scale up India’s contribution to the global energy transition. The Centre of Excellence to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies, abbreviated UTPRERAK for Unnat Takniki Pradarshan Kendra, aims to play a catalytic role in enhancing the energy efficiency of the Indian industry.

The National Power Training Institute (NPTI), Ministry of Power, has established the Advanced Industrial Technology Demonstration Centre (AITDC), also known as the Centre. It is located on the campus of Badarpur, New Delhi. Krishan Pal, Union Minister of State for Power, opened the Centre at NPTI Badarpur.

The Center’s mission is to establish itself as the leading authority and information source on commercial energy-efficient solutions. The Advanced Industrial Technology Demonstration Centre, as its name implies, will promote and demonstrate energy-efficient solutions in significant industry sectors. It will serve as both a knowledge bank and a venue for exhibitions and information. With the help of workshops and seminars, industry professionals will be able to share the best practices from a range of important areas on this platform for knowledge sharing.

More than 10,000 energy professionals are proposed to be trained in the next five years

In addition to providing training and teaching in energy efficiency, UTPRERAK will function as a strategic institution for creating capacity and aims to be a one-stop resource for energy professionals from across India. Over the next five years, more than 10,000 energy professionals from the sector and other potential industries are anticipated to receive intense training.

The Centre also plans to combine teaching and research in energy-efficient solutions and develop creative, practical solutions for energy efficiency, in addition to these other goals.

Adoption of advanced technologies key to becoming a developed nation by 2047

As part of the Unnat Takniki Pradarshan Kendra’s inauguration, Union Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal emphasised the importance of adopting cutting-edge technology to support the realisation of the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a developed country by the year 2047. The Minister stated that the most recent technology is required for us to advance and be competitive in the global market, noting that the government has implemented Production Linked Incentive Schemes in many industries for this exact aim. “Good technology must be produced at reasonable prices. In addition, saving energy will benefit not just industry but the entire country. UTPRERAK will play a significant role in enhancing the energy efficiency of the Indian industry.

Energy efficient technologies key to achieving India’s emission reduction targets under NDCs

Alok Kumar, secretary of the Ministry of Power, emphasised the critical role that energy-intensive technology must play in helping India fulfil its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) pledges to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. “At COP 26 in Glasgow, the Prime Minister of India unveiled updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for India, one of which calls for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 1 billion tonnes between 2020 and 2030. The majority of this will come from increased use of renewable energy, with energy-efficiency measures providing the remaining fifty percent.

The BEE program’s centrepiece Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) initiative has won praise from all around the world. Better maintenance techniques reduced the energy efficiency margins in the PAT program’s initial cycles. In the future, we must implement innovative technologies in our energy-intensive industries, including those in the iron and steel, cement, paper, chlor-alkali, and textiles sectors.

Indian Carbon market will be rolled out soon

The Centre should be a major player in assisting businesses in achieving emission intensity reduction goals. The idea is to set industry-specific targets for emission intensity reduction when India launches its carbon market shortly. We must encourage and support the use of these new technologies by our industries if we want them to be able to meet these goals. UTPRERAK must be viewed in the context of this significant undertaking.

Furthermore, there is a necessity for a Steering Committee and an Advisory Body when discussing the processes required to ensure the success of the Centre. “We need to make sure that the centre’s amenities are regularly renovated and maintained if we want to extract value from it.

While the Ministry of Power will set aside enough money for BEE in the budget, we still need a steering committee that will convene at the facility itself, make recommendations for necessary activities, and oversee activities to ensure the centre is well-maintained.

Second, we need to figure out how to bring stakeholders together on this platform in order to achieve the main goals of the centre, which are to distribute innovations and hasten their adoption by industry. New engineers, energy managers, energy auditors, decision-makers, and producers of energy-efficient technologies are examples of stakeholders.

To bring them all together, we should form an Advisory Body comprised of industry and other stakeholders who would advise the centre on how its operations will be carried out.”

“The Centre’s success should be measured by the rate of industry adoption of energy-efficient technologies.”

The Secretary emphasised the importance of the center’s expertise and information sharing. “The main responsibility would be to communicate with industry and exchange expertise to enable the deployment of technology. The rate at which technologies are implemented in the field should be used to evaluate the success of this centre. The Centre should be dynamic, not static, and once the technologies have attained a certain level of penetration and distribution, they should be phased out and we should focus on new innovations.

The site has three demo halls where technology for the first five PAT industries—Iron & Steel, Cement, Paper, Chlor-Alkali, and Textiles—can be demonstrated. These rooms showcase a variety of energy-efficient technology, including waste heat recovery systems, pre-processing systems for alternative fuels and raw materials, and arrangements for feeding alternative fuels and raw materials into the kiln calciner (co-processing). Two lecture halls are also available at the institution for training and educational events like training courses for energy experts.

The Centre will work with institutions around the world to collaborate and transfer technology on cutting-edge technologies under the direction of BEE. BEE would work in conjunction with a number of research organisations, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM), the Central Pulp & Paper Research Institute (CPPRI), the National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology (NISST), the Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC), the South and Northern India Textile Research Associations (SITRA) and the NITRA, etc., to carry out

The centre will also function as a regional hub for R&D for sustainable energy technology in the specified areas (other energy-intensive sectors may be included later). These industries can be decarbonized with the help of cutting-edge technology like Carbon Capture, Usage, and Storage (CCUS). Once fully operational, it will offer cutting-edge facilities for networking, conferencing, training, and information sharing on energy-efficient technologies.