Clean Energy - Tech Leadership Initiatives

The Climate Challenge

Life on earth is slowly deteriorating as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last 250 years, we have been continuously burning fossil fuels, and in the process, exponentially increasing their use. All fossil fuels, whether they are coal, gas, or oil emit greenhouse gases that are steadily impacting life on our planet. If we want to reverse this damage, we have to reduce and ultimately stop using fossil fuels.

Fortunately, we have alternatives. Renewable sources such as the sun can now be harnessed to generate electricity at a cost that is even lower than the electricity produced through coal and other fossil fuels. Other green energy options, including hydro, nuclear power, and biomass, can be utilised for generating electricity.

Global Energy Consumption

Globally, the primary consumption of energy falls into three categories

Heating

Cooling

Transport

Fortunately, technologies exist for all these areas today, and they compare well with fossil fuel technologies. They are even financially viable. The challenge however lies in accelerating the transition into green energy at the earliest.

One significant challenge with solar and wind-based electricity, which is by far the lowest-cost forms of energy available today, is their intermittency. Since they are not available 24x7, large-scale storage solutions are essential. Fortunately, the cost of storage has also fallen rapidly in recent years.

ITEL is today focused on developing technologies for

Next-generation Solar PV Technology

Grid-level Energy Storage

Power Electronics

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Besides these, ITEL is leading a major program, which aims to redefine how heating and cooling systems operate, which happens to account for nearly 50% of the world's energy consumption today. ITEL is working to develop technologies required to produce Steel, Cement, Aluminium, Fertilizers and other such materials using green electricity or green hydrogen rather than fossil fuels

ITEL is working on transforming the transport sector. HASHTIC City and HASHTIC Goods are two major initiatives aimed at transporting people within congested cities in under 20 minutes and goods across India within 24 hours, using green electricity. At the same time, ITEL continues to work with start-ups and industry to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicle

Next-generation Solar PV Technology

Today, solar energy is converted to electricity using crystalline silicon technology. Crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels are widely used today, as they offer low cost and good efficiency. However, currently the technology is fully controlled by China

ITEL is therefore directing its efforts on developing next-generation solar PV technology called Perovskite. This technology is expected to deliver solar cells and panels at costs lower than current crystalline PV systems while offering significantly higher efficiency. Significant R&D efforts are already underway to advance this field.

ITEL is collaborating with these researchers to scale their innovations into commercial products, so that India's dependence on imports of products and technology is substantially reduced.

Grid-level Energy Storage

Even though solar and wind-based electricity generation costs are lower than electricity from fossil fuels, their intermittent nature means that they cannot be generated continuously. Therefore, one needs efficient energy storage solutions.

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery cell prices have fallen rapidly in recent years, with cells now costing as low as $140 per kilowatt hour and delivering up to 10,000 charge-discharge cycles. The grid battery integrates these cells into large-scale battery packs. However, this technology remains largely controlled by China.

Fortunately, the cell cost is only 50% of the total cost of the battery. The rest is for other components. Cygni Energy, a start-up associated with ITEL, has been actively developing cell-to-pack battery conversion technologies. Today, they are able to achieve this conversion, at costs that are competitive with Chinese imports

India is currently ordering 10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of grid storage, a figure that is likely to increase up to 200 GWh over the next 2 to 3 years. ITEL will strive to ensure that Indian technology from cell to pack, scales and thrives in this rapidly growing market.

Power Electronics

Modern energy systems require power electronics, bi-directional converters, battery chargers, inverters, static synchronous compensator brackets (STATCOMs), and motor controllers to use electricity for different tasks. Over the last decade, the technology has evolved rapidly, and today Chinese products are available at extremely competitive prices.

India has a large number of power electronics researchers, but most of them have remained focused on academic publications rather than commercialisation. To bridge this gap, ITEL has created a consortium of these product-focused researchers to develop all kinds of products, knowing that it has to compete with China on price while delivering the highest quality products of international standards. A diverse portfolio of products will need to be developed, scaled, and commercialised for widespread adoption. ITEL hopes to bring a large number of industries and start-ups associated with this consortium, to achieve this goal.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

ITEL has undertaken a major initiative to develop fuel cells, which convert hydrogen to electricity. While the technology is available globally today, the costs remain high and efficiency is relatively low.

ITEL has therefore established a consortium of researchers, start-ups, and industry to design and develop a fuel cell at a target cost of ₹50,000 per kilowatt and with at least 50% efficiency. While this remains a difficult task, the consortium has accepted this challenge and is committed to achieving this goal.

We Welcome You to Partner in Our Journey!

If you are a scientist, technologist, or an innovator, who believes in changing the world, then connect with us. If you are an investor or a passionate individual in any field, who wishes to see India take technology leadership, connect with us.

We invite you to become a part of our consortia and let us together think and create scalable and sustainable solutions for the most complex, toughest and impossible challenges and make our country a technology leader!

Write to us at

connect@itelfoundation.in