Thiruvananthapuram: The Government of Kerala, through the Energy Management Centre (EMC) and Kerala Development and Innovation Strategy Council (KDISC), has entered into an MoU with Social Alpha through its Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC).
Set up in 2018 by Social Alpha, CEIIC is a joint initiative of Tata Trusts and the government of India, and is supported by the Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC, Tata Power and Tata Power-Delhi Distribution. The MoU underlines the joint commitment of EMC, KDISC and CEIIC to work together in the areas of innovative, clean energy technologies which integrate with the initiatives and programs of the government of Kerala. This collaboration will also facilitate the state of Kerala in curating innovative technologies for deployment through government initiatives for addressing the challenges in the power sector and energy access for all. The jointly set-up incubation centre will leverage the labs and infrastructure already set up by the collaborating agencies.
CEIIC will also bring with it a rich partner ecosystem and a network for experts. Tata Power, one of the key stakeholders and CEIIC, with a strong network of over a hundred national and international technology and institution partners, lab facilities and cadre of experts, will also lend support to this joint incubator for creating affordable and scalable solutions.
The initiative addresses the pressing need for solutions that leverage cutting-edge, disruptive clean energy technologies to accelerate progress toward net zero. The programme aligns with the goals of the Mission Innovation Platform and India’s commitment towards climate. Climate Change is one of the biggest challenges facing our world today, spurring the call for global collaborations to tackle the crisis. The collaboration under this initiative reiterates the commitment of state government, Social Alpha and the Tata Power to work towards sustainability and climate.
Speaking of the collaboration, Manoj Kumar, founder and CEO, Social Alpha, said, “To address the climate crisis and get to net-zero, we must support innovations and entrepreneurs who are working on breakthrough, scalable climate solutions. Transition to renewables and building efficient and smart solutions and systems for generation, distribution, storage and consumption of energy are extremely critical to solving the climate challenge. For a country like India, renewable integration has to go hand-in-hand with achieving access to energy for all, along with the decarbonisation of the industries and of the power sector, for moving towards the goal of net-zero. Incubators like the one that we are setting up with the government of Kerala can be instrumental in catalysing early-stage innovation for driving this agenda at an accelerated pace.”
Congratulating the three organisations for taking initiatives under the Climate Change and Mission Innovation Programs of the government of India, Dr Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power, said, "We are glad to partner with the government of Kerala through CEIIC and are confident that this collaboration will create a testbed for new age implementable technologies in the energy space and boost start-up culture in the state. This association will power our #DoGreen mission of leading green innovations and will also significantly contribute towards India's clean energy ecosystem and net zero commitments."
The MoU was signed in presence of K Krishnankutty, minister for electricity, government of Kerala; Dr V P Joy, IAS, chief secretary; Dr K M Abraham, IAS (Retd), chief principal secretary to the CM; Dr B. Ashok, IAS, CMD, KSEBL, Dr P V Unnikrishnan, member secretary K-DISC; V C Anil Kumar, chief electrical inspector, government of Kerala, Dr R. Harikumar, director, EMC; Dr Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power; Dr. G Ganesh Das, CEO, Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC); Mr Jakob Poulose, director and principal, Social Alpha.
