Need for research towards social needs

India with second largest Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) membership next only to the USA needs to address societal contributions in the area of power sector, Saifur Rahman President, IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and Director, Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, USA, said on Friday.

Delivering his key note address at the inaugural session of the 20th National Power Systems Conference NPSC -2018 at National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi, he advocated strong industry-institute interaction through creation of platforms for researchers and engineers from academia, industry and utility to exchange their ideas and experience and present solutions for present and future problems.

In his presentation on ‘A smart city and its attributes,’ he dwelt on the importance of the smart grid in the present power sector. The theme of the three-day event being organised for the first time in NIT-T was ‘Towards a Sustainable Energy Future through Efficient, Smart and Green Technologies.’

NIT-T Director Mini Shaji Thomas spoke about the need to orient research towards social needs, and the need to bind industries and institutes while K.V.S.Baba, Chairman and Managing Director, Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) shared his views on energy conservation and environmental management.

According to the organisers, the conference envisages bringing out new perceptions in the realm of state of art in power engineering for a sustainable energy future factoring in environmental issues and identifying directions for the continuation of research.

Academic excellence Award-NPSC 2018 was given to Bhim Singh, Professor, IIT Delhi, and Industry Excellence Award-NPSC 2018 was given to K.Rajamani, Chief Consultant, M/s. Adani Electricity, Mumbai, Ltd, while Malaviya Excellence Award in Power System-2018 was given to S.C. Srivastava, Professor, IIT Kanpur.

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