Low-Carbon Energy Partnerships

IIT Madras and Coal India Limited (CIL) have launched the Centre for Sustainable Energy to advance research, innovation, and technology development aimed at supporting India’s net‑zero transition and long‑term energy security. The centre will combine IIT Madras’s academic capabilities and CIL’s industrial scale to address technically feasible, economically viable, and environmentally responsible pathways for the use of India’s energy resources, with an initial focus on areas such as sustainable materials and circular economy, mine repurposing and fleet electrification, environmental remediation and pollution control, and materials for energy storage from coal.

Planned early projects include development of sustainable polymer composites using coal additives, recovery of valuable materials from solar panel and battery recycling, electrification of mining vehicles and equipment, feasibility studies for converting mined sites to data centres, exploration of energy storage in mined‑out zones, and investigations into micro modular nuclear reactors and coal‑derived advanced materials for electrodes and membranes. The centre will be led by faculty from IIT Madras and seeks to leverage CIL assets such as land and spent mines to pilot deployment pathways while emphasising socioeconomic considerations and scalability across India’s energy system.

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