Establishing Center of Excellence will help procure efficient alternate energy sources, says Pradhan

The establishment of a Center of Excellence in Oil, Gas, and Energy (CoE) will help procure efficient alternative sources of energy, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

The Union Minister was present at the signing of a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Oil PSUs for a CoE aimed at collaborating research and exploring new frontiers of technology to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency in the energy sector.

Giving an insight about the benefit of the MoU, Pradhan claimed, "Identifying missing links to address requirements of our energy industry is the key to a secured energy future. This MoU will help leverage our energy industry into a new age by exploring efficient, cost-effective and indigenous methods to procure new and alternate sources of energy."

Pradhan further said new innovations with help from academia and rapid evolution in technology have led to a major shift in the geopolitical balance of energy from one part of the globe to another.

"With changing nature of jobs as old jobs are becoming obsolete, new job roles are replacing the existing work profiles. We are on the verge of Industrial Revolution 4.0 bringing Block Chain, Big Data Analytics into play. Industrial Revolution 5.0 may allow us customised manufacturing capabilities," he added.

The Union Minister said the aim was to develop a mechanism to link up energy industry and academics and utilise the innovative prowess of academia to help address India's energy requirements with new and innovative, indigenous technology.