Students of Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) can play a key role in developing clean energy sources, said Hemalatha Annamalai, founder and vice-chair of Green Collar Agritech Solutions Pvt. Ltd and former CEO of Ampere Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.
Delivering the convocation address at the 2nd Convocation of IIPE at VMRDA Children’s Arena on Wednesday, Ms. Hemalatha said that many people across the world still do not have access to electricity, and almost three billion people still cook with polluting fuels such as kerosene, wood, charcoal and dung.
“Without electricity, there would be no sewing machines or rice mills or pumps for irrigating crops. Businesses would not be able to function at night and it would be nearly impossible to attract companies which could provide jobs and opportunities to young people. Energy poverty would mean that poor people were the least likely to have access to power and they would continue to remain poor if they stay unconnected,” Ms. Hemalatha said.
She said that countries like Denmark and Ireland were using a sophisticated system of transmission lines, micro-weather forecasting and advanced grid management systems to integrate solar and wind energy into the grid. Big breakthroughs were coming in the form of energy storage and new battery storage technology could see the world moving more rapidly to renewable energy.
She hoped that the global community would focus on inclusion of energy poverty as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
President of the Board of Governors of IIPE Paritosh K. Banik called upon the faculty and the student community to take the institute to greater heights by focusing on state-of-the-art research for the benefit of society and industry in the domain of all renewable and non-renewable energy sectors. He opined that a research ecosystem should be created in IIPE to make it a leader in solving problems in the energy sector.
87 students receive degrees
IIPE Director Shalivahan said that 87 students (42 from Chemical Engineering and 45 from Petroleum Engineering) have graduated in 2021-22. A total of 74 students had registered for the institute’s placement drive and 73 were selected, including 19 in PSU s. In all, 75% students got placements in the core sectors while 25% got placed in Data Analytics and other sectors.
Kumari Agrani (B. Tech Petroleum) won the IIPE President’s Gold Medal ad also the Institute’s Gold Medal. Chidurala Hruthik (B. Tech Chemical) also won the Institute’s Gold Medal. Avik Roy (B. Tech Chemical) and Priyanshu Agarwal (B. Tech Petroleum) bagged the SBI Silver Medal.
