(Photo: CERC, IIT Delhi, Grid-India Sign MoU)

New Delhi: The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), IIT Delhi, and Grid Controller of India (Grid-India) have signed an MoU to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) at IIT Delhi that will work in the area of power sector regulation, policies, power markets, and grid operations. The CoE will act as a knowledge hub from which the regulatory commissions, power system operators, utilities, and other organisations can draw expertise to meet their specific job requirements.

The MoU was signed by Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi; Sh. Harpreet Singh Pruthi, Secretary, CERC; and Sh. Paresh R. Ranpara, Director (Human Resources), Grid-India.

The CoE aims to create knowledge and enhance informed decision-making in the formulation of effective regulation through collaborative research and analysis. The CoE would aim at bridging the gap between industry and academia to find indigenous solutions to address current and emerging challenges in power system operation. The CoE would also act as a conduit for creating academic programs, resulting in good lawmaking and better regulatory techniques.

Speaking about the MoU, Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said, “We are excited about the new Centre of Excellence in Power Sector Regulation. We look forward to working together with Grid-India and CERC to provide research and policy inputs to transform our power sector.”  

Shri Jishnu Barua, Chairman, CERC, said, “The Centre is expected to play a pivotal role in enhancing expertise of human resources for the sector and is likely to serve as a bridge between academia and the practitioners.”

Shri Samir Chandra Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director, Grid-India, said, “Grid-India looks forward to this collaboration. This initiative marks a significant step towards advancing regulatory capacity in the power sector, fostering research, innovation, and informed policymaking and regulatory research for a more resilient and future-ready power sector ecosystem.”

There are five main verticals of functionality of the CoE. These are:

1- Carry out academic, technical, and policy research by identifying gaps and challenges in the current energy

    transition period in India, including regulations, markets, and grid operations.

2- Carrying out system studies for making informed decisions about grid practices and associated regulations.

3- Training, skill development, and capacity development activities for creating a pool of specialized workforce and

    existing manpower of the regulators, system operators, and other stakeholders. This would also include

    short-term training in quantitative techniques, tariff models, modeling and forecasting techniques,

    electricity markets, etc.

4- Creation of a knowledge hub and information base necessary to meet the current needs and future regulatory,

     operational, and strategic challenges.

5- Act as a conduit for offerings of academic programmes at IIT Delhi.

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