From certification courses, joint research, and technical consultation projects, the collaboration will include everything for strengthening the energy infrastructure of Tanzania.
Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), in collaboration with GRID-INDIA, a Central Public Sector Enterprise, is starting a special teaching and research programme for the students of Tanzania, an East African country.
From certification courses, joint research, and technical consultation projects, the collaboration will include everything for strengthening its infrastructure of energy.
With an active presence in Africa through IITM Zanzibar, the institute is committed to building global partnerships for sustainable energy. Expanding horizons, this partnership creates new opportunities for cross-border knowledge exchange, applied research, and commercialisation of clean energy technologies.
The GRID-INDIA, a Miniratna company under the Union Ministry of Power, is the national system operator responsible for the reliable and secure management of India’s electricity grid.
The effort at IIT Madras will be led through the Energy Consortium, an industry-academia collaborative centre of excellence focused on clean energy.
The MoU was signed on May 22 by Prof. Manu Santhanam, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, and Shri Surajit Banerjee, Executive Director (HR), GRID-INDIA, at the IIT Madras campus.
Highlighting the key aspects of this collaboration, Prof Santhanam said, “IIT Madras Zanzibar was conceived to extend our academic and research excellence to international geographies, with a focus on regional relevance. Our collaboration with GRID-INDIA allows us to leverage decades of experience in power systems research and industry engagement in India to deliver targeted capacity-building and applied technology programmes for East Africa.”
Emphasising the significance of the MoU, Paresh R. Ranpara, Director (HR), GRID-INDIA, said, “GRID-INDIA is looking forward to this collaboration with IIT Madras to catalyse and promote capacity building in the power sector for Tanzanian and other East African professionals, with the Zanzibar campus as a focal point. This partnership demonstrates the shared vision of GRID-INDIA and IIT Madras Zanzibar for supporting resilient, future-ready energy systems across the globe.”
This project encompasses strengthening the technical capabilities of Tanzanian power sector officials through:
Certification programmes aim to provide foundational knowledge for professionals in areas such as power systems, renewable energy, and energy management.
Specialised Certification Programmes with hands-on training on topics such as power system protection and case studies
Joint research programmes in areas such as microgrids, data analytics and AI
Consultation Projects to provide practical solutions and insights to address the evolving challenges in the Tanzanian power sector
Principal Investigator of the project Prof. Shanti Swarup, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, and an affiliated faculty of The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, said, “The Grid India – IIT Madras Zanzibar Collaboration would establish and strengthen the ties between industry and academia in providing ‘state-of-the-art’ lectures to the participants in enriching their knowledge about developments in power engineering for operation and planning of the futuristic power grid.”
Dr Nikhil Tambe, CEO of The Energy Consortium and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering at IIT Madras, added, “The Energy Consortium announced its first chapter to be located at the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus in September 2024 and are now looking forward to this partnership with GRIDINDIA for Tanzania and broadly the East Africa region.”