Centre of Excellence for Energy Transition to be set up in Visakhapatnam

The State Government has approved a proposal submitted by the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) for a Centre of Excellence for Energy Transition (CoEET), which will be set up in Visakhapatnam.

The CoEET will be set up as a society under the Societies Registration Act, under the control of APEDCL. The stakeholders of the facility include the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Visakhapatnam, Andhra University, the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), and the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

The CoEET will operate from an energy-sufficient building, located on Sagar Nagar beach, on the Visakhapatnam-Bheemili Beach Road. In a stakeholder meeting held on July 5, plans to convert the building into a CoEET were approved. The future costs for the CoEET will be distributed among the DISCOMS, APTRANSCO, and APGENCO.

Some of the facilities proposed include a digital twin and smart grid stimulation setup, training classrooms, an R&D workspace, seminar halls, an innovation lab, and a startup incubation bay. The funds required for this will be generated from various channels, including industry CSR funds, internal allocation from the APEPDCL, grants from Central government agencies, donor partnerships, and power utilities in the State.

A team to manage the CoEET will be established, comprising deputising officers from the power utilities as required. Additionally, sector experts and basic workforce on fixed-term contracts will be recruited.

Speaking about the objectives, Chairman and Managing Director of APEPDCL mentioned that CoEET will facilitate research and innovation in energy transition technologies, promote entrepreneurship, improve collaboration between industry, government and civil society, encourage skill development and capacity building programmes focusing on industry needs, support policy making through data-driven insights and pilot programmes, and facilitate research and innovation in energy transition technologies. 

The Centre of Excellence for Energy Transition (CoEET) proposed in Visakhapatnam is similar to the one in Hyderabad, which is being developed at TERI’s Institute of Energy Transition on its campus.

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