IIT-Kanpur starts facility for enhanced power research

Envisioned to bolster enhanced research in power, a Real Time Digital Simulation Facility at the Electrical Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) has started functioning. The facility inaugurated yesterday is expected to give students the opportunity for hi-tech research into practical power and control systems, project coordinator Prof. S.C. Shrivastava said.

Solar and wind power plants in remote areas are connected to a power grid with the help of a controller and an experiment on how much energy it receives cannot be conducted there, he said, adding that the simulator would help testing its performance in laboratory conditions which would then be applied in real-time.

The simulator, which been bought from a Canada-based technology firm, would also facilitate new planning initiatives with power utilities, he said. A five year long project, an amount of Rs. 7.6 crores (Rs. 76 million) has been provided by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for it, he added.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), July 23, 2011