RNS I Jamshedpur: Secretary DSIR and Director General of CSIR, Dr S C Mande inaugurated the Rooftop Solar Power System that has recently been installed in CSIR-NML. He was on a visit to CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur on Tuesday.
As part of the Government of India’s plans to strengthen the renewable energy sector, CSIR-NML has installed the 493kWp capacity On-Grid rooftop solar power plant upon various building roofs in the Jamshedpur office. This power project aimed at catering to the internal power utility needs of CSIR- NML, who is actively involved in R&D activities through pyro-metallurgy route along with the processing of various material and metallurgical operations, informed an NML Public Relations Official.
Udaya Bhaskara Rao, Senior Scientist, NML looked after a plant project activity that this plant would be capable of generating an average of 1400kWh units on daily basis and can be charged throughout the year with an expected lifetime of 25 years, he said.
Being an on-grid rooftop solar power plant in nature, the requirement of batteries for energy storage is excluded and this plant can be hooked up to charge the local utility grid during the lean demand load period from consumers, said the official.
Parvesh Kumar Dhawan, Head Engineering said that we have installed this plant in a step towards green energy initiative and CSIR-NML with this installation along with the scientific expertise, has set up an example for creating awareness towards usage of green energy.
Dr Mande also visited the Urban Recycling Centre of CSIR-NML which was inaugurated by him earlier as a center of excellence in the area of e-waste recycling.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Mande highlighted “CSIR, through its 38 laboratories and expertise in diverse areas ranging from aerospace to buildings to genomics to chemicals, quickly sprang into action developing COVID-19 interventions that have recently published on “CSIR Technologies for COVID-19 Mitigation.”
“For effective planning and strategizing, CSIR swiftly set up five COVID-19 verticals including disease surveillance, drugs & vaccines, testing & diagnostics, PPEs and supply chain management.”
The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting-edge R&D knowledgebase in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organization. CSIR is ranked at 84th among 4851 institutions worldwide and is the only Indian organization among the top 100 global institutions, according to the Scimago Institutions Ranking World Report 2014.
CSIR holds the 17th rank in Asia in S&T institution category and leads the country at the first position. CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML), established in 1950 at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, is one of the constituent laboratories carrying out R&D and technology development in the areas of Minerals, Metals, Materials and Metallurgy.
Dr Mande is a molecular biophysicist and did his research on Proteins Structure and Function and Computational Biology. He obtained a Ph. D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in the year 1991 and had a post-doctoral stint in the Netherlands. In 1992, he joined the University of Washington, Seatle, USA as a Senior Fellow. He worked with distinguished research laboratories of India as an eminent Scientist and joined CSIR (and DSIR) in October 2018.
Dr. Mande met young scientists of NML to understand and discuss NML’s initiatives for self-reliant India. For the past few years, NML has been working on various collaborative projects with Tata Steel, RDCIS (Ranchi) and other organizations in the areas of mineral beneficiation and development of special steels for the automobile and rail industry. Extensive research work is going on at NML and technology transfer has taken place for making India self-reliant in lithium-ion battery manufacturing. India occupies 5th position in terms of rare earth reserves. So, the extraction of rare earths especially from secondary resources like industrial waste has a good potential to make India self-reliant.
NML’s on-going researches in these areas were demonstrated through a presentation by a few young scientists of NML which drew appreciation from DG, CSIR and his team.
In his address to the scientists and technical officers of NML, Dr. Mande appreciated CSIR’s effort in responding to the challenges imposed by the pandemic. He said that many CSIR laboratories came forward together to find feasible solutions to the challenges. As per his statement, CSIR started to work with other departments and ministries of the Government of India for effective solutions. He urged all to remain connected with all stakeholders through regular meetings to keep the momentum going. He said unlike S&T organizations (ISRO, DRDO) and academic institutions (IITs, IIMs) CSIR has a hybrid model of individual and institutional excellence to address the larger needs of the society. He expressed his dream to see NML as a globally known institute and CSIR as a globally recognized organization and concluded his speech by encouraging ideas to achieve this objective.
Dr. Mande was accompanied by Dr. Vibha Malhotra Sawhney, Head, Innovation Protection Unit (IPU), CSIR and Dr Sharmila Mande who is Chief Scientist and Head of Bio-Sciences R&D, TCS Research, Tata Consultancy Services, India.
Dr Sharmila Mande interacted with women scientists of CSIR-NML and visited various facilities and archives of CSIR-NML. Due to restrictions of the current Covid situation, all mandatory public health measures were taken and attendance to programs was only through invitation.
