CARBONLITE CHRONICLES:
QUARTERLY UPDATE FROM THE ENERGY CONSORTIUM
JULY 2026
THE ROAD AHEAD
From the CEOs desk
We had a fantastic quarter that culminated with our 5th industry member convening during 25-27 Jun. It is fabulous to see energy consortium completing half a decade of its global industry-academia-government collaboration in driving the energy transition agenda. We are highly to grateful to our torchbearers, the founding and core industry members as well as the committed affiliated faculty and research teams, who have been steadfastly advancing the state-of-the-art.
The annual industry gathering has traditionally focused on taking annual stock of the research direction and initiatives to be pursued collectively during the ensuing year. This year we had two research projects demonstrating their accomplishments and progress in reaching TRL 5. Prof Vinu is nearing commissioning of his pilot scale hydrothermal liquefaction based demonstration rig for continuous conversion of waste (bioresidues as well as polymeric) into fuels and chemicals. This scale up effort was supported by the energy consortium as part of its TRENDSETTER grant last year and has come to life at IIT Madrasā discovery campus allowing our industry members to witness technology at scale.
The convening also witnessed the announcement of the 2026 TRENDSETTER cycle grant award winners by the industry advisory board – 15 faculty who would be working on 10 distinct projects covering focus areas such as biomass valorization, sustainable energy and resources, digitalization and CO2 capture.
The Annual Report 2025-2026 of The Energy Consortium is now available and you can read more about our year from this link: Annual Report 2025-2026Ā
5th Industry Convening
TRENDSETTER grant award
Every year, The Energy Consortium ā IIT Madras recognizes research with the potential to shape the future of energy through the TRENDsetter Grant Awards. These awards celebrate exploratory, industry-aligned research that can be developed into scalable energy-transition solutions.
This year’s focus areas included:
š¹ Biomass & Plastics: Valorization & Derivative Chemicals
š¹ Sustainable Energy & Resources
š¹ Digitalization & AI
š¹ COā Capture Technologies
We are delighted to congratulate the 15 faculty members who received the TRENDsetter Grant Award 2026.
What makes this recognition truly special is that the winning projects are evaluated and selected by our Industry Advisory Board, ensuring that each award carries not only academic excellence but also a strong industry alignment.
Congratulations to all the awardees for driving research that has the potential to power a more sustainable tomorrow. We look forward to seeing these ideas evolve into impactful, real-world innovations.
Unveiling of Path to Decarb Special Issue II
The Energy Consortium – IIT Madras Annual Industry Convening once again brought together our founding and core industry members, faculty, researchers, and innovators to strengthen one common goalāaccelerating the energy transition through meaningful collaboration.
More than just an annual gathering, this event serves as a platform to align expectations, showcase the cutting-edge research taking shape across IIT Madras, and provide industry partners with updates on the progress of the projects.
We were honoured to have Prof Preeti Aghalayam , Dean – Office of Global Engagement, IIT Madras and Anil PN , SVP & Head, Infosys Chennai as the Chief Guest for this year’s event.
On this occassion, we unveiled our Path to Decarbonisation Special Issue II and The Energy Consortium Annual Report 2025-26.
A heartfelt thank you to all our partners, faculty members, researchers, and students for making this year’s Industry Convening a success. Together, we are building the technologies that will power a sustainable tomorrow.
What's Next
Whatās next in energy research? Our brilliant PhD scholars gave us a glimpse.
Wattās Next! a fast-paced research showcase held during Industry Convening 2026 at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, saw our selected PhD scholars present their work to an audience of industry leaders, faculty, and peers. They were chosen from a highly competitive set of applications to present 6-minute lightning talks – each one rooted in real-world impact and future-forward thinking.
š¤ The Finalists:
- Abhimanyu Singh Khichi: MEDASolv-12515: A High-Performance Blended Amine Solvent for Efficient COā Capture with Reduced Energy Demand
- Pugazhendhi R: Hydrogen-powered Microscale Combustor for Power Generation
- Lakshmi Narayana Manickavasagam: Seawater Energy Accumulator for Long duration energy storage applications
- Bhumana Teressa: Computational Modeling Framework for Electrified Chemical Processes
- Vijaya Lakshmi Thiagarajan: The Ocean Keeps Its Promise – Physics-guided AI for smarter marine energy farms
- Parvathy S Chandran: Predicting and understanding oxygen vacancy formation energy in metal-loaded ceria: A DFT-Machine Learning study
Jury Distinction Recognition
š First Place- Abhimanyu Singh Khichi
š¹ Second Place – Lakshmi Narayana Manickavasagam
Special thanks to our jury ā Janani Kannan Mittal (Technip Energies), Kartick Chandra Mondal (bp), Rama Venkatesan (Chevron) ā for their time, thoughtfulness, and insight.
Wattās Next! was not just a platform to present – it was a chance to connect and spark new conversations on where energy research is headed
Powering Conversations
Bridging the Innovation Gap: Scaling Core Engineering through Industrial Computing and Physics Based Models
Prof. Himanshu Goyal is a faculty in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Madras and an affiliated faculty of The Energy Consortium. Recently he was recognized with the Radha and PK Narayanan Early Career Chair Professorship. His research group develops modeling and simulation tools to explore the interplay between transport processes (heat, mass and momentum) and chemical reactions that are at the heart of clean energy and process intensification technologies. The Energy Consortium’s communications team sat down with Prof Himanshu to learn about his research focus and its applications.
Indiaās Strategic Roadmap to Net Zero: Navigating the CCUS Landscape
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) in India has recently unveiled the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS) roadmap, a critical strategic document designed to guide the nation toward its ambitious carbon emission intensity reduction goals that are part of the nationally determined contributions. This high level task force, chaired by Dr. Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR-NCL, Pune and featuring subject matter experts from across the country including affiliated faculty of The Energy Consortium, Professor Rajnish Kumar, was tasked with identifying the necessary research and development trajectory for the next five to ten years. In conversation with the Energy Consortium communications team Prof Rajnish shared details about the thinking behind the CCUS roadmap document.Ā
Advancing Global Energy Security through Indigenous Innovation: The Frontier of Sustainable Electrochemical Engineering
In the global pursuit of a net-zero future, the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy hinges on one critical bottleneck: energy storage. While laboratory breakthroughs are frequent, the path to commercial viability is often fraught with technical and supply-chain hurdles. Prof. Kothandaraman, recently recognized with the Annamalai & Santhi Rajendra Early Career Research Chair, is spearheading a paradigm shift in Indian energy research. His work focuses on translating fundamental electrochemistry into Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), prioritizing Indiaās strategic independence and the practical needs of the industrial sector.
News & Announcements
Awards/Recognition: MERCOM award for VRFB Research to Innovation
The Energy Consortium is delighted to announce that the Vanadium Redox Flow battery pilot scale facility for grid scale energy storage that has been established by affiliated faculty Prof Kothandaraman Ramanujam and research team from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in collaboration with high energy batteries (India) Ltd at Trichy has been recognized by Mercom India under the ‘Research To Innovation’ category at the Mercom Renewables Summit 2026.
This award category that was introduced for the first time this year recognizes the successful translation of research into innovation with the potential to make a lasting impact on the renewable energy industry. We are extremely grateful for Priyadarshini Sanjay and her team.
It was humbling for Nikhil Tambe and Shri Arunachalam, representing the entire project team, to receive the encouragement from Shri Pralhad Joshi, Hon’ble Union Minister, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.
Continuing Members: Chevron
We are delighted to announce the continuation of Chevron asĀ founding member of The Energy Consortium for another three years! Rama Venkatesan will be serving as the Industry Advisory Board member and will work closely with Faculty Head Satyanarayanan Seshadri and CEO Nikhil Tambe, CEO, Energy Consortium – IIT Madras .
The Energy Consortium thanks Hari Subramani for championing and guiding the efforts for the past three years.
New appointments
It is a pleasure to welcome Rama Venkatesan (Chevron), Surya Srinivas Chavali (Infosys), Janani Kannan Mittal (T.EN) to the Industry Advisory Board of The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras.
A technology leader at the forefront of energy transformation, Janani Mittal CEng MICheme currently heads Technology and R&D at Technip Energies India, where she is driving breakthrough decarbonisation solutions through innovation and collaborative research.
With over 17 years of experience across the oil & gas and energy sector, she brings deep expertise across the entire project lifecycleāfrom R&D and design to operations.
Surya Chavali is a seasoned energy and utilities industry leader with deep expertise in Transmission & Distribution (T&D) and a strong focus on enabling the energy transition.
With over 25 years of experience in Infosys, he plays a pivotal role in driving next-generation utility transformation programs, helping organizations modernize grids and adopt digital-first strategies.
With over two decades of experience in the energy sector, Rama brings deep expertise in R&D, technology development, innovation, and deployment, coupled with a strong focus on advancing sustainability across product systems.
Currently leading innovation initiatives at Chevron, he has consistently driven impactful solutions at the intersection of technology, business, and sustainability.
WORKSHOP
From Vision to Action: India Accelerates Green Hydrogen R&D
The 1st Annual Green Hydrogen R&D Conference was held on 11ā12 September 2025 in New Delhi, inaugurated by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Shri Pralhad Joshi. The event marked a major milestone in Indiaās National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) with the launch of a ā¹100 crore Call for Proposals to support hydrogen start-ups, offering up to ā¹5 crore per project in hydrogen production, storage, transport, and utilisation.
The Energy Consortium was an invited participant and Nikhil Tambe participated in the roundtable discussion on ‘Testing Infrastructure to Support Green Hydrogen R&D in Indiaā and presented our viewpoint that the infrastructure has to allow anyone to come in and do a plug-and-play operation. Otherwise, every new technology requires a fresh setup, which isnāt really conducive and is also not the best use of public or private money because we end up duplicating efforts. We have focused on TRL 5 to 7, using industry funding, and are more and more interested in doing duty cycle testing. Also, because of that, we can instrument, use physics-based models and now do a digital approach where we can build digital twins within the university and also open it up to whoever wants to use this.
At The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, we are excited to see how this R&D push will catalyse collaboration between academia, industry, and start-ups ā driving the next wave of clean energy innovation.
CLIMAFIX 2025: Indiaās Largest Climate Startup Summit
The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, in partnership with Energy Alternatives India (EAI) and TiE Chennai, successfully hosted CLIMAFIX 2025 on 11ā12 September at the IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai. The summit brought together over 400 climate startups, 150 investors, and 250 senior corporate professionals, providing a vibrant platform for collaboration and innovation in Indiaās climate ecosystem.
Over two days, participants explored key themes including bio-solutions, energy efficiency and AI, deep tech, and translational research. The program featured founder stories, expert insights, industry and investor perspectives, and curated startup pitches, highlighting real-world climate innovations. Special sessions introduced climate experts and showcased additional startups, ensuring broad visibility and networking opportunities.
CLIMAFIX 2025 reinforced its role as a catalyst for climate innovation, connecting startups, investors, and industry leaders to accelerate Indiaās sustainable transition.
Accelerating Green Hydrogen: The Energy Consortium-IIT Madras Hosts Key Workshop with Xynteo and Technip Energies
On June 25, Xynteoās Energy Leap and The Energy Consortium ā IIT Madras co-hosted a pivotal workshop, “Accelerating Green Hydrogen: Unlocking Indiaās Technological Prowess,” at IIT Madras. Exclusively sponsored by Technip Energies and Rely, this event united leaders from industry, government, academia, and startups to forge a clear path for Indiaās green hydrogen ecosystem.
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The keynote by Dr. Sujit Pillai (MNRE) underscored the urgent need to indigenise electrolyser manufacturing and strengthen domestic supply chains. Subsequent roundtables, featuring experts like Atul Verma, Bhaskar Bose, Anuradda Ganesh, and Santosh K Gurunath from industry, alongside startup founders Alok Kumar, Supriya Patwardhan, and Ajeet Babu Parasumanna, delved into critical challenges spanning scaling, commercialization, policy, funding gaps, and market access. The workshop concluded with a collaborative session, defining actionable steps to accelerate green hydrogen adoption.
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This successful initiative marks a significant evolution of our existing engagements with Xynteo and Technip Energies, establishing a unified platform for sustained collaboration and driving India’s green hydrogen journey forward.
Stakeholder roundtable on Green Ports: Pathways to Sustainable Maritime Infrastructure
Traditional port operations are often resource-intensive, contributing to emissions, inefficiencies, and ecological impact. In response, the concept of Green Ports has emergedāports designed to minimize environmental impact while enabling sustainable economic development.
The Energy Consortium, as outlined in its 2024 annual report, has made a conscious decision towards sustainable infrastructure development and essentially is looking at a broader set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) beyond just Clean and Affordable Energy (SDG7). A stakeholder dialogue on pathways to sustainable maritime infrastructure was organized on the sidelines of the industry day 2025 with the aim of fostering a shared understanding of current initiatives, to uncover key opportunities and challenges, and to catalyze cross-sectoral partnerships to accelerate Indiaās green port transition.
The roundtable jointly conducted with the Office of Alumni & Corporate Relations was presided over by Shri. T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, the Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Government of India, Shri Sunil Paliwal, IAS, Chairperson, Chennai Port Authority, Eske Bo Rosenberg, Consul General Denmark in India (Bangalore) and Head ā Trade and Innovation, and Prof Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean ā ACR, IIT Madras, highlighting its strategic relevance.
Expected outcomes
- Mapping of key challenges and enabling factors for green port development
- Identification of short- and medium-term opportunities for collaboration across stakeholders
- Launch of a dialogue series or working group hosted by IIT Madras on green maritime infrastructure
- A brief outcome document capturing key insights and proposed action points, shared with relevant ministries and port trusts
SPECIAL MENTION
The Energy Consortium-IIT Madras Faculty Drives Green Hydrogen Innovation in Key Indo-Danish Project
We’re pleased to announce a major achievement for The Energy Consortium- IIT Madras and our affiliated faculty! Prof. Shanti Swarup has been selected for a pivotal Green Hydrogen Research Project under the 2024 Indo-Danish bilateral research call. This initiative, part of the strategic Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark, aims to accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge hydrogen technologies.
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Out of 15 joint proposals, Prof. Swarup, in collaboration with Prof. Kaushik Das of DTU – Technical University of Denmark, will be a core part of the “Strategic Green Hydrogen Integration Towards Energy Transition and Localisation Demand to Deployment (SHIELD)” project. This significant effort is focused on converting renewable electricity into green fuels for clean transport and a decarbonized industry.
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This selection highlights our commitment to leading advanced energy research and our crucial role in fostering international collaboration for a sustainable future.
Wind Energy Research Gets a Boost: New Centre Focuses on Wind Power Innovation
The Energy Consortium – IIT Madras fosters collaboration across all energy-related disciplines. Our expertise spans carbon capture, renewable energy integration, green hydrogen production, next-generation energy storage, distributed energy management for microgrids etc.
The Jaisri and Venkat Rangan Wind Energy CoRE, led by Prof. Chandramouli Padmanabhan is poised to revolutionize wind energy. This new centre tackles the full spectrum of wind power, from rooftop turbines bringing clean energy to remote locations to large-scale offshore wind farms. The CoRE’s focus includes both onshore and offshore wind energy, to develop cutting-edge technologies that maximize energy generation and minimize environmental impact.
Wind energy is a critical sector in the global pursuit of net zero emissions. The Jaisri and Venkat Rangan Wind Energy CoRE is committed to developing innovative solutions that propel us towards a sustainable future.
As per the charter of the consortium, a fair portion of the industry membership funding is intended for exploratory and collaborative research that enables the Energy Consortium to become one of the key technology hubs. TheĀ TechnologyĀ ResearchĀ ENgineering andĀ Development setter (TRENDSetter)Ā program was established to identify areas aligned with the long-range research initiatives of the industry and to build capability within the consortium. In its 3rd year of grant awards the TRENDSetter continues to have the Track 2 that recognizes promising high potential novel ideas from early career research faculty, but we intend to fine tune the Track 1 grant so that our objective 1) will be to fund proposals that are directly related to the core activities of the energy consortium and 2) those involving development of larger-scale pilots, containerized or modularized for demonstration of scale-up technology. For 2025, a newer area in Alternate Fuels that can, similar to the Carbon Capture Container, attract follow-on funding from government agencies and industry partners is been considered.
Ā We are pleased to announce the following awardees for 2025
Track 1 ā Pilot Demonstrators:
Prof. Varunkumar S, Mechanical Engineering
Track 2 ā Early Career Faculty:
Prof. T. Palaniselvam, Chemistry
Prof. Sagar Sourav, Chemical Engineering
Prof. Richa Karmakar, Biotechnology
NEWS
National CCUS R&D Roadmap Launched to Advance Indiaās Net Zero Goals
Indiaās first National R&D Roadmap for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) has been launched by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), marking a significant milestone toward Net Zero 2070. Prof. Rajnish Kumar, Energy Consortium, IIT Madras-affiliated faculty and Head of the CCUS Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras, played a pivotal role as a member of the national task force that guided the roadmapās development.
The roadmap outlines a national strategy to scale CCUS across hard-to-abate sectors such as power, steel, and cement, with emphasis on technology pathways, translational research, infrastructure, and industrial deployment. It defines R&D priorities across capture, utilisation, conversion, and storage, while highlighting catalysis, materials science, and mission-driven research clusters.
Through faculty leadership and national Centres of Excellence, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, continues to shape Indiaās CCUS ecosystem, supporting the development of scalable solutions for a competitive, climate-resilient green economy aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047.
Advancing the Green Transition Through Indo-Danish Collaboration
With support from the Danish Energy Agency, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras is leading the DanishāIndian Green Energy Academy, in collaboration with Energy Cluster Denmark, Aprendio, and the Energy and Climate Academy, under Denmarkās Energy Export Initiatives programme. The initiative strengthens publicāprivate collaboration to accelerate clean energy adoption and market readiness in India.
The Green Energy Academy is designed to bridge critical gaps in innovation, capacity building, and deployment, making renewable energy solutions more accessible, scalable, and impactful. By connecting research, industry expertise, and skills development, the project aims to support Indiaās green transition while enabling knowledge exchange between Danish and Indian energy ecosystems.
The initiative directly contributes to SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), while reinforcing SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through international collaboration. It also highlights the growing strategic partnership between Denmark and India in accelerating renewable energy deployment, decarbonisation, and long-term sustainable development.
EC Researchers Chart a Roadmap for Scaling Green Hydrogen in India
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), have published a comprehensive study in the peer-reviewed journal Energy & Fuels (American Chemical Society), offering critical insights into scaling green hydrogen production in India.
Led by Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri, Head, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, the study evaluates the environmental and material impacts of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysers, highlighting lifecycle trade-offs, technology selection considerations, and a proposed tiered green hydrogen classification framework (PlatinumāBronze).
As India targets 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, the research offers evidence-based guidance for policymakers, industry, and investors shaping a resilient and scalable hydrogen ecosystem.
Ā Press release:Ā https://lnkd.in/gPs4x2-5Ā
Published in Energy & Fuels (ACS): https://lnkd.in/g52b2jvk
Celebrating Faculty Leadership and Research Excellence
The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, congratulates two of its affiliated faculty members on their appointment as Early Career Endowed Chairs, recognising their exceptional contributions to research, teaching, and innovation.
Ā Prof. Kothandaraman Ramanujam, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been appointed the Annamalai & Santhi Rajendran Early Career Endowed Chair, while Prof. Himanshu Goyal, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed the Radha & P. K. Narayanan Early Career Endowed Chair.
These prestigious appointments reflect the strong commitment of IIT Madras to academic excellence and high-impact research addressing national and global challenges. The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, congratulates both faculty members and looks forward to their continued leadership in advancing science, engineering, and sustainable innovation.
Strengthening Industry Collaboration: Shell and Baker Hughes Extend Strategic Partnership with The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras
The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras is delighted to announce that Shell India will continue as a founding member for the next three years. Vikrant Urade, Principal Researcher at Shell Technology Center Bangalore, will serve on the Industry Advisory Board, working closely with Faculty Head Satyanarayanan Seshadri and CEO Nikhil Tambe. As the Consortiumās first founding member, Shell has been pivotal in driving cutting-edge research and technology development through the Shell IIT Madras Center for Energy Research (SICER). We extend our thanks to Ajay Mehta and Amit Walia for their ongoing support.
The Energy Consortium ā IIT Madras had the pleasure of hosting Ian Derbyshire, Director of Research & Technology, Ashok Rodagi, Head ā Energy Tech Centre India, and Rahul Wagh, Sr. Engineering & Technology Manager, Innovation and Research from Baker Hughes. The discussions highlighted The Energy Consortium, IIT Madrasā progress, and explored multiple areas of ongoing joint interest. As a founding member, Baker Hughes has been instrumental in advancing research and technology development in the energy transition space. We are delighted to announce the continuation of Baker Hughes as a founding member for the next three years, with Rahul Wagh joining the Industry Advisory Board to work closely with Faculty Head Satyanarayanan Seshadri and CEO Nikhil Tambe.
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