New Delhil:- The Union Cabinet today gave the nod for India becoming a member country of International Energy Agency – Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES), a move that will give access to advanced R&D teams and technologies across the world and help tap ocean renewable energy resources.
As per the decision of the meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the nodal agency for the membership by signing the Implementing Agreement (IA) would be Earth System Science Organisation – National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
This initiative will help in advance research, development and demonstration of technologies to harness energy from all forms of ocean renewable resources, as well as for other uses, such as desalination through “international cooperation and information exchange”.
By becoming a member of IEA-OES, India will have access to advanced R&D teams and technologies across the world. India will partner in developing test protocols along with other countries, an official statement said.
This will help in testing Indian prototypes as per international requirements and norms. Joint cooperative programmes with institutes of member-countries could be taken up. India’s own research projects with specific targets can be taken up in conjunction with other countries.
The long coastline of India and severe power deficit in the country warrant the study of ocean renewable energies. In the Indian context, designing of scaled-up ocean energy devices (including wave, currents and tidal) and their techno- commercial viability needs to be undertaken.
Tropical countries have high sea surface temperatures and hence Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a good option for countries like India.
NIOT, an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is working in the area of ocean energy and desalination.
The IEA is an inter-governmental organization with a broad role of promoting alternative energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy policies and multinational energy technology co operation and acts as energy policy advisor to 29 member-countries.
The OES, launched in 2001, is an intergovernmental collaboration between countries, which operates under framework established by the International Energy Agency.
PTI
