CHENNAI: India can play an important role in developing low-cost renewable energy technologies, says Saffa Riffat, co-ordinator, RENET, the Network for Renewable Energy Research for the Built Environment and Technology Transfer between the European Union and India.

Speaking on the sidelines of a RENET workshop at Indian Institute of Technology on Wednesday, Mr. Riffat said India lagged far behind China owing to lack of serious investment. But India's lower wages and cost-effective research could help to develop more economical methods of using renewable energy for the developing world.

In his inaugural address, A.E. Muthunayagam, chairman, IIT Madras Board, called on Indian and European scientists to network their technical expertise to turn the challenges of renewable energy into opportunities.

As a case in point, he cited the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion scheme he had helped to start at the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

It is aimed at developing a reliable, economical and eco-friendly system that uses the solar energy stored in the ocean's surface to generate electric energy and operate an offshore desalination system.

M.S. Ananth, director, IIT Madras, said solar and wind energy solutions were not enough; India would have to start using nuclear energy, despite social reservations.

About 180 people are attending the two-day workshop, and almost 40 per cent of them come from industries. RENET has five partner institutes, one each from the United Kingdom and Portugal, besides IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IISc.

In the second phase next year, it hopes to include at least four more from India, as well as several Chinese and European institutes.

It plans to offer joint programs for research and training, besides possible student exchange programmes.

An MS degree in Renewable Energy and Building Applications, which would offer one-and-a-half years of study in an Indian institute and six months in a partner institute in Europe or China, is on the cards, Mr. Riffat said.

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