Establishment of Centre of Excellence in Solar Thermal Energy Storage

1. Establishment of Centre of Excellence in Solar Thermal Energy Storage under FAST scheme of MHRD at TERI University, New Delhi

2. Objectives • To establish a centre of excellence (CoE) in solar thermal energy storage (STES) to • act as a capacity building mechanism with special emphasis on advanced research, training and education in STES • conduct advanced research and training at the masters, doctoral and post-doctoral levels. • conduct collaborative research with existing research institutes within and outside India. • organize seminars, symposia, workshops, conferences as well as short term training programmes including summer schools and winter schools. • produce outstanding faculty members for various institutes across the country.

3. Activities completed A. CoE infrastructure development • Following equipment have been received at TU as part of the CoE facility for testing and characterization of PCMs and Sensible heat storage materials: • Thermal Conductivity Meter (TCM) • Thermo-Gravimetric Analyser(TGA) • Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) • Environmental Chamber –Auxiliary Equipment • This facility will intensify the capacity building and research collaboration with academic/industrial organizations • The facility will help in revenue generation and thereby make the CoE sustainable TCM TCM data Environmental Chamber DSC

4. B. Collaborations • An MoU has been signed with M/s. PLUSS Polymers , Gurgaon to conduct collaborative research in development of PCMs for medium and low temperature applications • Collaborative project with SWATHI Sun Source Power , Anantpur, on development of high temperature storage application has been initiated • TESSOL, CRISTOPIA , ECOZEN, PROMETHEAN are the industrial research and development partners identified. • Possibility of collaborative project with Centre of Energy Studies , IIT Delhi is being explored

5. C. Research (Contd..) • Basic solar air dryer with thermal energy storage has been designed - to continue the drying process of agricultural products during low radiation or at no-sunshine condition. • Financial analysis (for grapes) suggests that the cost of the integrated system is Rs. 52,000 with 1.25 years of Payback Period. Dynamic analysis and prototype building under progress. • System designed shows that a collector area of 3.96 m2 and 94 kg of Phase Change Material (PCM with 200 kJ/kg) is required to maintain 50oC for 16 hours overnight

6. C. Research • PCM based solar refrigerator for storing vaccine at remote location with intermittent/no grid supply is also being experimented. • Other research interest includes: • Solar PV performance enhancement by thermal management using PCM • Development of PCMs for cold chain for fruits and – stationary and mobile application Performance simulation of DC powered PHOCOS 80W, 150 L refrigerator under load conditions

7. D. Monitoring, Outreach and capacity building • Steering committee members of the project: • Dr. Ashvini Kumar, MD, SECI • Dr. DharamBuddhi, Prof. & VC, SGV University, Jaipur • Dr. P. K. Vijayan, Head, Reactor Engineering Div., BARC • Organized workshops on “Innovations in Solar Thermal Energy Storage and its future Prospects” at TERI University on 23rd April, 2015 • Outreach activities: • Lecture on ‘Renewable Energy for Cold Chain’ with focus on use of PCMs at NIFTEM, Sonepat • Lecture on thermal energy storage system at NPTI, Faridabad • Lecture on thermal energy storage at the ITEC, New Delhi event held in Feb 2016. • 6 Nos. M.Tech and one Ph.D students have been given training/orientation on Solar Thermal Energy Storage systems and lab facilities

8. Financial Status

9. Project plan for next six months

10. Acknowledgement Thanks are due to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), GoI, for support and constant encouragement for establishment of Centre of Excellence in Solar Thermal Energy Storage under FAST scheme. Thank you