PCCE TECHYON 2021 INAUGURATION
The ISHRAE students chapter of PCCE held its annual technical event TAPAS 2021 this year on 16th and 17th of July 2021. Going by the need for sustainable development and the current energy crisis, TAPAS 2021 was focused at inculcating the knowledge of Renewable technology among aspiring engineering and diploma students. The theme for this year was “Renewables: the future energy of India”. A series of lectures were organized by eminent industry professionals and academia.
LECTURE 1: SOLAR : A LEADER IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Speakers: Mr Narayan Shanbhag and Mr Sanket Pai Angle
Founders, JN Solar Power LLP, Goa
The first lecture was held during the ‘TAPAS 2021 Lecture Series’ on 16th July 2021, at 11:00 am and was titled ‘Make Hay While The Sun Shines’. With its eminent speakers. At the beginning of the session Mr Sanket briefed the participants about the basic need of renewable sources of energy in today’s world, and what role does solar energy play between them. This was followed by a short presentation on Solar Panel, where he discussed various topics such as Photovoltaic effect, what are the types of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems, what are ON & OFF grid solar PV, Hybrid solar PV system.
Later, Mr Narayan Shanbhag presented on solar water heaters and emphasised on the types of collectors. He then discussed the importance of solar power generation in Goa and which areas are more likely to have tremendous benefits from them. And then briefed on their own company and what they had accomplished.
LECTURE 2: WIND ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA
Speaker: Mr Sumukh Kamat
Anemos Energies Pvt Ltd, Goa
This session kickstarted at 2:30 pm on 16th July 2021 by Mr. Sumukh Kamat who has worked in companies like Unilever, Siemens Healtineer etc and also been a General Manager of design and innovation at Kineco Composite for 17+ years. And currently working at Anemos Energies Pvt Ltd.
Mr Sumukh Kamat’s presentation was focused on Wind Energy Opportunities in India and a glimpse at Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). In this topic he discussed on how India is growing towards the production of renewable energy by displaying the statistical data of power production by wind energy in India. He also discussed Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) and Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, explaining the one suits best based on the location and climatic condition. And lastly while ending the presentation he briefed on a major project on VAWT under construction by his company. And concluded by recommending a movie based on true story ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ of William Kamkwamba.
LECTURE 3: BIOFUELS TO BIOENERGY
Speaker: Dr. Luv Kumar Kaushik
Post-Doctoral Scholar, IIT Guwahati
The third lecture was held on 16th July 2021, at 4:30pm. The speaker of the lecture was Dr.Lav Kumar Kaushik. The purpose of “Biofuels to Bioenergy” was to make students aware about the importance of biofuels used as an alternate or supplemental fuels for internal combustion engines.
The seminar started by the speaker, Dr. Lav Kumar Kaushik by talking dynamically about the Bioenergy and how it has been used. In the presentation the major topics covered were; Biomass to Bioenergy, Advantages and Disadvantages of biomass energy, Comparison with Fossil fuels, Bioenergy crops, Agricultural and forestry residues, Direct Combustion, Biological gasification(aerobic and anaerobic digestion), Electricity from Biomass, Energy Return Over Energy Invested(EROEI), Different types of Biofuels and so on. A lot of information was covered while talking about Biofuels and Bioenergy.
LECTURE 4: OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION POWERED DESALINATION PLANT
Speaker: Mr. Anand Mani
Project scientist, National institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai
The speaker for the final lecture was Mr. Anand Mani. It was held on 17th July 2021, at 11:00 am with a motive to make students aware about the use of ‘ocean thermal energy’ as an alternate source of energy for producing electricity instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear energy.
Mr Anand Mani, presently working as a project scientist at National institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai. The speaker started his lecture by explaining the process and functioning of the OTEC power plant, he also presented and explained various cycles. He explained the process of desalination with the help of illustration and spoke about the merits and demerits of OTEC. He stressed that OTEC power plant is beneficial to deal with the low boiling point fluid, which could be dangerous if it escaped into the environment. Moving on to the criticism he informed that the pressurized chamber needs to have zero leaks in order for the chamber to be able to evaporate the water, so it takes a lot of maintenance. Overall it was an amazing lecture by Mr. Anand Mani wherein he enlightened the young mind with lot of information which they were not aware about.
The lecture series concluded with the vote of thanks by Prof. Mohnish Borker. In the end there was assessment quiz related to the individual lecture and was shared with the attendees. There were a number of responses with positive feedback from the participants.
