MNRE, MoP Launch New Mission ‘MAHIR’ To Locally Develop New Energy Solutions

The Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) have jointly launched a National Mission to quickly identify emerging technologies in the power sector and develop them indigenously, at scale, for deployment within and outside India.

The National Mission has been named ‘Mission on Advanced and High-Impact Research (MAHIR)’. It aims to facilitate indigenous research, development, and demonstration of the latest and emerging technologies in the power sector. By identifying emerging technologies and taking them to the implementation stage, the Mission seeks to leverage them as the main fuel for future economic growth and thus make India a manufacturing hub of the world.

An official memorandum was issued today in this regard. A joint statement by the two ministries said that the Mission would be funded by pooling financial resources of the Power Ministry and MNRE and Central PSUs of the two ministries. Any additional funding needed will be mobilized from the Indian government’s budgetary resources. It has been planned for an initial period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28; the Mission will follow the technology life cycle approach of Idea to Product.

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To begin with, the following eight areas have been identified for research–alternatives to Lithium-ion storage batteries, modifying electric cookers/pans to suit Indian cooking methods, green hydrogen for mobility (High-Efficiency Fuel Cell), carbon capture, geothermal energy, solid-state refrigeration, nanotechnology for EV battery and indigenous CRGO technology.

The main objective of the Mission included identification of emerging technologies and areas of future relevance for the Global Power Sector and taking up indigenous end-to-end development of relevant technologies to provide a common platform for Power Sector Stakeholders for collective brainstorming, synergetic technology development and devise pathways for smooth transfer of technology, to support pilot projects of indigenous technologies (developed especially by Indian Start-ups) and facilitate their commercialization among others.

Union Minister for Power and MNRE said that the Mission would catalyze national priorities such as achieving Net Zero emissions and promoting initiatives like Make in India and Start-up India. He said that it would also contribute towards achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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“Given that India is going to grow at more than 7% in coming years, the electricity demand is going to increase at close to 10%. In addition, India is aiming for an energy transition. It requires massive investment and a transformational approach driven by research & innovation,” Singh said.

Power Secretary Alok Kumar said that MAHIR would work towards Industry-Academia -Government collaboration to create an ecosystem for innovation and translation of research in the power sector. “MAHIR will work with premier institutions such as IITs, IIMs, NITs, IISERs, and Universities on the one hand and public & private power sector start-ups and established industries with the government acting as an enabler for creating an innovation ecosystem,” the Power Secretary added.