Indus Towers in partnership with IIT Madras launches green hydrogen and BMS R&D labs

Indus Towers, one of the leading telecom towers companies in the world in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) launched R&D labs for green hydrogen and battery management system (BMS) at the IIT Madras campus last week.

The R&D labs were inaugurated by Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief Regulatory Officer and CSR, Indus Towers in the presence of Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Dean, Global Engagement, Prof. R. Sarathi, Dean Planning, IIT Madras, among other faculty and students. The project has been executed as part of Indus Towers' CSR engagement program, 'Pragati'.

"Indus Towers' Corporate Social Responsibility is focused on maximizing the ratio of renewable energy mix over fossil fuels. We are committed to supporting R&D towards newer sources of energy under our Flagship CSR Program – Pragati," said Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief Regulatory Officer and CSR at Indus Towers.

The green hydrogen microgrid generates hydrogen from a solar-powered hydrogen generation system utilizing fuel cells to power the load while the Battery Engineering Lab develops BMS --  critical for ensuring the safety and performance of batteries in diverse applications, more significantly in EVs under stressed conditions.

The green hydrogen microgrid is expected to power the Chemical Engineering Lab building's common areas on IIT-M campus. The lab and the microgrid will serve as a modular field test rig for small-scale electrolyzers and fuel cells and will be utilized by IIT Madras staff for teaching and demonstration purposes, techno-economic assessments, and for assessing the levelized cost of hydrogen.