Mr Ashvarya Mathur, UQ–IITD PhD candidate

Joint University of Queensland and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi research institute, the UQ-IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQ–IITD), partners with ReNew Power to improve weather forecasting models for the renewable energy sector.

UQ–IITD has proudly partnered with ReNew Power as part of its industry partnership initiative. The program aims to connect PhD students with industry to create strong research networks and develop a talent pipeline of experienced and developing researchers to improve the social and industrial sectors.

This landmark partnership provides financial backing and co-supervision for a PhD student project, as well as access to resources that are typically inaccessible for the average project.

PhD student, Ashvarya Mathur, will be supervised by Professor Tapan Saha (UQ), Professor B.K Panigrahi (IITD) and Dr Jasvipul Chawla (ReNew Power), and Dr Wen Hua (UQ), on their research project, Multi time scale wind speed forecasting. The team aims to develop information systems to increase functionality and accuracy of forecasting models to improve the socio-economic outcomes of wind farms.

“This collaboration provides me with the opportunity to use my technical acumen and skills to contribute to sustainable development – an immediate need of the hour,” said PhD candidate, Mr Mathur.

“Moreover, being involved with an industrial based project for the PhD program is more satisfying, since the results directly benefit the organisation and society as a whole.”

A vision shared by ReNew Power, whose spokesperson, Dr Jasvipul Chawla, had this to say, “ReNew Power’s vision is to create a carbon free world by accelerating the clean energy transition. Impactful and scalable research from UQ–IITD will help achieve our vision.”

According to Mr Mathur, the benefits of ReNew Power’s partnership don’t end with renewable energy futures. The collaboration will provide Mr Mathur with the means to continue his research in a world where sustainability concerns are overshadowed by those of public health, and new research is chronically underfunded.

Though the project is still in its early stages of development, Mr Mathur is optimistic about the future.

“I have always been a proponent of sustainable development and being in sync with nature. Being involved with an organisation working towards sustainable development is a great honour.”

UQ Supervisor, Professor Tapan Saha, agrees with Mr Mathur.

“Engaging with ReNew Power provides a great opportunity for UQ–IITD PhD students to expose themselves to relevant practical challenges of the 21st century electricity industry,” said Professor Saha.