Forbes Marshall Launches its Energy Efficiency Centre at IIT, Bombay

Forbes Marshall, India's leading Steam Engineering, Energy Management and Controls and Instrumentation organisation, launched its Energy Efficiency Centre at IIT Bombay on 13^th July 2016. The centre was inaugurated jointly by Mr. Jehangir Ardeshir, Group CEO, Forbes Marshall and Prof Devang Khakhar, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in the presence Dr. Ravi Sinha (Dean-Corporate Relations, IIT-B), Prof (Dr.) Rangan Banerjee (HoD, Dept. of Energy Science & Engineering, IIT-B and F​orbes M​arshall Chair Professor) and Mr. Datta Kuvalekar (Director - Technology & Engineering, Forbes Marshall). Several senior managers of leading corporates were present on the occasion.

The Centre aims to bring together the best minds in academia, Industry and the student community to conduct research and application oriented engineering solutions in the field of thermal energy connected to industrial processes, a major component of this being steam. Dr. Manaswita Bose (Senior Faculty, Energy Systems, IIT-B) and Abhijeet Deshpande (​Product Manager-R&D, ​Forbes Marshall)) oversaw the execution of this centre. 

The centre is an outcome of an initiative set into motion some years back by Dr. Naushad Forbes, Director of Forbes Marshall, who said: “Forbes Marshall is very happy to launch the Energy Efficiency Centre at IIT, Bombay. It has been a long time coming, but it is good to have. This centre will only be as good as its use - we would love for it to fold into regular student course work, into experiments we can jointly undertake, and ultimately into a deeper and richer understanding of steam engineering. Our joint goal must be to progressively develop the finest world academic centre for steam engineering.”

Prof. Khakhar, Director IIT-B said: “The Institute is delighted to partner with Forbes Marshall to focus on energy efficiency in Industry. The challenge of climate change and reducing costs makes it essential to design efficient boilers and steam systems. I am sure that the state-of-the-art Forbes Marshall Energy Efficiency Laboratory will enable research in efficient thermal systems that will be useful to Industry."

Speaking on the occasion, Jehangir Ardeshir said: “Forbes Marshall is fully committed to making this centre a strategic resource centre, drawing Industry, faculty and students to collaborate on solving energy issues faced by Industry. The centre would disseminate knowledge through short-term courses and contribute to capacity building. It would also do well to integrate energy and emissions into its missions to align with the new regulations that will now be enforced.” He also suggested that the centre would consider alternate materials to reduce problems of corrosion and erosion in steam products. He stressed on cross-disciplinary collaboration to develop ‘smart’ solutions in the era of digitisation.”  

Datta Kuvalekar, who spear headed this initiative, added: “A unique centre of its kind anywhere in the world, and an absolute necessity for India. With industrial production projected to increase 3-5 times in the next decade, the country needs to see a dramatic drop in energy intensity exceeding 5% annually on a national level. Energy efficiency offers the most feasible and economical way for India to scale up while remaining environmentally sound. This centre aims to lead the way for new knowledge in the field to be explored and existing understanding to be exploited to the fullest, and could not have come at a more opportune time. The success of this centre would be determined when customers engage with the best minds of academia and students to develop solutions for the most pressing problems in thermal energy systems.”