Imperial College London and Tata Power, one of India’s largest integrated power companies, have announced a partnership to help drive the development of more sustainable, resilient and digitally enabled energy systems.

This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 25 September by Dr Praveer Sinha, CEO of Tata Power, and Professor Mary Ryan, Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial, that sets out plans to deepen a longstanding relationship between the two organisations.

"When great British research teams up with the ambition and expertise of Indian business, there is huge potential to make a real difference." said Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

Building on previous collaborative research such as a study into techniques for managing electricity demand, the partners have agreed to explore wide-ranging opportunities in fields such as energy storage, AI, industrial decarbonisation and grid modernisation.

By combining Imperial’s advanced academic insights with Tata Power’s scale, sectoral expertise, and track record of investment in renewables and digital technologies, the partnership is intended to help drive the roll out of new energy technologies in India and the UK and support the objectives of the UK-India Net Zero Innovation Partnership.

Dr Praveer Sinha, CEO&MD of Tata Power, said: “India’s energy transition is entering a phase where scale, flexibility and reliability will be as important as the pace of renewable energy growth. The next generation of grids, storage and digital energy systems will need to work together to meet a rapidly evolving demand landscape. Our collaboration with Imperial will help solve real-world industry challenges with deep research and new thinking and explore solutions that can be relevant not only to India’s energy journey, but also to the wider global transition.”

The partnership reflects Imperial’s institutional priority to tackle large-scale societal challenges by deeply integrating expertise from across disciplines and sectors with global partners, particularly in India where strong ties are facilitated by its Imperial Global India initiative.

Professor Mary Ryan, Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial College London, said: “As one of the largest energy companies in the world’s most populous country, Tata Power has expertise across a range of energy technologies and the scale needed to deliver the cleaner and more resilient energy systems we urgently need. This makes the company a fantastic partner for Imperial, which brings not only world-leading frontier research capabilities in science, engineering and business, but a model of convergence science that looks beyond individual disciplines to tackle challenges too large for standard approaches to innovation.”

Working with Imperial’s School of Convergence Science, a core pillar of the university's Science for Humanity strategy, the partnership will support HELIX, a programme that aims to help deliver equitable access to clean, healthy energy for 10 billion people by moving beyond isolated technologies and confronting the deeper systemic issues at play.

Harjinder Kang, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia and British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, said: “The partnership between Imperial College London and Tata Power is a great example of the UK and India combining their strengths to turn innovation into impact.

“Bringing together world-class UK research and Indian industrial expertise will help accelerate next-generation energy solutions, unlock new commercial opportunities and support sustainable growth in both countries.”

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “When great British research teams up with the ambition and expertise of Indian business, there is huge potential to make a real difference.

"This partnership is a great example of our fantastic new trade deal bringing opportunities to life, and will help turn ideas into cleaner, smarter energy solutions – supporting good jobs and growth in both our countries.”

This article was first published on 13 October by Imperial College London.