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The United States and IIT Madras Research Park will soon announce a partnership to work in four broad areas, solar, green hydrogen, electric vehicles and batteries and green buildings, the Consul General of United States in Chennai, Chris Hodges, told businessline on Thursday.
The idea is to bring together researchers, academia and the industry from the US and India to build an ecosystem in these four areas.
The partnership is to be formally announced within a month.
There will be working groups set up under each of these heads. These working groups will have, among others, one member from the US government and one from the Research Park.
Hodges noted the presence of the US solar module manufacturer, First Solar, in Chennai – the company which inaugurated its plant in February – and that of the American electrolyser manufacturer, Ohmium, which has said it would invest ₹400 crore in Tamil Nadu.
These companies will be “great ambassadors” in their respective areas, the Consul General said. As for electric vehicles and batteries, he observed that Chennai has always been known as the Detroit of India, with the significant presence of automobile and auto component companies, and as such is “well positioned to pivot to electric vehicles and batteries”.
He also noted that Tamil Nadu accounts for 9 per cent of India’s carbon dioxide emissions but 25 per cent of carbon offsets. Also, the state’s workforce is inclusive, with women participation of about 41 per cent compared with India’s average of 19 per cent. (These are important considerations for American companies.)
Asked what the role of the US government was in this, he said, “We are a convenor, this is about getting the right elements together.” He added that there are “a million good things happening” in these fields but the challenge is “how do you connect them together in a meaningful and coherent way. These working groups will do that in each of these fields.”
River cleaning
Hodges said that the US government was keen on helping Chennai clean up the Cooum river. Recently, Jennifer Littlejohn, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and Interntaional Environmental and Scientific Affairs, was in Chennai, when she met, among others, the Mayor of the city of Chennai, Priya Ranjan.
The idea of using the expertise of San Antonio, which has been twinned with Chennai for partnerships, to clean up the Cooum river, was taken up. The Tamil Nadu government is very serious about cleaning the river, Hodges said.
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