Energy use in Indian cities is rising steadily, with the International Energy Agency projecting that India’s electricity demand will nearly double by 2040, placing mounting pressure on local administrations to adopt energy-efficient solutions.
Against this backdrop, the Chandigarh administration’s energy management cell—designated as the state agency for energy conservation—has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Punjab Engineering College (PEC) to advance a coordinated approach to energy efficiency and conservation across the Union Territory.
The agreement, signed on Monday by Rajesh Kumar Bhatia, Director of PEC, and Pawan Kumar Sharma, Head of the Energy Management Cell/SDA, establishes a framework for joint technical studies, research collaborations, and targeted awareness campaigns. Beyond knowledge exchange, the initiative will prioritize capacity building and technical support for implementation, reflecting the wider objectives of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), New Delhi, which has pushed for decentralized but structured energy-saving programs nationwide.
One of the critical challenges the partnership seeks to address is the slow adoption of innovative energy-saving technologies at the municipal level. Despite national progress, India’s urban centers still face high transmission and distribution losses, and the gap between energy-efficient policy design and ground-level implementation remains wide. By drawing on PEC’s academic expertise, the collaboration aims to bridge this divide, providing both technical validation and applied solutions for Chandigarh’s conservation programs.
Faculty members from PEC—including Rintu Khanna, Rajesh Kumar Kanda, Tilak Thakur, Tejinder Singh Saggu, and Ajay Kumar—are expected to play a central role in research and pilot initiatives, while SDA representatives will coordinate integration with the city’s infrastructure projects. Officials at the signing noted that knowledge sharing and academic-industry linkages would be critical in ensuring outcomes that are not confined to institutional reports but can directly shape projects such as smart lighting, energy-efficient buildings, and optimized public utilities.
Bhatia emphasized that the collaboration is designed to deliver system-level benefits for end users as well as society at large, underlining the importance of ensuring practical outcomes rather than academic outputs alone. Similarly, representatives from the energy management cell highlighted the need to support Chandigarh’s long-term sustainability roadmap through concrete applications—particularly in sectors like housing, mobility, and public services, where energy consumption continues to grow.
The MoU also comes at a time when Chandigarh, like other Union Territories, is under pressure to contribute to India’s national target of reducing emissions intensity by 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels.
