Ranchi, January 13, 2020: One-day workshop on Energy Policy Initiatives in Jharkhand was organized by Centre of Excellence in Green and Efficient Energy Technology (CoE-GEET), Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ), Ranchi in collaboration with School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), John Hopkins University(JHU), USA.The workshop was kick-started by Prof. S.K.Samdarshi, (Head, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Coordinator, Centre for Excellence in Green and Efficient Energy Technology(CoE-GEET), Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand), by welcoming the Chief Guest and delegates and giving a brief insight into the works of CoE-GEET, it was then followed by the inaugural Speech of Prof. Nand Kumar Yadav, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Jharkhand. In the inaugural address, he stressed on the need of development of newer and renewable methods of energy conversion and utilization for the benefit of mankind. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged between ERE, John Hopkins University and CoE GEET, Central university of Jharkhand. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Arbind Prasad (IAS), Chairman, JSERC. In his speech he talked about the energy scenario of Jharkhand and key issues regarding distribution and maintenance of quality of energy.The keynote address was followed by Theme Talks of the speakers which included, Johannes Urpalenin, (Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE), Director of the ERE Program and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP), Johns Hopkins University), who discussed about his work in Jharkhand’s energy sector which included the analysis of the data on energy access, cooking energy and coal from different villages of 24 districts in Jharkhand. He also talked about the causes and solutions for the unequal energy access across different social groups and discussed about the objectives of collaboration. The MoU intends to offer research assistantship and exchange of students of both CUJ and JHU. The theme talk was continued by Prof T.C.Kandpal, Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, he gave a presentation on Energy Initiatives in Jharkhand: Issues and Challenges. He pointed on the need of long term stability in policy, prioritizing sustainable development and agriculture sector with a focus on energy efficiency and harnessing of renewables. He also told that for any policy to work there has to be political will, and also mass acceptance and participation. Later, Prof. P. Balachandra, Department of Management Studies and Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, spoke about the concept of EnergyPlus for Sustaining Electricity Access & Empowerment. He also added that the three I’s - Implementing Policies, Interacting Institutions, and Integrating with national plans and budgets offer big challenges and opportunities in framing of energy policy. The theme talk was concluded by Prof. Arbind Kumar, In charge- Department of Mechanical Energy, Birla Institute of Technology(BIT) Patna, India, who presented a report of the work done in Gardih village of Bokaro district where his team installed a diesel engine generator-set based on Karanja oil to supply the electricity to the village. He has also designed an Oxen-driven generator which generates 0.6KW of power. The final session was dedicated to the discussion based on the issues raised by the participants. The key outcome of the workshop was identification of requirements for collaboration between thestakeholders to know each-others need and issues, necessity to organize awareness amongst the people of Jharkhand, and steps for collection of quality data for arriving at objective solutions.