Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Wednesday inked a pact with Denmark in the presence of Danish Crown Prince Frederik Andre Henrik Christian to take up research projects on next-generation fuels and energy systems under the ‘Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership’.

Besides the Danish Crown Prince, senior representatives of IIT Madras, Denmark Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard, Ambassador of Denmark to India Freddy Svane and Tamil Nadu industries department, Additional Chief Secretary S Krishnan were present during the signing of the agreement between IIT Madras and the Denmark government.

As part of the deal, four projects were launched under the Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership and they are expected to accelerate technology development through industry-academia government partnerships, collaborations with global partners to develop technology solutions among others.

“Today, Denmark is paving the way for investments in new technologies. We see great potential in sharing mutual knowledge with India and its bright engineers, which can help in implementing these technologies,” Aagaard was quoted as saying in a press release.

Tamil Nadu has identified 15 offshore locations to establish wind turbines. Denmark is collaborating on a plan to establish the first offshore wind farm in Tamil Nadu, he said.

On the collaboration with Denmark, Krishnan said: “Today, we are on the cusp of an important relationship between Tamil Nadu and Denmark – in the areas of clean energy, and how to tackle climate change. Tamil Nadu continues to be a leader in renewable energy.”

“More than 50 per cent of the installed capacity in Tamil Nadu are from renewable energy sources with potential for expansion in wind, solar and green hydrogen,” he added.

In another development, Denmark-headquartered multinational company Danfoss said it would take up joint work on drinking water for coastal regions using renewable energy in association with IIT Madras.

The association between Danfoss and the premier technical institution is to promote cooperation in engineering education and scientific research.

Danfoss India President Ravichandran Purushothaman exchanged documents with IIT Madras Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research) professor Manu Santhanam on the occasion, the release said.