(from left) J Radhakrishnan, CMD, TANGEDCO; CTR. Nirmal Kumar, Tamil Nadu Energy Minister; V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, and Manu Santhanam, Dean (ICSR), IIT Madras, at the signing of MOU between TNEB and IIT Madras, in Chennai | Photo Credit: BIJOY GHOSH

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has partnered with IIT-Madras for technology and R&D support to modernise the State power department’s operations.

An MoU was signed to work together in areas such as power generation, transmission, distribution, infrastructure upgrades, efficiency improvements, and the promotion of Research and Development (R&D).

The partnership will also see IIT help TNEB in the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), data analytics, digital technologies, and data-driven decision-making, the power ministry said in a statement.

Speaking about this partnership, Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister R Nirmalkumar said that to solve all its challenges, TNEB needs sound R&D and technology support. “TNEB never had a standalone R&D team... so we have now formed a new team, and will be working with IIT Madras. A team of IIT-Madras experts will work with senior engineers of TNEB team in the office here,” he said.

Some of the short-term priority areas will be evaluation of existing processes and policies and to look into efficiency of thermal power plants. Be it roof-top solar programmes or charging stations or load flow study or any other activity, they will support us with advisory on all areas, he added.

“This will be an ongoing process but we have internally set specific targets for each task and will track it,” he said.

IIT-Madras director V Kamakoti said he is confident that Tamil Nadu is capable of becoming an energy surplus state with sufficient help from latest technologies. “We hope to work together with TNEB to help them build a smart , secure, resilient, energy capture and distribution system. Cybersecurity of our grid systems will also be a focus,” he said.

The MoU also enables joint efforts in areas such as real-time grid monitoring, centralized data centers, centralized billing systems, the safe integration of renewable energy, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and will aid specialized skill development and training for TNEB officials.

Published on July 9, 2026