Always striving to achieve greater heights, Punjab Engineering College leaves no stones unturned when it comes to conducting erudite guest lectures and workshops. Each year, the electrical engineering department of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh organises the JK Memorial Lecture in the memory of Late Prof. Jagdish Kumar Arora, ex-faculty of Electrical Engineering Department at PEC.
This year, the 5th JK Memorial Lecture was conducted by Dr. Juzer Vasi, Professor Emeritus, IIT Bombay. Dr. Vasi has worked in the areas of microelectronics and photovoltaics. He was Principal Investigator of NCPRE, IIT Bombay, and is currently India Research Thrust Leader for Photovoltaics of SERIIUS. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, a Life Fellow of IEEE, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet of the Government of India.
The lecture on "100 GW National Solar Mission: Opportunities and Challenges" covered India's ambitious programme to install 100 GW of solar energy by 2022, the benefits, including rapidly ramping up installed electricity capacity, bringing power to under-served areas, harnessing green energy, and helping to mitigate climate change, new opportunities for technology and enterprise development, and meshes well with other initiatives in India like Make in India and Start-up India. The talk also covered challenges - of getting costs down, ensuring use of good technologies capable of lasting 25 years in the field, and finding suitable land required for such large deployments.
The event was graced by dignitaries such as Dr. Manoj K Arora, Director PEC and Mrs. Asha Arora, w/o Late. Prof. JK Arora. The talk witnessed a heartening turnout and turned out to be a knowledgeable session for all the faculty members and students.