A world-class centre of excellence at IIT Madras, in strategic partnership with Coal India Limited, leading India's shift to a low-carbon economy while securing energy for the future.
Coal forms the foundation of India's energy security, contributing to over 85% of its energy needs. At the same time, it presents a transformative opportunity — the resources and expertise within India's coal sector can be channelled to enable the nation to meet its ambitious 2070 net-zero goals.
Coal India Limited (CIL), as the pre-eminent energy resource provider, is uniquely positioned to lead this evolution — from energy supplier to energy innovator. The Centre for Sustainable Energy exists to make that transition a reality.
Keeping the future of CIL and the national energy security agenda at the heart of all activity, the Centre brings together world-class researchers, industry practitioners, and policy thinkers in a structured, outcomes-driven collaboration.
All research is anchored in challenges of direct strategic relevance to CIL, with a dynamic feedback loop ensuring continuous alignment with industrial needs.
IIT Madras serves as the central hub, coordinating with CIL, peer institutions, and global industry partners across a managed portfolio of projects.
Projects span the full innovation spectrum — from foundational science through to pilot-scale demonstration — ensuring discoveries translate into real-world solutions.
Coal India holds a unique portfolio of assets that, with the right research and innovation, can be transformed into platforms for clean energy, sustainable materials, and next-generation infrastructure.
Extensive landholdings across India offer significant potential for large-scale renewable energy generation — creating clean power at industrial scale and establishing CIL as a renewable energy leader.
Renewable Energy DevelopmentDecommissioned mines, with their geological stability and existing infrastructure, present untapped opportunities for energy storage, sustainable computing, and innovative circular repurposing.
Infrastructure RepurposingCoal's rich carbon chemistry can yield high-value advanced materials — clean fuels and functional composites — positioning CIL at the forefront of sustainable materials innovation.
Advanced Materials & Clean FuelsOur research programme is structured around four interconnected themes, each addressing a critical dimension of CIL's energy transition — from materials science and circular economy to environmental stewardship.
Transforming coal processing by-products into high-value functional materials, and developing systems to recover critical minerals from the waste streams of renewable energy technologies — addressing both waste reduction and strategic resource independence.
Transforming legacy mining infrastructure into innovation platforms — from electrifying the CIL vehicle fleet and converting spent mines to sustainable facilities, to deploying underground energy storage and exploring advanced low-carbon power for mine operations.
Developing innovative, nature-inspired technologies to address contamination challenges specific to coal mining environments — targeting scalable, eco-friendly solutions for treating mine wastewater and restoring affected ecosystems.
Valorising coal and its derivatives into next-generation carbon materials for energy storage and conversion — reducing India's import dependency in critical clean energy supply chains and enabling domestic manufacturing of advanced energy components.
Research priorities are co-developed with CIL and CMPDI, ensuring every project addresses challenges of real operational and strategic significance to Coal India's evolving mandate.
Expert faculty across chemical engineering, materials science, earth sciences, computer science, and policy work in concert — combining perspectives to produce holistic, deployable solutions.
Technologies progress systematically from laboratory validation through pilot demonstration, with commercialisation pathways co-designed with CIL's operational teams from the outset.
The Centre brings together some of IIT Madras's most accomplished faculty, united by a shared commitment to translating research excellence into industrial impact for India's energy sector.
The Centre for Sustainable Energy represents a historic opportunity to transform India's energy landscape — positioning Coal India Limited at the forefront of innovation while delivering on the nation's climate commitments.