Shri Mayank Tewari, Additional Secretary, MNRE and Dr. Anil Kumar, Scientist ‘E’, MNRE visited NCPRE on March 19, 2026. During the visit, they interacted with faculty members, researchers, staff, and students, and toured various laboratories to review the ongoing R&D activities at NCPRE. They also met with Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director of IIT Bombay (IITB) during their visit.

The visit began with an overview presentation of NCPRE by Prof. B. G. Fernandes, who presented the centre’s activities in power electronics. This was followed by presentations from Prof. Anil Kottantharayil and Prof. Dinesh Kabra on the work being carried out by the Solar Cells and Materials Group. Prof. Narendra Shiradkar presented updates on the PV Deployment and Reliability Group activities. In addition, Dr. Seema Negi and Dr. Shweta Singh of AnyD Materials Pvt. Ltd., a start-up incubated at IIT Bombay, highlighted the products developed and their technological advancements. Shri Mayank Tewari and Dr. Anil Kumar also visited several laboratories at NCPRE, including the Module Reliability Lab, Medium Voltage Lab, Silicon Solar Cell Fabrication Lab, Power Electronics Lab, Hybrid Solar Cell Lab, and Battery Prototyping Lab. The visit provided an opportunity to showcase the research infrastructure, ongoing projects, and technological developments at NCPRE, and facilitated discussions on future collaborations and advancements in photovoltaic technologies. The visit concluded with fruitful discussions between MNRE officials and NCPRE faculty members on future activities by NCPRE in advancing solar PV research and innovation in India.