Internet of Energy can cut power transmission losses: Nobel laureate

HYDERABAD: While Internet of Things (IoT) is the buzzword across the world currently, Nobel laureate and physicist Prof Hiroshi Amano has been stressing on the importance of a technology that can revolutionise the energy sector— Internet of Energy.

The Japanese scientist describes it as ‘energy, anytime and anywhere’, and an important feature of this is wireless power transmission. This technology, he says will not only drastically reduce the investments required in building energy transmission networks, but also make the sector less carbon intensive by increasing efficiency levels.

The technology, when implemented could be a major boon for India that suffers from massive transmission losses — as high as 20-50 per cent in some states.Amano says Japanese scientists have achieved about 40 per cent efficiency in wireless transmission of power through a microwave band. However, power can be transmitted only up to a distance of 100 metres, and the scientists are working on increasing the efficiency levels to 80 per cent.

Since microwave bands are not suitable for long-distance transmission, scientists are now experimenting with laser technology, where power is beamed from one point to another. Amano says that transmission losses can be reduced to zero using this method. However, a lot of work remains to be done as the current efficiency on the receiving side is just 20 per cent.

Amano was to attend ISC
Amano spoke to Express on the sidelines of a talk at UoH. He was one of the delegates invited to Indian Science Congress at UoH. He said he wasn’t sure about attending the event in Manipur