Jigme Namgyel Engineering College (JNEC), Dewathang has been awarded a European Union Grant (Erasmus+) for a project titles ‘Promoting Energy Efficient Lighting Education in Nepal and Bhutan (ELNAB)’ along with partner universities from Europe and Nepal in 2016. With the end of two-year project on January 2019, the most visible outcome are to carryout need assessment of energy efficient lighting education, development of relevant modules and courses, capacity development and establishment of Lighting Laboratory which are all achieved. Today JNEC is having a state of art Lighting Laboratory which is one of its kind in the country and can be used for series of academic and scholarly activities. The newly established research centre of excellence in the college titled ‘Centre for Lighting and Energy Efficiency Studies (CLEES)’ is working closely with academics and stakeholders for effective usages.
On 26th March 2019, a team consisting of three engineers from Department of Renewable Energy (DRE), MoEA, RGoB visited the laboratory. The team was led by Ms. Dawa Zangmo, Chief Engineer, Research and Development Division of DRE. The officials were in the campus to visit the lighting laboratory to study the conditions of some of the LED lamps available in the regions as DRE has been making series of attempts to promote and support the energy efficient lighting for needy people in the country. Apart from doing numbers of testing and demonstration in the lighting laboratory facilitated by the CLEES members, the officials also discussed on the students’ project works that are undertaken by both Diploma in Electrical Engineering and Bachelor in Power Engineering students of Department of Electrical Engineering. The officials were sharing the impacts that our OJT and Internship students has created during their OJT/Internship with DRE and further committed to support such initiatives of the college.
The college had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DRE in 2018 and had been continuously working in collaboration and has been receiving continued support. The visit has further strengthened the ties between DRE, the CLEES and the College and aspires to indepth studies in the field of energy efficient lighting and renewable energies. The College commits to work in fostering the knowledge and skills development and sharing activities for wider mass of society.