EV charging would need its own ecosystem, says ABB India MD
ABB India, which provides the backbone for around 50 per cent of the solar energy generated in the country, is open to joining hands with the government for improved digitisation in the renewable energy sector and creating an enabling infrastructure for evehicle charging.
The company recently achieved a record capacity installation of 5Gw of solar inverters in India. It also won an order from the Indian Railways to provide solar inverters to 750 stations.
Now, the company is readying for new avenues such as e-vehicle charging infrastructure and allied technology. “ABB globally is one of the largest players in EV charging from fast to flash charging in 15 seconds. In India, too, we are possibly one of the few who can cater to both the buses and cars charging solutions. We look forward to partner agencies and government with our global experience on charging standards, cloud capability, etc,” said Sanjeev Sharma, managing director of ABB India, in an interview with
Business Standard.
Sharma said that it was all about the time, volume and finding out the right business models in conjunction with all stakeholders.
Hoping for an independent market for e-vehicles, he said, “Charging is a specialised area. While the vehicles have their own economics, charging infrastructure companies would have to create their own ecosystem of operations.”
“The solar story in India has just started and it’s not one of the important markets, but the most significant market in the world. We expect strong players to emerge and market pricing to find equilibrium in the near future. This will create a demand for high quality ABB equipment for long-term asset ownership. For instance, ABB inverters have powered everything from microgrids, schools, floating plants, e-rickshaws and the largest single location solar plant in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu,” said Sharma.
“If you see our published figures, the share of renewables in our order book in 2014 was about 2 per cent. And during 2015 and 2016, it was 12 and 14 per cent, respectively. Over the years, we have built a market share, wherein 50 per cent of the solar energy generated in India passes through ABB equipment. Despite price pressures, developers are realising the value rendered by the longevity of quality products and solutions for utility scale projects,” said Sharma.
Slowdown in the conventional power sector has pushed out major companies, which suffered due to zero demand. ABB India, however, is confident that improving efficiency of the current systems would throw up business opportunities. “The conventional power sector is no longer conventional. We view this as an opportunity to co-create solutions with our customers or make local innovations on our product line,” Sharma said.
“Another focus area is increasing productivity of assets through digital remote asset health and power plant management. So there is a lot to do in the conventional power sector and we remain committed to continue bringing state of the art, environment friendly technology,” he said.