India as a country is lagging in its power reforms. It is apparent from the
fact that most industrial towns and enterprises irrespective of their size are
facing long hours of power outages and power shortage on a regular basis. Given
the scenario, turning to alternative resources and technology is the only
solution that can help these enterprises meet their power requirements and
deliver effectively. Alternative resources are available in the form of wind
energy, hydroelectricity, and the most popular one-solar energy.
In fact, the last few
years have seen a remarkable growth when it comes to using alternative
resources-based products. The industry size is estimated to be around $50
billion by 2010.This trend/technology will open up a host of business
opportunities providing appropriate, cost effective and environment-friendly
power conditioning solutions. Thus, partners can look forward to tying up with
vendors and then further extending a gamut of products and solutions to their
set of customers and earn handsome profits and margins.
Renewable energy
Renewable energy has been growing globally at a rate of about 25 percent per
year. A worldwide rising demand for electricity, growing interest in
environment-friendly technologies and increasing costs of non-renewable energies
are, among others, reasons for this growth. So while solar energy-based products
are increasingly being adopted, the next trend would be around wind energy-based
products. While wind energy products can only be used in costal region, for
using hydroelectricity-based products the enterprise has to be located near a
river or dam. Hence, the above technology
has yet to gain popularity.
Players in India
In their bid to provide energy efficient and green products, almost all
players in this space are carrying out a lot of research and development
activities around renewable resources. While Luminous, Numeric and Delta are
dabbling with solar energy-based products, having already installed solar
energy-based products Su-Kam is looking forward to launching products around
wind energy.
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The past few years have seen a remarkable
growth in use of alternative resources-based products. This industry size
is estimated to be around $50 billion by 2010 |
Ramesh Gupta, GM, Luminous mentioned, “We intend to dabble with products
that are made of solar energy and not wind or hydro electricity for the simple
reason that the awareness around such products is yet still at a nascent
stage. However, the industry is showing every sign that it will flourish
further and as a power company we intend to capitalize on the trend.”
Luminous is currently offering solar modules and will be making an initial
investment of $15 million in manufacturing such products which will be followed
by an investment of $200-225 million for another five to six years. The company
is also planning to set-up a plant in National Capital Region (NCR) by March
next year, in order to manufacture solar-based products including solar panel,
battery, charge controller and inverter.
Deepak Sharma, Country Business Head-India and SAARC, UPS Division, Delta
said, “Through this initiative, Delta is targeting enterprises that require
self-sufficiency for their operations or are willing to install the Photovoltaic
System for their total energy requirement. We are targeting such enterprises
that think 'green' and adopt environment-friendly practices as part of their
corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy.”
Delta offers turnkey solutions for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)
applications, which include the supply of BIPV modules and solar inverters. When
BIPV glazing is used in place of heat reflective glass, total power consumption
can be reduced by a factor of 10.
Su-Kam again is investing heavily in devising power conditioning solutions
and products that offer complete power solutions. The company offers solutions
around power conditioning units, solar cells, solar inverters etc. Su-Kam is
also planning to dabble with wind energy products owing to its cost efficiency
factor, but at the moment its focus is largely around manufacturing solar-based
products. The company offers a number of products right from solar powered
inverters to power conditioning units (200KW) and hybrid systems.
cost of investment
Vipul Gupta, Product head, Luminous elaborated, “The trend around using
solar-based products is still at a nascent stage. In the first place the
customers will have to make huge investments in order to enjoy the long term
benefits that the products can extend. Besides, even the government will have to
take a lot of steps in terms of extending subsidies so that solar products can
be effectively used and more customers adopt them.”
He further mentioned that the initial cost of investment is very high, for
example the cost of a solar inverter is twice the price of a conventional
inverter used for power backup.
Trends in this space
While the penetration will come only when the government wakes up and
realise its role in subsidizing the manufacturing and pricing of products and
bringing in regulatory environment, advancement in technology will further boost
the concept of buying solar- based products. Hence, as and when
the manufacturing processes become more advance and the cost of generating power
comes down, solar energy will gain popularity. Su-Kam has already done several
installations abroad including countries like Africa and Middle East.
In order to produce 1kw of solar energy one needs to have atleast 12-15sq ft
area, hence the solution is more popular in enterprises based out of rural areas
considering that there is no shortage of space.
POOJA SHARMA
poojas@cybermedia.co.in