"Sustainability is a very significant global priority", President, GE, South Asia
In an interaction with Urvi Shrivastav Editorial Lead, BW ESG, BW Businessworld; Mahesh Palashikar, President, General Electric (GE), South Asia speaks about sustainability and the work GE is doing in this field.
Can you talk about General Electric's energy transition in India, including sustainable ventures?
Sustainability is a very significant global priority including in India. We have a rich legacy of 130 years globally, and we have been at the cutting edge of the entire energy basket. This includes different forms of power generation, including gas power, steam power, hydropower, and wind power, but also transmission and distribution to transmit the generated electricity. We have a full suite of offerings, and it is important to keep an eye out for the full offerings of renewable energy. We have significant national targets that everyone is counting on to make the transition. It is also important that India generates 70 percent of its energy from coal fire plants. Unless and until we improve the efficiency of coal power plants, the whole energy transition will not be smooth. We are very proud of GE in terms of the work we do in India. Our very capable and talented team that we have is focused on innovating and manufacturing for India and the world. This means we are proactively helping the nation, including all stakeholders. We are rising to the challenge of building the world at work.
We are focusing heavily on Atmanirbhar Bharat, what is GE's contribution in this light?
We have been proudly serving India for the last 120 years. We started in 1902 with a hydroelectric power project in Karnataka, India which is still running smoothly. Across the entire value chain in India, we have a very strong design, product development, manufacturing, and supply chain. We also install, hand over the assets to the customers, and maintain those assets over a very long period. These assets in the energy space have 30 to 35 years of the life cycle. We have healthcare, energy, and aviation employees, serving customers where they need it. The capability of Atmanirbhar Bharat is across all these domains. We have 14 world-class manufacturing facilities, and a large percentage of the output they make is for exports. We are globally competitive when it comes to quality, delivery, and cost.
We have some other burning issues, like decarbonization, carbon neutrality, sustainability, and renewable energy. What is GE's contribution to these fields?
This is a wonderful opportunity for the nation and companies like ours that can add tremendous value across domains. It could be renewable energy generation where we have cutting-edge, onshore technology. We specifically design onshore wind technology, product services, and digital solutions for what the nation needs. We also need very powerful hydroelectric solutions. The equipment we design is very specific to Indian conditions. Think about hydroelectric power plants which provide lower cost of electricity. These are the areas where we help in terms of renewable energy generation. 50 percent of the power that flows through the Indian transmission system is from GE technology. The digital technology improvement we offer in digital transmission will be very valuable as the nation wants to reach 50 percent renewable energy generation by 2030.
When it comes to natural gas, is an important bridge from yesterday's fossil fuel generation to tomorrow's renewable energy generation. When natural gas generation is made available in India, it can help increase the natural gas load capability. Last but not the least, we also have great capabilities for SGD technology, which is emission control technology for coal fire power plants. The nation has several gigawatt (GW) coal fire power plants. We are offering the technology to reduce emissions and enhance the capacity of coal fire power plants. We also deal in hybrid technology, like wind, solar, and gas. This is a solution government of India is accelerating because then you can have 24 hours, 365 days hybrid power solutions.
In addition to the parts you are working on right now, how are you making an impact on healthcare and aviation?
If you look at aviation, lower emission when flights are in function or when fighter aircraft fly is also a priority. There is a 2050 target where we want fully sustainable fuel to be used. That is an area where we are partnering globally and regionally where we are reducing emissions. Our native engines that go in the flights have 20 to 30 percent fewer emissions than other fuels. I think that is a significant improvement, including sustainability.
When it comes to healthcare, one of the most important developments that have happened in the last three years of the pandemic is the reduced need to travel every time. The challenge is to make precise solutions for patients, for hospitals, is an area we are focusing on. This is in the form of digital solutions and at-home solutions. This is how you can make healthcare more accessible, and more affordable for everybody.
What are your views on India's transition to a net zero country?
The last ten years have shown a tremendous acceleration in this area. I distinctly remember there used to be wind farms that used to coke in various states. But once MNRE installed the reverse auction mechanism, the volume and capacity of wind farm addition started improving. There are many things we can do to improve, but the trajectory has been very good. If we look at the Hydrogen policy MNRE has established, it is a very big step forward, as gas plants are also embracing a higher percentage of Hydrogen. We are doing some very specific projects like signing an MoU with NTPC, the largest power generation company in India, at their plant in Gujarat where they are gas turbines of GE. There will be plants that will use gas turbines to start with. We constantly develop new technology at our Bangalore research and design center where we add more value to the stakeholders and customers. There are also significant improvements in the grid solutions we offer. Additionally, there is an offshore policy document also released by the MNRE in the last few days. There has also been an improvement in green energy access. If someone has a load of 100KW or more, now they can easily apply for green energy open access. We are witnessing acceleration on the policy front, and GE is making strides with this acceleration.
What are some of the new technological developments helping GE achieve its sustainability and technology goals?
GE has the capability of a hybrid architecture, and we can customize it based on what the customers need. It has controls, electronics, and software solutions and it can take a mix of wind and solar, wind and hydro, or even gas. Customizing the solutions to reduce the cost of electricity is something the Indian talent at GE has been able to offer as a technology solution. The second aspect I would like to highlight is the pump storage hydropower. The idea is to use the natural flow of water, store it in a reservoir when you don't need it and when you need that energy you can pump the water as a hydro storage capacity. Compared to battery storage, this is the low cost of electricity, and more environment friendly, while ensuring the water is natural. These are some areas that I think are specifically helping us and our customers for our next transition. It will not only help in reducing the cost of electricity but also help in carbon capture. These are exciting fronts where we can help our stakeholders and investors.
What are the future energy goals for GE?
We had some significant targets in terms of achieving our carbon neutrality by 2020, and we achieved those before time. By 2030, we will be able to achieve our net-zero targets. It is heartening to see while we have an internal commitment in the company, the nation too has a 2070 commitment and it helps us to support the national targets. We keep on upgrading our technology solutions, usually in line with the government targets
