India Way Ahead Than Rest Of The World In Green Hydrogen Space: IEEMA President
Rohit Pathak, CEO - Birla Copper, Hindalco Industries and the newly appointed President of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA), in a conversation with BW Businessworld, shares the association's vision for India's energy sector. Pathak explains the contemporary trends in renewable energy space, the pace of developments in the green hydrogen space in India and how the next phase of the energy revolution can make India an energy surplus nation.
Excerpts:
Give us a sense of the IEEMA’s vision for the power and energy sector in line with the massive transformation that it is going through in India?
It is a huge honour and privilege to be part of this role. I thank the association and its members for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading the association for the next year.
The world is witnessing very rapid and at-scale shifts. To me, there are three very critical things. One with the geopolitics, the way they have been, especially with COVID, there is a very clear ‘China Plus One Approach’ that most countries plan to adopt. I think that is a fantastic opportunity for India across industries.
Second, the way we have responsibly positioned ourselves during the pandemic on the global stage, we have emerged as a country which can be relied on. And third, I think we are at the cusp of energy, or the next phase of the energy revolution, where new technologies such as EVs and storage at scale, green hydrogen, could potentially be the big breakthroughs for the coming decades. And if I put all these things together, I think for the IEEMA, this is a fantastic opportunity to leapfrog and grow multiple times in the coming decade.
What would be major focus areas?
There are two big themes for us as an industry that we are focusing on. First, over the next 15 to 20 years, how do we grow our per capita electricity consumption by 8-10 times and get to the global average and, the second is how do we reshape our thinking about electricity and energy. Now it is all about energy and not just electricity because energy will use electricity as its primary form across applications going forward.
What is the next big breakthrough that you are seeing in the renewable energy space?
Solar has seen rapid growth in India and has become one of the country's most efficient forms of renewable energy. I think going forward, we will see a renewed interest in hybrid solutions. As far as wind is concerned, the next big breakthrough will come through scaling up offshore wind, and India has that advantage because of its large coastline. And this is the next phase where offshore wind and solar will give us options where we can get energy 70-75 per cent times versus the 20-30 per cent that the existing solutions provide.
Battery storage is also an important aspect in providing round-the-clock and reliable clean power. What are your views on the developments in the battery storage ecosystem in India?
On the storage front, we must realise that developments are happening in India at the same pace as they are in the rest of the world. The E-mobility and battery storage story is there for the transportation sector, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four wheelers. At the same time, there are big storage themes like green hydrogen, which in essence, is storage for mass energy from renewables. I would say India is way ahead of the rest of the world in this space, given how we are progressing in terms of both the pilots going on and the scale of ambition that people and companies have put in. Hopefully, this can help us to leapfrog and be the first solutions provider for the world and not just for India. If we can crack this right, then hopefully, we will become an energy surplus country and not an energy-dependent one.
Elecrama 2023 will be the IEEMA’s flagship showcase under your leadership. What are some key takeaways that you are expecting?
Our focus this year is on sustainable energy, and the theme for this year is around new opportunities and technologies in the energy space. We have several teams working around the core Elecrama exhibition, around Etech Next which is focused on new energy and the World Utility Summit, which focuses on utility.
We will have a lot of suppliers coming from all over the world, looking for solutions and sourcing from India. Europe has shown very strong interest along with the US and some Southeast Asian countries. The event will allow us to showcase the industry to the rest of the world as India takes on the G20 leadership on sustainability. We expect strong engagement with the G20 leaders on the topic of energy.
Honourable Power Minister R.K. Singh is our patron for the event, and we expect to work in tandem with him to make our vision for the energy sector in India a reality. This event, I would say, will become one of the early steps in that direction.
