Electrical equipment maker Schneider Electric is working on the next phase of investments in India and would soon roll out its capital expenditure (capex) plans, a top company official said.
In an interview, Deepak Sharma, managing director and chief executive of Schneider Electric India, said that the company is working on manufacturing large-scale stationary batteries in the country in view of the growing demand for storage, and is exploring the right chemistry and technology for the business. The company’s current investment cycle of ₹3,200 crore is in its final phase of implementation with its latest announcement of three new plants in India.
“So the commitment we had made was for ₹3,200 crore. I think it was almost like 18 months ago. Now they’re all in progress. The investments were in expansions and adding new capacities…A big part of the committed amount is already in deployment. And we will be coming back soon in announcing the opening of this new extended lines, some have already been opened, some would be opening this year in 2025,” he said.
He said the company would be aggressive in its investments plans going ahead.
“India is a growth story for us, both ‘manufacturing in India for India’ and ‘manufacturing in India for the globe’. Looking for further expansions, so we are all working as of now to define the next phase of investments, but I’m sure the next phase will be as aggressive as it has been in the past. It should be big. We want to remain committed to growth of India, and we want to use India for our manufacturing hub,” Sharma said.
The company currently has 31 manufacturing plants in the country. Recently, it announced that it would come up with a few more plants in the country.
Focus on large-scale battery storage
Schneider manufactures a range of products in the electricity and energy management space, including switches, electrical sockets, switchgears, power transformers, and control relay panels, catering to power distribution companies, transmission companies, data centres, and solar power plants, among others.
The company is also present in the battery space, although it mostly manufactures small power backup systems and inverters. However, Schneider is now also looking at developing utility or large-scale batteries.
“We do storages for…residential (customers) primarily, and we have started doing it for smaller commercial buildings too. For the bigger projects, which is more in megawatts, this is still an area we are working on,” he said.
Sharma added that as the battery storage ecosystem is still in a nascent stage in the country and evolving, the company is looking at the chemistries and technologies which would be suitable for India.
“I think we still have to develop an ecosystem a lot. I know a lot of companies who are importing from other countries…We are still working on the chemistries and trying to develop something which is more (developed) in India for India, it is still in the development phase. We want to understand more because the technology is still evolving. So, we want to really spend good time to offer the right technology.”
The demand for batteries is growing in the country, as India aims to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030. Storage solutions like battery energy storage systems help in maintaining stability as solar and wind power, which would form a major part of the non-fossil capacity, are intermittent and can render the grid unstable.
In February, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) directed state power utilities and renewable energy implementation agencies to incorporate two-hour co-located energy storage systems, equivalent to 10% of the installed solar project capacity, in future solar tenders.
