ESI Africa spoke with Anil Saboo, the President of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) to discuss the link between India’s power and energy sector and the African market.

According to Saboo, the Indian power sector is undergoing a significant change that has redefined the industry outlook – a scenario that can benefit the African region.

It’s time for all to jump onto the energy transition revolution. Anil Saboo

Let’s start with why did you decide to utilise the Enlit Africa digital event to expose IEEMA members to the African Market?

Our IEEMA members have been participating in Enlit Africa formerly known as African Utility Week regularly. Since this time it is in a digital format, we thought that it would be appropriate to have the presence of our member companies as exhibitors as they may get an opportunity to interact with various decision-makers from power utilities, consultants and contractors who visit this exhibition from the majority of African countries.

This would give them an opportunity and understanding of the African power sector and how can they collaborate to leverage the opportunity for mutual growth.

As the President of IEEMA, you have a good understanding of the members. In which areas do the Indian utility products and services market excel?

The Indian power sector has an investment potential of $223.67 billion in the next 4 to 5 years. India ranks third with a focus on renewable energy. The major growth drivers are growing power demand, the large availability of manpower, increasing urbanisation, rising per capita energy consumption and electrification of the entire country.

Renewable energy contributes to over 35% of the installed electricity production capacity as of 2019. India stands as the fourth largest in installed wind power capacity and the third largest in installed concentrated solar power (CSP) capacity. India’s rank jumped to 24 in 2019 from 137 in 2014 on the World Bank’s Ease of doing business – “Getting Electricity” ranking.

The key areas to watch in near future is of distributed energy resources, EVs, digitisation and hydrogen energy.

Is the African utility market very similar to the Indian sector?

Both India and African countries have similar concerns, especially when you talk about electricity distribution. Typical problems for us here are electricity theft and stress on the network. However, smart metering technologies adoption has improved our efficiency and helped consumers to get better supply.

As the utilities have a similar background, so this technology has equal relevance for African utilities also. Also, solar, electric vehicles and energy storage is the future of energy jobs in India and South Africa. It’s time for all to jump onto the energy transition revolution.

Do IEEMA members offer solutions equipped for local Africa conditions?

The energy transition has been talked about for many years – but now the pandemic has allowed the world to make it happen more quickly than we could ever have imagined if we make the right choice. Both India and Africa have a future where energy is affordable, sustainable and accessible to all.

Urgent action is needed now to accelerate the transition that works for business, consumers and our environment. For the energy sector, I think this will mean accelerating a series of trends that are already underway: Decarbonisation, Decentralisation, and Digitalisation. However, the mega force behind all these trends is the Net Zero initiatives globally.

Successfully advancing Decarbonisation, Decentralisation and Digitalisation, so that society moves forward as one on these issues – whether we are “retro-fitting” old infrastructure or designing energy systems from scratch – requires balancing environmental, economic and social priorities. Only in this way, governments and utilities and infrastructure planners can ensure that we get future energy infrastructure “just right” – both for our economic needs and for the environment.

IEEMA members are working on technologies that will be essential for the energy transition like that of:

Have you read? Cutting edge technology at IEEMA Pavilion – Enlit Africa

In your role as president of IEEMA, what do you advise visitors to the IEEMA Pavillion at Enlit Africa digital event to look out for that is different from previous years?

On display, this year would be smart technologies from our exhibitors like smart meters, conductors, cables, cable accessories, insulators, isolators, lightning arresters, switchgear, transformers to name a few.

Apart from that, officials of IEEMA would also like to discuss joint venture opportunities with respective partners.

The 16 IEEMA members participating in the event under the IEEMA INDIA Pavilion are showcasing wide range of products as given below:

© All content copyright 1997 - 2021 Vuka Group, unless specified otherwise.