This State-Owned Company Is Quietly Laying The Groundwork For India’s EV Revolution
Armed with a massive $454 million funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), India’s Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is quietly firming up plans for key investments in cutting edge technologies related to electric vehicles (EV), fast charging and battery storage technologies.
The company is considering funneling millions of dollars worth of investments in acquiring companies and investing in fast charging infrastructure related technologies in the United Kingdom (UK).
“Actually, we are almost close to investing around £100 million. Right now, it is £10 million to 15 million (invested in the UK) but we are looking at acquisition of a £55 million company there,” Saurabh Kumar, EESL’s managing director was quoted as saying by LiveMint. This investment will be in the area of district cooling, a concept where heat exchange occurs in a centralised location. This technology is critical in large scale batteries and grids.
EESL is also looking at picking up investments in fast charging infrastructure for EVs. The company is after-all the nodal agency for the Indian government’s planned procurement of over 20,000 EVs. Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra will be supplying more than 500 cars in the early phase of this programme. Companies such as ABB Power are already bidding to set up over 4,000 EV charging stations.
EESL is also making investments in other clean energy areas like grid storage. It’s most recent investment was in Ontario, Canada. The company will invest in a 14 mega watt hour grid-scale storage facility through its joint venture with UK-based EnergyPro Limited. The project is being promoted by Canada’s Deltro Energy and is aimed at providing ancillary services to the grid. It is part of a 50MW energy storage procurement contract by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator.
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