Schneider Electric sees a big opportunity in the smart grid market, according to Deepak Sharma, MD & CEO, Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd.
In a media roundtable held during the inaugural leg of Schneider Electric’s “INNOVATION DAYS 2024” in Mumbai on August 13, 2024, Deepak Sharma said that smart grid presents a very big business opportunity for Schneider Electric and the company was equipped with a strong set of products and solutions to service this growing market.
Sharma explained that as the power grid gets fed with an increasing quantum of power generated from non-fossil fuels (renewables), grid management will become very critical. Smart grid solutions will help stabilize the grid as injection from renewable energy sources are inherently intermittent.
There was another dimension that power grids of the future will need to deal with – the “prosumer” aspect. Deepak Sharma explained that conventional consumers, equipped with local power generation sources like solar rooftops for instance, could start feeding electricity to the grid, while also consuming electricity from the grid. A “prosumer” is popularly defined as one who is both a consumer and a producer. Schneider Electric has already a few pilot projects running to understand the dynamics of two-way grid flow, Sharma noted.
The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) is another area where Schneider Electric has been very active. The Schneider Electric top official observed that the company’s prowess in smart energy meters received a big boost after the acquisition of the Electrical & Automation (E&A) business of Larsen & Toubro [L&T-E&A], which was formally completed in 2020. Incidentally, the switchgear business of L&T-E&A branded as “L&T Switchgear”, was recently rebranded to “Lauritz Knudsen”.
On the subject of the brands “Schneider Electric” and “Lauritz Knudsen,” Sharma said that the two brands have different products and different strengths. There also could be competing products between the two brands, he observed, However, he pointed out that the customer is always given the choice. “Customers can choose based on the value proposition,” Sharma noted.
Customer focus
Dwelling on Schneider Electric’s journey in India, Deepak Sharma explained that Schneider Electric entered India around sixty years ago, with its parent brands. Over the years, the company undertook several acquisitions that gave rise to multiple brands and a multiplicity of legal entities. Despite this evolving corporate structure, Schneider Electric’s has always been focused on the customer. “From a customer perspective, we keep it simple. It is one big technology house,” was how Sharma made his point.
Schneider Electric’s approach has been to address a customer use-case, be it buildings or industry or utility, and use multiple technologies to solve the problem. “At the end of it, the customer should get the best,” Deepak Sharma summarized.
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Featured photograph (source: Schneider Electric) is for representation only
