Markus Bruegmann, the company’s global product group manager for microgrids, Power Grids division, said “In emerging markets, it’s firstly about the access to electricity, and reducing certain fuel cost because currently in India so many people are not electrified. This is a driver for the emerging markets. We see india as a growth market, as far as a microgrid is concerned,” 

 

He added that ABB’s global engineering solutions are relying on a team in India, which grew twice its size from last year and is expected to double again. “We have an engineering team in India who work for all global microgrid applications because we find well educated engineers in the country, so I use this hub to serve all of my units. 

 

So, whatever needs to be engineered will be engineered first there, from there it goes back and gets localized. We are using India quite heavily and we have invested already a lot of resources here,” he said. 

 

Smart grids are being looked at as a potential solution for feeding India’s electrification needs, and powering its islands, Bruegmann added. 

 

ABB has developed a micro grid system to integrate solar energy and supply power to Robben Island, a few km off the coast of Cape Town. The same system can be applied for islands in India, Bruegmann said.