Chemi Tech Group has joined hands with Sunpower Renewables, Australia to bring in their Lithium-Ion Based Off-Grid solutions along with Electric Vehicle Charging based solutions in India.
The company plans to start production at their manufacturing unit in Hyderabad from June 2021 onwards, till that time, the units will be imported from Melbourne.
Chemi Tech Group has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Snel Charge to carry out production of off-grid solutions & EV Chargers.
Sunpower offers products from 100 W to 7.5 kW and battery sizes come from 130 Wh to 15 kWh. The battery bank comes with warranties and performance guarantees and can last for more than 4500 cycles.
All the products have an option to export to the grid, which is switchable. The products are light-weight, plug & play and require zero maintenance.
The products can be used outdoors also, like trekking & camping trips, site offices, defense forces and mining operations and can be used in the place of Diesel generators too.
On a demo basis, Sunpower has installed its units at around 30 places in India, including for some of the most renowned establishments of the country. The demo has been going on for over a year now and the feedback and the performance of the system has been exemplary.
In Electric Vehicle space, the company will be coming out with both AC & DC charging units. A major USP will be a portable charger with inbuilt battery bank, which can be carried around in a car and will be able to provide emergency charging to EVs stranded on the roads. This will help the EV buyers to fight the range anxiety issues.
Anupam Mathur, Director, Snel Charge India, believes that due to many states discouraging the use of net metering, and the latest notification about scraping of net metering above 5 kW, the market will eventually move towards hybrid and off-grid systems.
The cost difference between Lead-acid and Lithium ion batteries is reducing every day. Even now, the advantages of Li-ion outweigh the cost difference between the two batteries. Li-ion batteries are maintenance free and will run for around 15 years with ease, Lead-acid have to be replaced every 3 years, are bulky and require regular maintenance.
Mathur said “We will be the 1st company to offer such solutions manufactured in the country itself. These solutions will also be useful in many places that ban diesel gensets during winter months due to increase in pollution levels, like Delhi. Overall, if you look at them being used as a backup instead of DGs, the cost advantages are immense. People living in societies can install them in their homes. They can charge the batteries when the grid is available and use them when the power goes out.”
He added “Most societies charge around 18-25 Rs per unit for backup power and it will help residents save up a lot of cost. We aim to distribute these products in the entire South East Asia and market them as far as South America in due course of time. The entire world is looking at India as a manufacturing hub and we want to make our small contribution towards “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.”
Speaking on the occasion, Nick Wood, Managing Director, New Markets at Sunpower Renewables commented, “The partnership poses great opportunities as a result of working synergies that exist between Sunpower Renewables and Chemi Tech. The market is now ripe for cleantech options with several measures being imposed in India to curb diesel usage. We see this as a fast evolving market with a strong focus on renewables and with year on year growth for Electric Vehicle cars”.