ABB Power Products & Systems India has changed its name to Hitachi Energy India [POWERINDIA:IN] on November 19, as reported by Economic Times on the same day. The move was to show its resolution to accelerate the clean energy transition in India, the same reason why its parent company, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, rebranded as Hitachi Energy on October 15. Specifically, Hitachi Energy India will strengthen its leadership in India’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) sector through more integration of renewable energy, while it already takes up 50% of all HVDC projects in the country. Moreover, it aims to expand its transformers and grid automation businesses in the country’s fast-growing industries such as rail and data centers.

At the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, India announced ambitious targets of 500GW in renewable energy generation capacity by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. India now emits around 7% of the global greenhouse gases (GHG), and the figure is rising as the country experienced the worst power shortage this October since March 2016. Coal-fired power accounts for more than 70% of India’s electricity output and 54% of the country’s total installed power capacity. The gap between power generation and installed capacity is due to the intermittency of clean energy and the difficulty of integrating renewable electricity in the still-inadequate India power grids. This indicates the urgency of clean energy transition and the development prospect of the grid sector. According to an analysis by the climate and energy research institute, CEEW, the net-zero goal would cost India USD10tr to scale-up renewable energy capacity, build power integration, distribution, and transmission infrastructure, and develop green hydrogen projects.

Sources:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/engineering/abb-power-products-rebrands-itself-as-hitachi-energy-india/articleshow/87801549.cms

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/india-needs-101tn-investment-to-achieve-net-zero-emission-by-2070-study/article37554977.ece

https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-october-power-supply-deficit-worst-since-march-2016-2021-10-13/

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-case-for-us-cooperation-with-india-on-a-just-transition-away-from-coal/