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ANIL SABOO: Chairman of IEEMA talks about the links between India and Africa

ESI Africa had a conversation with Anil Saboo, Chairman of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA), to discuss the links between the Indian power and energy sector and the African market.
Saboo said that the Indian power industry is undergoing major changes, redefining the industry’s prospects-this situation can benefit the African region.
Let us first talk about why you decided to use the Enlit Africa digital event to showcase IEEMA members to the African market?
Our IEEMA members have been regularly participating in Enlit Africa, formerly known as Africa Utilities Week. Since this is a digital format, we think it is appropriate for our member companies to attend as exhibitors because they may have the opportunity to interact with the various decision makers of the power companies, consultants and contractors who visited this conference. Most Exhibitions in African countries.
This will give them an opportunity to learn about the African power sector and how they can work together to take advantage of opportunities for common growth.
As the chairman of IEEMA, you have a good understanding of members. In which areas does the Indian utility product and service market perform well?
The investment potential of India’s power sector in the next 4 to 5 years is USD 223.67 billion. India is ranked third with a focus on renewable energy. The main growth drivers are the ever-increasing power demand, the large amount of available manpower, the increase in urbanization, the increase in per capita energy consumption and the electrification of the entire country.
As of 2019, renewable energy accounts for more than 35% of installed power capacity. India’s installed wind power capacity ranks fourth, and concentrated solar (CSP) installed capacity ranks third. In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business-”Access to Electricity” ranking, India’s ranking jumped from 137 in 2014 to 24 in 2019.
The key areas worthy of attention in the near future are distributed energy, electric vehicles, digitalization and hydrogen energy.
India and African countries have similar concerns, especially when it comes to power distribution. Our typical problems here are power theft and network pressure. However, the adoption of smart metering technology has improved our efficiency and helped consumers obtain a better supply.
Since utilities have a similar background, this technology is equally relevant to African utilities. In addition, solar energy, electric vehicles and energy storage are the future of energy work in India and South Africa. It is time for everyone to jump on the energy transition revolution.
The energy transition has been talked about for years-but now, if we make the right choices, the pandemic allows the world to achieve it faster than we thought. Both India and Africa have a future where energy prices are affordable, sustainable, and available to all.
Urgent action is now needed to accelerate changes that benefit businesses, consumers, and our environment. For the energy industry, I think this will mean accelerating a series of trends that are already underway: decarbonization, decentralization, and digitization. However, the huge force behind all these trends is the global net zero plan.
Successfully advancing decarbonization, decentralization, and digitization so that society can move forward on these issues—whether we are “renovating” old infrastructure or designing energy systems from scratch—need to balance environmental, economic, and social priorities. Only in this way can governments, utilities, and infrastructure planners ensure that our future energy infrastructure is “just right”—meeting both our economic needs and the needs of the environment.
IEEMA members are researching technologies that are critical to the energy transition, such as:
As the president of IEEMA, what are the differences from previous years that you suggest visitors to the IEEMA Pavilion of Enlit Africa digital event pay attention to?
On display this year will be the smart technologies of our exhibitors, such as smart meters, conductors, cables, cable accessories, insulators, isolators, lightning arresters, switchgear, transformers, and so on.
In addition, IEEMA officials also hope to discuss joint venture opportunities with their respective partners.
The 16 IEEMA members who participated in the activities under the IEEMA India Pavilion showcased the following wide range of products:


Post time: Jun-16-2021