ABB India, a leader in power and automation technologies, became the first company to reach sales of a cumulative capacity of 1 GW solar inverters, a company release said. This milestone was marked with the rollout of an order for Tata Power Solar’s project for Kiran Energy Solar Power. ABB India commenced local manufacturing of solar inverters in 2012 and has since grown in partnership with key industry customers.
Technology leadership complemented with competent indigenisation and reliable service, helped ABB India to quickly achieve and maintain pole position in the market over the last three years. The cumulative installed base for central inverters in India reached 3 GW in 2014.
“Despite having the fifth largest generation capacity in the world, a third of our population has no access to electricity. We hope to be a key component in India’s solar powered future through our solutions spanning the entire solar value chain,” said Bazmi Husain, Managing Director, ABB India. “The ambitious target set for solar power generation capacity in the country, 100GW by 2022, makes it imperative to leverage all avenues available, be it 300 days of sunshine or opting for efficient and quality components deployed across solar projects.”
Changes were made in ABB’s product design keeping in mind the local requirements like demanding environments of high temperatures, dust and humidity. Solar power has great potential to lead the charge of renewables and is rapidly approaching grid parity in many countries. It is emerging to be a key contributor in the energy mix and the government’s drive to provide access to electricity for all. This positions ABB India well in an industry that is set for 10 percent plus annual growth in the country.
“Being an early adopter of the latest inverter technology, we collaborated with ABB India from their initial years. Their understanding of the market and reliable product suite has made them a valuable partner in our operations,” said Dr. Arul Shanmugasundram, EVP – Projects and Chief Technology Officer, Tata Power Solar. “We look forward to a more comprehensive association in the coming years.”
ABB is the leading global supplier of solar photovoltaic inverters, which play a key role in converting the sun’s energy into electric current. Solar inverters convert solar power direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) for transmission and distribution. ABB solar inverters improve reliability, efficiency and ease of installations. The inverters range from 100 kW to 1,000 kW and are optimised for cost-efficient multi-megawatt power plants. One gigawatt (1 billion watts) is enough to power up to around 750,000 households, as per western averages.