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Power for All has been a celebrated mission of the India growth story.
However, the objective of bringing electricity to every single consumer
will remain elusive, much like the goal of achieving 100 per cent literacy.
There will be some consumption areas where transmitting grid power
electricity will be technically and commercially unviable.
Now, delivering power to consumers is only one part of the story. The finer
objective, which is indeed a bigger challenge, is to be able to consistently give
quality power. On this count, India has much yet to do. While round-the-clock
availability of electricity may be true in urban centres, one cannot say much of
the power quality. The power supply chain has weak links in the form of
brownouts, blackouts, surges, voltage fluctuations, etc. These glitches can
hinder socio-economic activity, in varying degrees.
It is in this context that the power conditioning equipment industry is gaining
prominence. There was a time when a UPS or inverter was considered merely
as a power backup device but today such equipment is being used as a
power conditioner, quite regardless of nature of grid power supply. As the
world goes digital, the dependence of businesses on digital storage and
processing devices has increased significantly. A power spike can easily
damage downstream equipment and even jeopardize businesses. Sectors
like banking & financial services, defence, data centres, etc are highly
dependent on digital machinery and are hence become big growth drivers of
the power conditioning equipment industry.
Estimates suggest the power conditioning equipment segment is likely to
grow by over 20 per cent per year, in the medium term. This makes it a very
vibrant component of the electrical equipment space. There is considerable
interest from multinationals to enter the power backup and conditioning
space through strategic deals including joint ventures and acquisitions.
Countries like China and Taiwan are also inundating the low-rating UPS
market through cheap products, albeit with negligible after-sales support. The
good news is that large and established companies are now focusing on the
low-rating market and are offering products at very competitive prices. This
bodes well for the consumer who can now get quality and after-sales support
within his budget. Tier-II and Tier-III cities are strongly being viewed as future
consumption centres for low-rating UPS products. Several manufacturers are
realizing that power conditioning is as important an aspect as power backup.
Hence, suitable features like voltage stabilizing, power factor correction, etc
are being built into modern-day power backup devices.
The UPS and inverter industry indeed appears poised to herald a phase of
uninterruptible growth.
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