New Delhi Schneider Electric plans to play a key role in India’s sustainable goals and transition towards clean energy, and its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jean-Pascal Trichore said hydrogen solutions in line with the government’s focus on producing green hydrogen. present. ,
Speaking in an interview, Tricoire said the company’s strategy in India is “sustainability and continued investment”, noting that it is the third major trading destination after the US and China.
He said the global automation and energy management giant aims to double its exports from India in the next four years, for which it will also expand its facilities.
“We are expanding our factories. Last week, I inaugurated a new plant in Vadodara. It’s not the only place we’re expanding. We are expanding many of our factories and more importantly, we are expanding our cooperation with local suppliers. We help them grow in terms of capability, technical capability, help them globalize especially in terms of certification,” he said.
Trikore has launched GreenNext, a new entity to help industries and buildings generate electricity locally and provide storage solutions through microgrids. Last December, the company announced the launch of the GreenNext joint venture in collaboration with Temasek of Singapore, which will provide sustainable and flexible energy solutions to commercial and industrial customers through solar and battery hybrid microgrid technology.
On India’s plans to become a hub for battery manufacturing and storage and green hydrogen, Tricoir said: “We are already one of the champions of battery storage in India. We have several factories manufacturing specific batteries for India. We will certainly support hydrogen solutions in the future.”
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the ‘National Hydrogen Mission’ on August 15, 2021, the government in February unveiled the first part of the new Green Hydrogen Policy, which covers affordable renewable energy, inter-state power transmission for 25 years. Fee waiver was promised. For projects started before June 2025, land in renewable energy parks, and mega manufacturing zones to help local industries wean themselves off fossil fuels.
Trichore said Schneider Electric is making significant investments in the digital space in India to support research and development, technology and applications development, support the integration of the most advanced industries, and help build a smart ecosystem.
Highlighting the company’s focus on domestic manufacturing, he said that around 90% of the products supplied in India are locally manufactured and designed, considering its “unique requirements”.
On the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on his global operations, he said: “We do 2% of our trade between Ukraine and Russia, and it has been affected.”
However, he added that the crisis has made many countries realize the need to be self-reliant in terms of energy requirement and the need to move towards clean and renewable energy.
“Many countries in the world have realized that they were heavily dependent on fossil fuels, gas and oil. The price and scarcity of them can affect their entire development. We will accelerate the transition to greater efficiency as everyone needs energy. We will also emphasize to intensify the movement for electrification especially on clean electrification, as it is the only way to reduce dependence,” Trichore said.
On the impact of the pandemic, he said that although the company’s operations have improved, some disruptions still exist. He said the pandemic has accelerated the process of digitization and made people think more about climate change and the need to shift to clean energy.