UDAY augurs well for power sector

Alok Kishore, Chief Executive Officer, Wago Pvt Ltd.

The present government has been proactive in identifying the areas that require urgent attention for revival. Alok Kishore, Chief Executive Officer, Wago Pvt Ltd says, “While there were numerous initiatives announced across sectors, power and energy industry has witnessed probably the most successful executable initiatives during last 3 years. During this time country has seen many ‘firsts’ like renewable power net capacity addition surpassing conventional power, power deficit to power surplus and IT and automation led processes ensuring efficient and transparent operations.”

Alok also observes, for a sustainable all-round strengthening, power and energy industry required interventions at both policy and implementation level on all five elements of power delivery chain – fuel, generation, transmission, distribution and consumption. He adds, “It’s good to note that each of these elements has received desired impetus and the results are visible. The government’s mission of 24X7 clean and affordable power for all encompasses an idea of overall revival of the sector. While the immediate results are here to see, ensuring sustained execution will surely deliver long term impact.”

RE is driving
While all the initiatives are significantly impacting health of industry, some of the notable ones like One Nation-One Grid, UDAY, and focus on clean energy are particularly transforming the power and energy sector. “It is the renewable energy and its distribution that will pave the way for new world order in industrial revolution,” informs Alok. Government focus on wind and solar energy that has already delivered results like – 370 per cent increase in solar capacity in last 3 years, 52 per cent increase in installed wind power capacity as on March among others, will encourage adoption of innovative technologies driving efficiencies and competitiveness at global scale. All it needs is a sustained focus on policy and execution from government, glimpses of which are visible in the form of National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy and National Green Corridor Program among others.

Transformation begins
Last two years have seen policy and execution level catalysts that are expected to deliver results for the sector in long term. “India’s commitment towards the Paris Agreement on climate change has seen some focused initiatives aimed at strengthening and promoting renewable energy generation, opening gates for industrial investment by private players in this promising sector. Smart Grid Vision of the government has seen automation industry lining up
for capitalising on the opportunity by investing in their research and new product development for application based solution,” informs Alok.

Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna or UDAY, structured to ensure financial revival of ailing discoms, is guiding the way to remove bottlenecks in entire value chain. Expected to ensure a sustainable
solution to the challenges, this reform augurs well for the power sector, says Alok.

On the other hand, he adds, this sector did not remain untouched by the impact of financial reforms such as demonetisation and GST. “While the currency reform led economy to significant crunch in liquidity, the bearing was felt across industries affecting power sector as well on the demand side. The effect of GST has a mixed bag of impact on this industry and the larger picture is yet to emerge,” Alok says.

Performance of Wago
On the lines of overall economy, our industry also had its share of percolating effects of recent developments in the policies and economic developments. “Increased focus on productivity enhancement and risk management enabled by operational intelligence is witnessing adoption of smart manufacturing practices surely impacting the automation provider industry,” says Alok.

WAGO, working at the backend of operational automation, is doing its bit to deliver products that are high on make quality, reliability and safety parameters. Alok says,“With the surge in demand, we have experienced a double-digit revenue growth YoY in automation product range in last 3 years. Power and energy, being one of the focused industry sector for Wago, is growing at a steady pace for us. The overall reforms in this sector have led to consistent technology investment and we are hopeful of increased revenue effect.”

Innovative strategies to remain competitive
“Our experience with customers state that while they are willing to invest in next generation industrial processes leading to realisation of their Industry 4.0 vision, the implementation becomes a bottleneck due to complexities in their operations. With innovation remaining at the core of business for Wago, we strive to deliver simple solution to our customers’ complex challenges,” claims Alok

He also adds, “We give significant attention to understand our customer’s business environment and operational challenge first. This enables us to recommend the right-sized solution and partner with them in their journey towards operational excellence rather than having a vendor-customer relationship. This consultative approach has given us edge over the competition and will continue to do so, thanks to the customer’s confidence in our offerings”.
On the other hand consistent focus on investment in industry research and new product development helps us to remain competitive and future-ready at all times.