“Drives are the key drivers behind energy efficiency”

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  • Oct 19,19
India’s energy efficiency market, estimated at $ 23 billion (around Rs 1.5 trillion), will need huge investment in technologies to tap the full potential of the market.
“Drives are the key drivers behind energy efficiency”

India’s energy efficiency market, estimated at $ 23 billion (around Rs 1.5 trillion), will need huge investment in technologies to tap the full potential of the market. AC drives - which often integrate into automation systems to control speed of three-phase AC motors that commonly run conveyors, fans, and pumps - can be an ideal tool to reduce energy consumption. Global electrical energy consumption could be reduced by 10 per cent if AC drives were used in every suitable application, claims Palanisamy P L, Director Sales Marketing and Services at Danfoss Drives. In this interview, Palanisamy explains importance of AC drives for manufacturing sector and how intelligent drives can help companies to save energy and increase efficiency.
 
How is the demand for AC drives in India? 
With energy efficiency in enterprises now emerging a boardroom topic, there is an increased demand for drives to re-write the potential of profitability in the industry. The AC drives control the power supply to electric motors and typically save 15-40 per cent of energy consumed. Understanding that over 40 per cent of electrical energy consumption in the world is by electrical motors, it is interesting to note that global electrical energy consumption could be reduced by 10 per cent if AC drives were used in every suitable application. This in turn spurs the global demand for variable frequency drives (VFD), which is expected to increase at over 7 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the period 2016-2026. 
 
With the current market conditions, we see that the infrastructure sector and heavy industries are the biggest consumers of drives. As the avenues of growth increase, supported by the government push to develop these sectors, we expect the momentum 
of growth and progress to drive further demand. 
 
Your company is one of the leading players in AC drives. What do you bring to the table for customers who are looking for energy efficiency and cost reduction?
Danfoss Drives plays a key role in enhancing process and energy efficiency across industries, right from air handling units to conveyer belts to cement rotary kiln’s to chemical centrifuges to elevators & escalators, thereby showcasing the versatility of our drives product range.  
With energy efficiency being the USP of our products across the drives range, Danfoss drives are found in varied applications across multiple industries such as marine technology, water and wastewater management, HVAC, refrigeration, food & beverages industry, lifts and escalators, mining and minerals, chemical and cranes and hoists etc.  They play a key role in enhancing process and system efficiency  across the manufacturing chain, with great versatility and adaptability that makes our products front-runners in the industry.   
 
We offer a plethora of customisable offerings which help in providing accurate and reliable solutions to our customers, thereby helping them get enhanced system performance, energy efficiency, customised solutions and cost savings. Keeping business aside, Danfoss believes in building strong partnerships – it is only through this process that we understand our customers’ needs better and deliver innovative solutions for them, building the technology of tomorrow which is fast, easy and relevant!
 
How is the rise in demand for automation aiding growth of AC drives market?
The most important development in the industrial space is the active promotion of automation that is seeking to ease the process of manufacturing and redefine the profitability of industries through effective utilisation of energy and manufacturing components. The coming of digitisation to industries has also helped us to build capabilities in newer business models where we are able to add significant value to the industry, both from an energy-efficiency and safety perspective which in turn creates opportunity for ‘smart manufacturing’. This ensures that there is less wastage of resources, increased productivity, better quality, faster time-to-market, integrated supply chain and better security. 
Though AC drives can operate as standalone devices, they often integrate into automation systems to control speed of three-phase ac motors that commonly run conveyors, fans, and pumps. For such speed control, AC drives most often pair with PLCs. Our AC drives are becoming more intelligent and now include built-in PLCs to work as smart drives. These smart AC drives are compact, add intelligence at the edge of machinery, include inverters capable of more than just typical speed control and accept the setting of myriad parameters. 
With full power of Industrial IoT with intelligent drives from Danfoss, customers can optimise performance but also easily add predictive and condition-based maintenance capabilities to his system. Internal sensors from drives detect application events going beyond the drive gathering data from multiple sources and generating vital real time insights with intelligence on the edge. Therefore, drives play an important role in total automation eco system. 
 
For eg Danfoss drives not only optimise performance but they also can exchange data with any business system or cloud platform to predict maintenance needs, increase system uptime and optimise efficiency. Consequently, there is no need to invest more external sensors and solutions when you can unleash the intelligence within Danfoss drives.
 
Are you using Indian manufacturing units to supply AC drives to Danfoss’ global customers? 
With over 60 per cent of the Indian economy being consumption driven and the growth of our services sector and urbanisation, we continue to see various opportunities being created to further our business in the country. In line with government’s Make in India initiative, Danfoss kick-started its own version of the same with a new manufacturing campus in India. Keeping this in mind, Danfoss has a three-step approach: First to make in India for the Indian Market, second to make in India for the rest of the world and third to make components in India for application in global innovations.  
 
Our primary focus continues to remain on catering to the technological demands of our Indian customers and ensuring that we address their needs by creating avenues for co-creation and testing of new products. In reference to localisation of products manufactured at Danfoss India, it is at about 20-25 per cent and we expect this to be stepped up to over 50 per cent by 2020. 
 
What are your growth plans for the drives business in India?
Earlier this year, in lines with the company completing 20 years of independent operations in the Indian market, we announced 
a large sum of investment to set up a new production line at the Danfoss India Campus in Oragadam, Chennai, to produce low-voltage frequency drives. Staying closer to customers, understanding their needs better and thereby creating innovative solutions will continue to be a core part of our growth strategy. 
 
India’s energy efficiency market is estimated at $ 23 billion (around Rs 1.5 trillion) with a vast potential to grow. It is estimated that India needs to increase its energy efficient technologies investments to 8 times by 2030 in order to achieve the energy saving targets.Drives being one of the key drivers behind energy efficiency, we see a huge potential for Danfoss Drives in Indian market. With a complete portfolio to address the energy efficiency need of all the industries, we are confident that we will have a continuous positive trajectory in the drives business in India.
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Internal sensors from drives detect application events going beyond the drive gathering data from multiple sources and generating vital real time insights with intelligence on the edge. Therefore, drives play an important role in total automation eco system. 
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