The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), the joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power has announced ramping up installation of electric vehicles (EV) charging infrastructure in the country during the fiscal year 2020-21.
The public energy service company established for the implementation of energy efficiency programs in India has installed more than 300 charging stations across the country and plans to set up around 2,000 EV charging facilities by March 2021.
"We have resolved the supply-side constraints. Most of the new charging stations will become operational soon," Saurabh Kumar, EESL Managing Director told IANS.
"We have exceeded the target of EV charging stations for FY20. Now we have over 300 such charging stations across the country."
Kumar assured that the installation plans have not slowed down despite the COVID-19 outbreak and with supply-side back on track, EESL hopes to achieve the target of setting-up 2,000 charging stations by end of this fiscal year.
EESL plans to install 500 charging stations in the Delhi- NCR region during the current fiscal year and eventually expand to 10,000 charging stations over the next two-to-three years across India.
Reports suggest, EESL has partnered with urban local bodies in cities like Hyderabad, Noida, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Chennai, and is in discussion with others to set charging infrastructure within those cities. It has also tied- up with various private and public companies such as Apollo Hospitals, BSNL, Maha-Metro, BHEL and HPCL, and others, to set up public charging infrastructure.
Kumar noted that the main capital required for setting up charging infrastructure is the availability of land, and as of now, it is being provided free of cost by most municipal bodies or firms for public chargers. In return, EESL pays a certain sum as a land rental to the entity for every kilowatt-hour (kW/h) utilized by the company.
EESL, is also in the process of aggregating demand generation for EVs in the country via bulk purchases. In addition to its efforts of building an e-mobility ecosystem in the country, it is scaling up smart meters and smart grids, storage, and other clean energy technologies.
EESL is also working on combined cooling, heat, and power projects involving natural gas-fired generators to produce electricity. It has already signed an MoU with natural gas major GAIL India for the development of such projects in India.