EESL Plans to set-up 2000 EV Charging Stations in 2020-21

EESL will step up its efforts for the installation of EV charging stations in the country during 2020-21, with 2,000 charging facilities planned for the fiscal.

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a home-grown Super Energy Service Company (ESCO) under the administration of the Ministry of Power, Government of India, has announced its plans to step up its efforts for installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the country during fiscal 2020-21.

The firm has been in charge of the project to boost the e-mobility ecosystem in India. And has accordingly set its sights at installing around 2,000 EV charging facilities across the country during this fiscal year. At present, it has installed over 300 such charging stations in India.

However, some of them have not come online to supply-side disruptions caused due to COVID-19 outbreak. “We have resolved the supply-side constraints. Most of the new charging stations will become operational soon,” EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar told local news agency IANS.

“We have exceeded our target of EV charging stations for FY20. Now we have over 300 such charging stations across the country.”

For FY21, Kumar pointed-out, that company plans to accelerate the installation process and targets to set-up 2,000 new EV charging stations. “Our installation plans have not at all slowed down. In fact this year (FY21) we have set a target of 2,000 charging stations,” Kumar said. “With the supply side back on track, we will be able to achieve this target.”

In the Delhi-NCR region, EESL aims to install around 500 charging stations in the current fiscal. Eventually, the company plans to set up 10,000 charging stations over the next two to three years across India.

Presently, the state-run firm has tied up with various private and public companies such as Apollo Hospitals, BSNL, Maha-Metro, BHEL and HPCL, among others, to set up public charging infrastructure. It has also partnered with urban local bodies in cities like Hyderabad, Noida, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chennai, and is in discussion with others to erect such infrastructure.

According to Kumar, one of the main capital requirements to set up charging infrastructure is the availability of ‘land’, which as of now is provided free of cost by most municipal bodies or firms for public chargers to EESL. The clean energy major then sets up the charging station in that area and operates it for 10 years.

In return, EESL pays a certain proportion as a land rental to the entity for every kilowatt-hour (kW/h) the company utilises. Furthermore, the company is in the process of aggregating the demand generation for EVs in the country via bulk purchases.

Apart from creating an e-mobility ecosystem in the country, the ESCO is scaling up smart meters and smart grids, storage and other clean energy technologies. It is also betting big on the development of ‘trigeneration‘ projects in India. The ‘trigeneration’ or ‘combined cooling, heat and power’ project involves natural gas-fired generators to produce electricity. Recently, the company entered into an MoU with natural gas major GAIL India for the development of such projects in India.