An exclusive interview with Dr. Charusmita, Director at Statcon Energiaa. Her focus is on discovering innovative ways of bringing knowledge of high-power electronics into common parlance.

Statcon Energiaa, specialized in sophisticated development of power converters and solutions. The company cater products to various sectors, including solar energy, hydrogen production, defence, and industrial applications.

Q: Tell me about yourself and your journey in Statcon Energiaa. What sparked your interest in the Solar industry?

Dr. Charusmita:

So, I’m not an engineer by qualification. I studied economics at Miranda House at Delhi University, and then I went on to do my MA and PhD in media and anthropology at the University of Westminster in London. And after that, I taught there for a while.

I was teaching media studies, and I was teaching communication studies, and principles of communication, which are very different from anything to do with energy, engineering, or technology.

And then I came back to India and joined the power electronics manufacturing company, Statcon Energiaa. I joined as a communications professional.

So my first role here was as a lead in communications, and I was handling marketing communications and internal communications. That is what got me interested in the renewable energy field, especially solar and green hydrogen.

So there was a lot of it, and I realized that there was a lot of gap between people who understood the technology thoroughly and, on the other side, people who were willing to understand, but the language in which the engineers communicated was not very friendly to them.

So, how I started seeing my role was that you understand the technology, make it in a way that is understandable and becomes interesting, for laymen, for people who want to understand technology but it is too technical for them. So that is what got me interested in solar and this field, and that is how I ventured into this company.

Q: What is the core focus of Statcon Energiaa? How does it contribute to the power electronics industry?

Dr. Charusmita:

So the core focus of the company is hardcore manufacturing. What we do is design and manufacture and supply various high-power converters, for the power electron for the power industry, solar industry, hydrogen, railways, four or five sectors.

So the core focus then becomes supplying high-quality power electronics, all kinds of ACDC, power converters, and mainly high-power solutions that can be used for industrial, commercial, as well as residential purposes. So the main vision is to fulfill the energy or power needs of the country and then globally.

Q: Any real-life, case study or example you’d like to contribute to this one?

Dr. Charusmita:

Oh, absolutely. A very, very apt example where all the aspects would probably be covered. So we all know about, microgrids now. It’s become very, very popular in the last few years.

Where there are the sites are off-grid, in really remote areas where the grid is also not available, especially in rural areas. So microgrids are becoming very popular because what big companies do is they take up microgrid projects and they make small microgrids that distribute the power locally.

So they generate the solar there and they would probably connect four villages and they would distribute the power so that the people living in those villages don’t have to depend on the government to install the grid there and they don’t have to depend on, they don’t have to suffer through those power cuts anymore.

So in this microgrid space, what we did was that some of our microgrid customers came to us with this problem that looks like there are normal inverters available in the market.

However, it is not fulfilling our operational needs and cultural needs for microgrids because microgrids are installed in villages. They need to be, easily operable. They need to be, all weatherproof.

They need to be, expandable so that tomorrow if the microgrid energy needs an increase of the local area, that should also the the machine the machine should be able to cater to those needs. So they came to us with several problems that look, these are the problems that we are facing.

Some of them were technical, some of them were, operations related, and some of them were even socio-cultural. So what our company did was, and it’s a very typical example of what we do, we customize the power converters. So they understood their problem.

They said, alright. If you have a problem that you have to construct the whole room and then there is flooding and then, you know, the room fills up and then the batteries are wasted, let us go for a containerized solution. Do you want expandability?

Let us go for a box, with solar panels on it, and we will make it in a way that it can be just kept in a place and you can connect different loads to it.

And, so so all of these problems we cater to that it should be future proof, it should be weatherproof, it should, be easily operable so that the local people also get employment. So we cater to several challenges that our customers brought from us.

And this is the same across all of the sectors that we cater to, that people come to us with these power conversion challenges. We understand that.

We customize the power electronics to them, and then we, supply it to them. So some of our products are standardized, but we are known for our customizations for high power converters.

Q: What is the significance of indigenizing components and being a global player in India? Explain in detail.

Dr. Charusmita:

So this is a very important question that you’ve asked actually. Because of indigenizing, I remember, recently, there was an article that I read. It was about how Indian firms must filter their business from China.

And they have to do not just China, but also other countries, and they have to do more sourcing from domestic manufacturers because there are, a lot of supply chain issues because of which, we, the domestic manufacturers suffer. There are supply chain issues.

There are after-sales issues because the spares are not available for a lot of the foreign products.

Then if in case of any conflict with any other country, anything is going on globally, it affects the prices as well, not just the supply chain.

It also affects the prices of the components.

So these are all the points that I said just now all cater to the manufacturer. But what benefit will customers get out of indigenizing components is that they would get long-term service support. Because if the manufacturer is sitting here, then it won’t be like, oh, now your product is obsolete, so now we won’t give you the spare support.

Our government would be protecting them because now they have consumer rights and everything, so they would have the right to repair. So we have to keep spares. So, long-term after-sales support is a big point because of which we encourage that indigenous component sourcing should be there.

Then indigenous, component components also have an advantage in technological quality and innovation.

If I am manufacturing something and if I realize that, okay, the feedback from the market is not great or the market needs are changing very quickly, then I would be a domestic manufacturer, being an Indigenous manufacturer, and being able to buy Indigenous components locally sourced, I would be, able to change and evolve my technology faster.

I won’t have to wait for a foreign manufacturer of a component or a foreign manufacturer of my product to, have this idea and then do the technological innovation.

So, a manufacturer can respond to the market needs very quickly if their components are sourced domestically and if their design and manufacturing are done indigenously.

So this was the benefit to the customers. And the benefit to the industry, I’ve already explained to you. So these are the two important, aspects of Indigenous sourcing and manufacturing.

Q: How much benefit you have seen or, like, a kind of a change with? Like, what is the major change or after-effect, like, growth-wise or revenue you have opted for or even in terms of customer?

Dr. Charusmita:

Revenue-wise, big time. Big time. So, the biggest names in the microgrid industry buy all of their products from us.  A lot of them, the largest microgrid players in India buy their hundred percent, stock from Statcon Energiaa.

So what happened earlier was they were using all foreign-made bands. They were facing issues of after-sales. Then those, really established companies were not responding to their social culture and technological challenges in the past.

They said that, listen, we have the standardized standardized product. If you want to buy it, these are our service terms and conditions. If you want to buy it, fine. Otherwise, we are not going to cater to your specific needs, okay, especially Indian conditions.

So what we did was because we customized, so we were able to not just retain those customers, but they are now, contributing to, our maximum revenue in our solar division.

So we are not only able to retain the customers, we were able to get more customers from the microgrid space because when they saw others doing it and then they realized, okay, the servicing would be better, the technology is better, the technological evolution is better.

So why not go to people who are, you know, especially making the technology for us? So customization was important for us. And they were okay with, you know, they have the paying capacity as well.

So now in our solar division, in our microgrid solar division, a lot of our revenue comes through these companies, and we can attract new customers as well.

Q: How does Statcon Energiaa support elevating India’s power grid and critical industries such as Railway, and Defense?

Dr. Charusmita:

By providing robust and reliable power electronics solutions, Statcon Energiaa significantly contributes to the modernization and efficiency of India’s power grid, railways, and defense sectors, supporting the country’s infrastructure development and energy sustainability goals​.

Power: Statcon Energiaa develops and supplies advanced power electronics solutions to enhance power generation, transmission, and distribution across India’s power grid.

Statcon Energiaa’s industrial battery chargers are spread across the length and breadth of India, with over 20,000 units currently functioning. We offer a range of products for power utilities that cover a wide spectrum intending to modernize India’s power grid.

Our major clients in this sector include DMRC, Jaipur Metro, Indian Army, Air Force, Navy, NTPC, NHPC, BHEL, NHDC, electricity boards of MP, HP, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, etc.

Railways:

In the railway sector, Statcon Energiaa offers Integrated Power Supply Systems (IPS) and SMPS Charger Systems. These products ensure the continuous and safe operation of railway networks by providing reliable power conversion and backup solutions.

The Solar MPPT solution for Railway Coaches is another significant innovation that supports the integration of renewable energy into the railway system, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing dependence on traditional power sources​.

Defence:

For the defence sector, Statcon Energiaa designs and manufactures Ground Power Units, High Power DC Regulated Supplies, and Thyristor Controlled Rectifier Battery Chargers, among other products.

These products meet stringent military standards and are used in various applications, including powering submarines and naval vessels. The company’s AC-DC Load Banks are crucial for testing and commissioning equipment under real-life operating conditions, ensuring readiness for critical missions​.

Stay tune for the part 2.