Global automation solutions provider Siemens will continue to invest in research and development to be ready for the post-COVID-19 scenario, a senior official said on Tuesday.
In a virtual media roundtable conference held across the Asian countries, Siemens Smart Infrastructure CEO Cedrik Neike said COVID-19 pandemic has re-emphasised the need for adopting innovations for grid infrastructure as the demand for power in many countries had dropped due to the lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus.
"The pandemic has indeed impacted our businesses, but we have not reduced our spending in R&D, even though it is a hit on our bottomline. On the contrary, we believe that we need to now invest in future technology. As COVID-19 is going to away at some stage, we need to have the right technology ready," Neike, who is also Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG, said.
He said the company has been increasing its R&D budget and is the largest in the world, spending more than 5.4 billion euros every year.
As a part of the strategy, the company is investing in grid edge technologies, apart from other solutions, which includes decentralised generation, storage, smart meters and electric vehicles, among others.
"The decline in demand for power, which has been almost 20 per cent in few countries due to the imposition of lockdown, there have been an economical impact on the distributors. "Also, since many countries are feeding more renewable energy, which is less stable, into the grid, as they are reducing the fossil fuel based generation, there is a need to balance the grid to ensure no blackout. For this, we need to have more intelligence in grid to maintain its stability," Neike added.
India's peak power demand had dropped by nearly 26 per cent in April due to the nationwide lockdown, which had shut almost all economic activities in the country.
Due to the fall in demand, few coal-fired units had shut operations, while renewable energy projects, which were declared as "must-run" were feeding the grid along with the operational conventional power plants.
"We see a huge opportunity in the energy space as well as the e-mobility space in India. India will have to adopt e-mobility not only for reducing the carbon emissions but also to control air pollution. India will have to adopt e-mobility for three-wheelers, even if it is not higher for cars" Neike noted.
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