Sterling chief says diesel gensets guard IT assets

Besides IT parks, company also boasts of Delhi airport as client

The diesel generator industry may not enjoy the aura of some of the New Economy businesses, but Sanjay Jadhav, head of the Rs 600-crore Sterling Generators, says even cutting-edge sectors won’t survive without their back-up.

In fact, all businesses which cannot risk power failure for their critical functions need diesel generator support, he told Deccan Herald.

“If the board supplied power were to fail, the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system will kick in, but it can at best run critical loads for 30 minutes,” Jadhav said.

For instance, take the IT park at Siruseri near Chennai, which TCS claims to be Asia’s largest.

Located in a 28-hectare plot, the spanking new campus with a built-up area of five million square feet can staff 22,000 people. But unseen by many, installed in an acoustically-treated generator room, are 13 of Sterling’s 2,000 kVA generators, ever ready to step in as the second line of defence in case of power failure.

“Combined, they can produce 21 mW of power, and can run 24X7 uninterrupted for months,” Jadhav said.

Though a major project, Siruseri is not the biggest installation for Sterling Generators. That credit goes to its work at the New Delhi airport, where it has installed gensets of 35 mW capacity. The company, whose parent is the Rs 2,500- crore Sterling and Wilson Powergen from the Shapoorji Pallonji stable, claims to offer a one-stop solution. This covers design, engineering, installation and commissioning, besides service.

Sterling Generators has a generator manufacturing plant at Silvassa. It has invested Rs 150 crore in the plant, which employs 400 of its 600 employees.

Sterling has tie-ups with multinationals like Perkins, MTU Friedrichshafen, and Volvo to source diesel engines, and Leroy-Somer and Stamford for alternators.

The plant, which can produce 2,500 gensets per year in the 10 kVA to 3,000 kVA range, builds its own electrical control panels, base frames,  acoustic systems, etc., checks the alignment, and does assembly and testing.

Under Sterling’s turnkey model, it builds exhaust systems, acoustic heat treatments, fuel lines, piping, and electrical installations.

Acoustics is a priority, since perceptions about smoke-belching, noisy generators have to be addressed. It employs engineers with specialisations in acoustics, ventilation, and piping design, drawn from mechanical and electrical engineering streams. “Our generators keep both noise and smoke under central pollution control board (CPCB) norms,” Jadhav claimed.

Last year, the slowdown caught up with Sterling, and growth was flat. The company, which claims a 10 per cent share in the Rs 6,000-crore domestic market, now sees its order book improving.

Additionally, the decline in crude oil prices is a positive. For FY 2015-16, it has targeted 10-15 per cent topline growth, and employee addition of 10 per cent.
Towards this, it plans to invest up to Rs 30 crore to expand its Silvassa plant with a service workshop.