SFC Energy and FCTec enter into strategic cooperation agreement

To meet the legal and regulatory requirements of the Make in India legislation, SFC Energy has established the subsidiary SFC Energy India Ltd. In the future, it will take over the production of the EFOY hydrogen and EFOY methanol fuel cells and quality assurance, while FCTec will continue to be SFC Energy's 'Go To Market' partner. In this role, FCTec handles the design, development, installation and integration of customer-specific fuel cell solutions, as well as the development of other key peripheral system components for such solutions and after-sales service. The future location of SFC Energy India will be in Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon, in the high-tech zone of the Indian capital region of Greater Delhi. There, the new subsidiary will into a 35 000 m² state-of-the-art manufacturing and assembly centre, making it one of the first and most advanced fuel cell manufacturing facilities in India. This makes SFC Energy and FCTec pioneers in this technology nationwide. Production is set up in several phases.

In order to underline the strategic importance of the partnership, SFC Energy India and FCTec have agreed that the local companies will have a mutual shareholding. The corporate links and the joint plans for the future are intended to meet the requirements of the 'Make in India' initiative, which aims to stimulate investments in India, promote innovation, build competencies, protect intellectual property, and create a first-class production infrastructure in the area for both partners to create highly interesting Indian market.

India has formulated ambitious climate protection goals and intends to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. The country wants to become climate-neutral by 2070. At the same time, the Indian government wants to ensure an independent and sustainable energy supply and ensure the protection of public health. In order to consistently achieve these goals, the (diesel/gasoline) generators used to date are to be replaced by fuel cells in the areas of transport and traffic, the military and critical infrastructure, including telecommunications. In the future, the decentralised fuel supply with green hydrogen and methanol is decisive and planned for all projects in India. The Indian government's 'National Green Hydrogen Mission' is showing the way as a broad-based support programme with an estimated investment of US$44 billion by 2030. Similarly, in the lower power range, methanol fuel cells are ideal for numerous mission-critical energy applications in the core target markets of video surveillance, telecommunications, defense, homeland security, and oil, gas and mining.

"We have been active on the Indian market since 2016, are familiar with the local requirements and needs and work successfully and trustingly with FCTec there. For us, India has enormous growth potential and is therefore of great strategic importance for the expansion of SFC Energy. The step to open a location in the most populous country on earth is therefore only logical and with FCTec we have the right partner at our side at the right time. With this important step for our company, we want to further advance the expansion of our Asia business with India as the core market and make even better use of the potential through customer proximity. We also benefit from the firm political will of the Indian government to massively promote the production of clean energy and the reduction of CO₂ emissions. We can contribute to this with our fuel cells, for example to replace the diesel generators that are widespread in India. The opening in Gurgaon is therefore also a strong sign in the global race-to-zero,” says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy AG.

“We have been developing and marketing energy solutions based on methanol fuel cells for more than seven years, making us one of the first fuel cell companies in India. In 2022 we expanded our portfolio to include hydrogen fuel cells. Manufacturing power solutions including fuel cells in India is part of our long-term strategy that will position us as one of the market leaders in the fuel cell segment in India. Our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the Indian government have set a goal to significantly reduce carbon emissions through technological innovation. This and recent political measures and initiatives have given small start-ups like FCTec a huge boost. Hydrogen fuel cells will be one of the key components of India's hydrogen economy and we are very excited to be a part of the clean energy revolution to come. Because our fuel cells can be used as solution components to replace the diesel/gasoline generators that are widely used in India,” says Colonel (retired) Karandeep Singh, Founder of FCTec.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/27022023/sfc-energy-and-fctec-enter-into-strategic-cooperation-agreement/