Fourth Partner Energy, a fully-integrated Renewable Energy Services Company (Resco) focussing on solar energy, is eyeing the emerging opportunities in the Smart City projects and rooftop home solar systems, as it expands its business.
The Hyderabad-based company, which is into its fifth year, has seen a number of corporate entities taking to Opex model solar business solutions, where the investment is made by the company, and the customer pays for energy usage.
Vivek Subramanian, Executive Director of Fourth Partner Energy, told BusinessLine , “The company has evolved into a solar energy solutions partner for corporate entities helping them reduce the overall cost of energy consumed. Our clients such as banks, pharma, technology and energy companies among others benefit from cost savings.” Already solar energy is cheaper in eight industrial states in the country and expected to get cheaper while energy prices spike up.
Having raised two rounds of funds thus far, it is at the advanced stage of a major funding round. “This will help scale up and expand geographically. We are looking at serving countries in the region and Africa through channel partners,” he explained.
Founded in 2010 by Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala and Vikas Saluguti, raised half a million dollars from The Chennai Angels and last year $ 2 million Series-A Round from Infuse Ventures, a clean tech fund, backed by IIM-A, along with existing investors-The Chennai Angels. It also received commitment under the Seed Capital Assistance facility implemented through the United Nations Environment Program and Asian Development Bank.
“The country’s solar power sector is at an inflection point poised for rapid acceleration. Our clientele include ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Honeywell, Schneider, Glenmark and a number of educational institutions, particularly engineering colleges,” he said.
Of the 420 branches of ICICI Bank with solar power units, 285, including a 67 KW unit in Mumbai, have been installed by Fourth Partner. “We take care of their operations and maintenance. For 35 branches of Axis Bank, and for a number of engineering colleges, we have set up units. In the case of colleges, solar units also serve as an education experience,” he said.
“Number of companies are coming forward for roof top solutions as it helps them bring down their energy cost. “For ICICI Bank, we helped save energy cost by 45 per cent at Chandivili. Thus far the focus was on businesses but soon we would address home consumers. We believe there is potential for further lowering in costs, which will make it attractive,” Subramanian said.