Clean Energy Initiatives by Fullerton India Through Rural Branches

Fullerton India, a leading non-banking financial company in India, took a step towards environment conservation by adopting alternate and clean methods of energy generation. The company has been investing in solar power hybrid systems since 2012, and has made investments worth Rs.4.6 crores as on March 2016. The company is further planning to invest Rs.97 lakhs till July 2016 for the same initiative.

The company aims to drive energy efficiency at its branches through an increased use of solar/ wind hybrid systems.  As of December 2015, the company has installed wind and solar systems in 150 rural branches across 10 states thereby saving 1, 16,000 litres of diesel. It projects to add solar energy systems at another 36 of its branches by the first half of 2016, saving a further 5, 14,000 litres of diesel in the next 5 years. 

Fullerton India is the only NBFC in India that uses solar energy to power its branches, thereby eliminating the need for diesel powered generator backup. Through this initiative, as of December 2015, 280 MWh of clean energy has been generated, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 310 tons due to the non-consumption of fossil fuels.

Rakesh Makkar, EVP and Head of Business and Marketing, Fullerton India, said, “Energy conservation needs urgent attention as the country’s conventional energy resources are fast being depleted. At Fullerton India, we took the initiative of embracing renewable energy in 2012 and since then have installed solar and solar-wind hybrid systems with total capacities of 196 KWP. Today, more than 56% of our rural branches run on alternate sources of energy. We plan on generating 1,230 MWh of clean energy in the next 5 years.”

The company’s solar energy installations are a first-of-its kind energy-conservation initiative in close to 100 towns, and have driven awareness about solar energy to nearly 1 million people.

As far as cost efficiency is concerned, Fullerton India’s branches that are powered by solar energy work 30% more efficiently than other branches and have helped cut electricity costs by 50%. The annual average power downtime at these branches is less than 5%.

In Karnataka, Fullerton India has installed solar hybrid systems across 18 of its 46 rural branches. It plans on further installing solar hybrid systems across 3 new rural branches by June 2016.