City-based climate and energy advisory firm Ctran Consulting, a Basix group company, is looking forward to expand its business in energy reduction services to drive growth.
Energy reduction service includes survey and analysis of energy flows in a building or system and finding ways to reduce the amount of energy inflow in the system without affecting the output.
Ctran plans to target small and medium enterprises (SME), which do not use energy in an efficient way due to lack of proper technology and expertise.
"There are lot of small and medium level steel plants and other industrial units in and outside Orissa, which are interested to use the service. The price of this service is lowest among other services provided by us and we have highest number of clients in this segment,” said Ashok Singha, managing director of Ctran.
For 2011-12, the company has orders worth Rs 10 crore, out of which solar heater installation and climate change management projects such as soil conservation, watershed management have a lion's share. Energy auditing and clean technology services are the third and fourth highest revenue earner of the company.
The company has earned substantial carbon credits for its green advisory services. The carbon credits are tradable in international exchanges. Ctran said, at current market price, it has carbon credits worth Rs 45 crores.
The company had initially set its eyes on large number of steel plants in Orissa to expand its clean technology and carbon reduction business. But as the steel sector is reeling under mineral supply problems and shrinking margin, Ctran has shifted its focus to energy reduction services.
"Metal sector is not growing the way we thought. Textile industry, which is second after the steel industry in terms of power consumption, has stopped growing after recession. Food processing industry is in nascent stage now. So we are focusing on energy auditing services,” Singha said.
Apart from energy auditing, the firm sees demand for its other services such as market survey, environment impact assessment, e-governance and carbon accounting.
The company is also entering into the business of organic certificates, which are given to encourage organic farming. The organic certificates fetch much higher value than carbon credits.
"We have recently produced ginger in southern Orissa without using fertilizers and are eligible for getting organic certificates. A UK-based supermarket chain is in talks to buy it. There is huge potential in this segment, but unfortunately there is very low awareness about it,” the Ctran MD said.
The company proposes to go for an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 2014 to expand its business, he added.
