KENT RO Enters Lithium Battery and Inverter Market with INR 250 Crore Investment

In an effort to broaden its business model, water purifier manufacturer KENT RO Systems has entered the renewable energy market. The company announced on October 21 that it has allocated INR 250 crore to its Noida-based lithium battery and inverter facility.

With an initial installed capacity of 3.5 GWh, the business plans to expand its new division, Kent New Energy, to 10 GWh within the next six months. The company's energy storage systems combine solar hybrid inverters with lithium batteries. Storage of solar and grid electricity for usage during evenings and outages is done by these batteries, which range from 5.1 kWh to 16 kWh.

Kent’s Distribution Plans

Manufacturers like EVE and REPT supply KENT RO Systems with its cells. Online marketplaces, retail locations, and KENT RO's dealer network will all play a key role in the product distribution process. System integrators and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) partners will also sell solar hybrid inverters and larger battery packs. Batteries and inverters are still quite expensive, according to Chairman and Managing Director Mahesh Gupta. The company still imports components like cells for its batteries.

Further, he stated that the products should be maintained in their continuity and that basic materials should be readily available. The inverter battery market in India is predicted to increase at double-digit rates until 2031, from an estimated $1.31 billion in 2017. The prediction for quicker growth is for hybrid inverters and lithium-ion batteries. The business boasted that its hybrid inverter comes with a data pack good for five years and a 4G data logger.

Installers may remotely monitor and adjust the settings of all of their inverters using the KENT central command mobile app. Data is held on servers in India run by KENT, in compliance with regulations set down by the MNRE.

Urban Company Moves Court Against Kent RO

A defamation and disparagement suit has been filed against Kent RO Systems by Urban Company, a service provider platform for consumers. The ads for the former's Native water purifiers cast doubt on their safety and performance claims, prompting the lawsuit. A stock filing states that Urban Company filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court on August 11. Thus, it is misleading and based on inaccurate information to say that Native water purifiers from Kent have a filter life of two years and a service life of two years.

Ads and social media posts starring various personalities were part of the effort, as stated in the filing. Allegedly, Kent called the two-year filter and service life claims nothing more than a "marketing gimmick". Additionally, it implied that customers were putting themselves in danger by utilising native water purifiers. The water purifiers from Urban Company that were mentioned in the ads were the Native M0, M1, M2, M1 Pro, and M2 Pro.