Kaer, a Global Cooling as a Service (CaaS) provider headquartered in Singapore, is expanding its operations in six major cities in India – Bengaluru, Gurugram, Noida, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai – to tap into India’s high demand for centralised cooling, which accounts for about 57 percent of the country’s energy requirements.
Kaer designs, builds, and operates cooling systems for commercial and industrial buildings. With a contracted pipeline of projects worth over US$250 million across Asia, Kaer’s CaaS model delivers cooling to mission critical facilities to support their operations and with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable operations, saves over 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, the company said in a statement.
Traditionally, building owners purchase, install and run cooling systems, with high upfront costs, along with ongoing maintenance and operational costs. Under the CaaS model, Kaer assumes all financial investments and operational responsibilities while building owners buys cooling at a fixed $/RTH (Refrigerant Ton Hour) rate on a pay-as-you-use basis.
In India, Kaer has already delivered the CaaS business model at 1 Elpro Business Park & Elpro City Square, a mixed-use development in Pune, comprising a retail centre, automotive parts factory, offices, schools, and community spaces.
India’s cooling demand is expected to grow five to eight times by 2037-38, as compared to 2017-18 levels. Introduced in March 2019, the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) provides a 20-year perspective and outlines actions needed to provide access to sustainable cooling.
The plan seeks to reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20-25 percent by 2037-38. In the last two years, the progress towards this goal has been slow, making it essential for India to take more effective steps to adopt sustainable cooling, the statement said
As a part of the expansion, Kaer has appointed Govindan Raghavan as India’s managing director. He will be responsible for Kaer’s customer portfolio growth in India, and for managing the on-ground team providing end to end customer support. Prior to this, he had led Carrier in India as its president & wholetime director, Ingram Micro as managing director, NIIT Ltd as Career learning business chief executive and Bhartiya Urban as its CEO.
“Through CaaS, we believe we deliver the positive impact of cooling and accelerate the transition to a low carbon and climate resilient future. India, the second largest contributor to carbon emissions in the region, is a critical market for Kaer. We are looking to grow our operations in India and expand our local team that helps businesses transition confidently to the CaaS model, ultimately giving them a competitive advantage,” said Kaer CEO Justin Taylor.
“Kaer is a leading provider of innovative cooling solutions across various markets, including Singapore and Malaysia. I am excited to be a part of Kaer and contribute to its continued success by leading its operations in India. CaaS offers a huge opportunity for Indian businesses to capitalize on by reducing their carbon footprint, saving capex and reducing operational and management costs,” said Govindan.
Cooling comprises 10 percent of the world’s energy consumption and cooling needs are anticipated to triple in the next 30 years, much of which will be coming from Asia. Kaer works with the Singapore government and many other major Singapore brands including dnata, Lendlease, Great Eastern Centre, INSEAD Business School and Sembcorp.
