Honda Motor Invests In India’s OMC Power, Marking First Bet On Distributed Energy Platform

Japanese auto giant Honda Motor Co Ltd has made its first investment in India’s distributed energy space by acquiring a minority stake, estimated between 5% and 10% in OMC Power, as per PTI said citing industry sources.

The partnership, built over four years of collaboration and feasibility studies, is expected to leverage Honda’s technical expertise while supporting OMC’s ambitious 1 GW renewable energy portfolio in India.

The investment has come at a time when OMC Power is entering into a new business vertical where the company will deploy electric vehicle (EV) batteries as battery energy storage system (BESS) solution, and re-purpose the old EV batteries to support with UPS (uninterrupted power supply) like the inverters or some similar kind of applications, PTI said.

OMC Power MD & CEO Rohit Chandra told PTI that both companies had been in talks for over 4 years to work out a business collaboration. It is the result of research and development, market studies, feasibility studies, and customer trials, all of which have led to this investment now

'It is a win-win situation for both of us. Our partner is a leader in automobiles. It is coming up in EVs in a big way. Honda Motor will share its technical know-how, and we will provide them with the opportunities in our 1 GW journey,' he said as per PTI.

Honda Motor has become the latest Japanese company to invest in OMC Power, joining existing stakeholders Mitsui & Co. and Chubu Electric Power. Among the Japanese investors, Chubu Electric Power holds the largest equity share at 30%, followed by Mitsui & Co. with a 26% stake.

OMC Power, which operates across four distinct business verticals, continues to attract strategic international partnerships as it expands its renewable energy footprint in India. 

(With inputs from PTI)