India-based rural distributed renewable energy company OMC Power announced a partnership with the Japan-based energy utility firm Chubu Electric Power,  through a Share Subscription Agreement, to expand OMC’s renewable distribution portfolio in rural India.

The partnership is the first investment by the Japanese firm in India.

A rural utility company, OMC Power builds, owns, and operates renewable energy projects with smart minigrids to serve telecom companies, businesses, and rural households.

OMC Power aims to scale up to 5,000 new villages with renewable energy-based power plants through the partnership. The company would use its sustainable anchor, business, and communities (ABC) business model to deploy the projects.

OMC Power currently has 280 operational renewable energy projects across rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and has over 100,000 consumers across multiple segments.

The partnership would establish accessibility to green energy required for operations of telecom towers and small and medium enterprises based in rural areas and help reduce the dependency on fossil fuels.

The CEO of OMC Power, Rohit Chandra, said, “The collaboration with Chubu aligns with OMC’s plans of scaling its rural utility business to newer geographies and towards faster decarbonization. OMC Power’s expertise in distributed energy following the ABC model coupled with the comprehensive know-how of the energy industry of Chubu will help in the development of sustainable, rural utility infrastructure.”

Recently, OMC Power signed an agreement with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency to develop a rural renewable energy ecosystem as part of a long-term relationship. The company has set a target to expand its operations to 1,000 sites to reduce carbon emissions in rural India.

Chubu intends to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society.

“We will contribute to OMC’s efficient business operations by leveraging our operation and maintenance skills for power transmission, distribution, and improvement of the efficiency of generation facilities, and will also contribute to a decarbonized society and the well – being of local people through a clean power supply,” said Hiroki Sato, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Division CEO of Global Business Division at Chubu.