Driving the green energy revolution

Waseem Ashraf Qureshi, CEO, Founder and Partner of Infusion Group and Kilowatt Labs, is the UAE’s serial inventor in power electronics or an ‘Enginovator’ as he calls himself. He is once again bringing the UAE on the global map of innovation and technological advancement through his genius.

Qureshi has been featured in various technology supplements, newspapers and magazines and more recently, in a documentary called ‘Made in UAE’ on mainstream TV for his supercap-based energy storage. The world’s most advanced battery as experts have termed it, has taken the world by storm.

“Covid-19 has brought unprecedented challenges both for people and industries. But Sirius withstood the challenges and we have come out stronger with an even larger footprint than expected,” says Qureshi.

During Covid-19, he has been busy working on some of his new inventions, and the world will have the opportunity to see some of them in the early half of 2021.

“This period of time has encouraged me to work harder and work more for the humanity and on those things that can make a significant difference to our world,” says the passionate and optimistic Qureshi.

When he released his technologies under Kilowatt Labs, Sirius Supercap Battery and Centauri Energy Server, he took the world of energy storage and management by storm. And he is expected to create a similar impact with his new launches as well.

“In 2021 we are planning on releasing digital generator, the world’s greenest, most energy efficient generator that will drop carbon emissions in standard diesel generators by up to 60 per cent. Then we will roll out our electrical vehicle solution. We have just finished a commercial version of a battery charging at 10c or six minutes alongside a high speed charging station,” he says.

“We will also launch the greenest AA and AAA rechargeable consumer battery in the world with a life of 10 years (no degradation) and minimal impact on the environment on disposal as it contains fully biodegradable graphene and carbon. We also have our Sirius power wall, a domestic version of our supercap storage that will store energy from solar and other inputs and deliver more and better energy at home with performance monitoring on your phone,” Qureshi explains, adding, “Lastly, the first quarter of 2021 will also see the launch of a supercap-powered temperature control box that will enable pharmaceutical companies to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to hard-to-reach destinations with longer autonomy and low carbon footprint”.

Qureshi is the current CEO and CTO of Infusion Group and Kilowatt Labs and upon a single visit to the group’s 5.6 acre factory in Dubai Industrial City, one can see that he is also an innovator in business management as well as manufacturing processes.

“We needed to develop our own unique methods of manufacturing as no one in the world has made a battery or power management system of this type before. Similarly, we had to innovate our style of selling our products, where we build relations through a stockist method to nurture global markets and help them understand the technology whilst providing a support system for sales channels,” Qureshi says.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 states that people should have access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy. This requires adoption, deployment and transformation to renewable energy – swiftly and efficiently.

A key ingredient in this transformation is energy storage, which is essential in ensuring renewable-based energy availability 24-hours a day. Technology development of chemical batteries have improved performance over the past decade. However, scientific limitations in the chemical storage process are now inhibiting any further meaningful improvements in performance.

Alternative storage technologies are now the need of the hour not just to improve performance to meet the objectives of SDG7, but also to reverse the impact of climate change and minimise the environmental impact of disposing chemical batteries.

“I invented the world’s greenest battery, not only with unmatched performance in terms of speed of charge, life, its ability to withstand temperature conditions and its efficiency with the environment in mind; now, I am willing to advance my game and bring more innovations to the table that will further reduce our carbon footprint and help the masses with the critical energy shortfall being seen today in impoverished parts of the world,” says Qureshi.

Demand for Sirius has grown over the past two years, with Kilowatt Labs establishing a global network of value added resellers. In 2019, Kilowatt Labs appointed Infusion Solar Energy Systems in the UAE as its exclusive global stockist and reseller and in 2020, it licensed the world’s largest supercap storage manufacturing plant to Infusion Power Industries, both as joint ventures with local partner Salem Obaid Mubarak Al Makrani.

Furthermore, Infusion Solar Energy Systems is now establishing regional stockist alliances in various parts of the world to make the Sirius product range available in the US, Europe, Africa, Oceania and East Asia, to reduce the transit time from manufacturing to customer as well as to meet the growing demand.

Kiel Engineering Gmbh in Europe and APT Inverex Solar Energy in Pakistan are two such alliances. Currently, negotiations are taking place to finalise stockist agreements in the USA, Turkey, Bangladesh, West Africa, the UK, France, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and Senegal to expand its footprints. Infusion is actively selling products of Kilowatt Labs in 23 countries and plans to increase its reach in a short period of time.

Kiel’s mission statement is, “Targeted success with consistent planning.’’ For over three decades Kiel has focused on bringing innovative products to the European market and it is well positioned to support Kilowatt Labs’ resellers in Europe with stock availability, technical post-sales support and installer and customer training. In addition, they are well positioned through their existing relationships to drive OEM business in key market segments like forklifts, industrial equipment, telecom, marine, UPS, data centres, railway etc.

Prior to signing-up, Kiel spent almost a year in evaluating the Sirius product range, which included a visit to the manufacturing facility in Dubai and extensive discussions about the technology with Qureshi.

APT Inverex is the leading distributor of renewable products in Pakistan with over 100 dealers and 500 sub-dealers throughout the country. Inverex’s mission statement is, “To break the bonds of the predominantly fuel-powered grid system and become a part of green power revolution”, which is completely aligned with its goals and objectives. According to Qureshi, “With Inverex, we will be launching the Inverex Power Wall, a storage solution based on Sirius supercap technology, in Pakistan, targeting residential, commercial and light industrial customers, in a beautiful and contemporary form factor”.

In addition to these segments, APT Inverex will be developing the markets for UPS industrial hybrid renewable and storage solutions data centres.

Infusion Solar Energy Systems and Kilowatt Labs Inc. appreciates the vision of the UAE leadership to make the country a technologically advanced nation. “We take immense pride in declaring that our factory is situated in Dubai Industrial City and we are bringing this technology to the world from the UAE. The vision of the top management of the company is aligned with the vision of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for their country.”

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