Tackling Smart Grid Challenges under India Context

The world’s leading technology giants in smart grid, Microsoft, HP, Wipro, SAS, UL, Intergraph, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, IBM, Digi International, Capgemini and SAP announce to support this year’s largest and most important India smart grid event World Smart Grid Conference Series-India Week 2011.

IBM, one of the world’s leading IT companies and smart grid solutions leaders is planning to offer its services to Indian utilities over the next few years. IBM’s General Manager of Global Energy and Utilities said that his company sees tremendous potential for growth in the Indian market as it expands to provide electricity to more consumers.

Manu Rishi Puri，Sr Managing Consultant of IBM – Global Business Services will present on “Weather Forecasting for Renewables”. As tone of the association sponsor of the event, IBM shows sufficient confidence in this upcoming important event. “We are looking forward to sharing IBM’s global smart grid implementation experiences with India industrial leaders”.Said IBM’s senior representatives.

Capgemini, who won the first smart meter order in India; will attend the World Smart Grid Conference Series-India Week 2011 as Bronze Sponsor. Capgemini is amongst the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services that caters to a wide spectrum of industries like energy, manufacturing, retail and distribution, telecom, media and entertainment, financial services, etc. Somnath Chatterjee, Head of Energy, Utilities & Chemicals, Capgemini India, provides keen insights into evolving concepts like Smart Meters and Smart Grid. He explains that India is indeed making a "smart" move in its endeavour of ensuring efficient energy consumption and curbing energy losses. SAP, the world's leading provider of business software, is confirmed to sponsor the industry award dinner of World Smart Grid Conference Series-India Week 2011.

World Smart Grid Conference Series-India Week 2011, to be held on September 13th to 16th in Mumbai, is a unique event for you to attain deep understandings on India’s smart grid initiatives, roadmap, regulatory environment, ongoing pilots of local utilities, network local and international smart grid industry executives and share insights on the future market developments.

The conference is vendor-neutral, product-neutral, and platform-neutral with highly intense interaction between delegates, and allows for real discussion and debate, not simply a series of “product presentations”.

Eminent Speakers Confirmed:

Sam Pitroda, Chair, India Smart Grid Task Force

R V Shahi, Ex-Secretary (Power), MoP

Pramod Deo, Chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission

Narendra Singh Sodha, Executive Director, Power Grid Corporation of India

R P Singh, Executive Vice Chairman, Jindal Power Limited

V. K. Shah, Executive Director (APDRP), Power Finance Corporation 

Ramesh Narayanan, CEO, BSES Yamuna Power Limited 

Arup Ghosh, Managing Director, NDPL 

Ajoy Rajani, Senior Vice President, Reliance Infrastructure 

Abhijit Roy, Head – New Technology Initiatives, Reliance Infrastructure 

Jayant Deo, CEO and managing Director, India Energy Exchange

Vijay L Sonavane, Member, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission

Claudio Lima, Vice Chair, IEEE P2030 Smart Grid Architecture

Pradeep Monga, Chief, Renewable and Rural Energy Branch, United Nations

Ashish Khanna, Senior Energy Specialist, South Asia Sustainable Development, World Bank

Monali Zeya Hazra, Program Management Specialist, USAID

Norbert Karl, Global Sales & Business Development Smart Grid, Siemens

Manu Rishi Puri, Senior Managing Consultant, IBM 

David Coldrey, Utilities Lead for Asia Pacific /Japan, SAP

Larry Kraft，Vice President，Digi International 

Girish Kadam, Vice President and Head of Managed Services, Ericsson

Details 

Time: Sep. 13th- 16th

Location: Mumbai, India

Hosting Organization: SZ&W Group

Event Website: http://www.szwgroup.com/smartgrid/

Contact: Miss Viola Yan

Tel: +86 21 5830 0710

Fax: +86 21 5831 1668

E-mail: info@szwgroup.com

Hot Summer, Power Stress, and Demand Response

1. Hot Summer, Power Stress, and Demand Response

The continuous sweltering heat across New England is increasing the demand for energy, which in-turn, is posing challenge for utility companies to generate more power increasing the cost and global warming. At the same time,  power line operators also have to manage the peak load on the already aging infrastructure, increasing the possibility of brown-outs and black-outs. That's where Demand Response and companies like EnerNOC steps in, which already have businesses on their roll for cutting their demands as per their pre-agreed terms during peak load time period.

2. Electric Cars are Cheaper to Drive : Power Companies

In Automobile sector, Electric car is the new buzz word. Companies like Tesla, Nissan, and Ford are leading the charge, whereas, Toyota, GM, and Mitsubishi are closely following them. Naturally, a question arises in one's mind, are these cars worth the hype?, how much it will cost to drive? According to survey conducted by Washington D.C based research group, it will cost $40 per month to drive EVs that is hardly a week's drive using gasoline.

3. The Rise of Information based Cleantech

So far, clean technologies had  majority investment geared towards solar panels, bio-fuels, wind-energy, and other green energies where heavy capital, efforts, and time were needed to bring the product into market. With the advent of Smart Grid these seems to be changing , it seems the internet of clean-tech is emerging now. Three information based segment, Disintermediation, Data as a service, and Automation are emerging as the next hot thing for CleanTech VCs.

4. How the Smart Grid will Change your life

 In the era of information age, where most of the information is just your finger-tip away, Energy is exception tot the rule. The old grid, which was designed way back in 20th century has not evolved with the change of time. With increasing population, growth in emerging market, scarce resources, and growing demand for energy is making a way for Smart Grid through which an average user will be able to access their energy usage on their finger-tips.

5. What Smart Grid means and doesn't mean for India

Smart Grid, which is amalgamation of many technologies, has diverse application and can drastically vary from one country to another. In the case for India, curtailing load, or managing peak load  and reducing theft is the primary driver. For example, Electric Vehicals are not scheme of things for Indian Smart Grid, Similarly theft is non-concern for developed countries. Green Energy, though a national strategic priority for India, may not be a top priority for Smart Grid Implementation. In India, where many parts of the country yet haven't had electricity, optimizing the usage at low cost is a strong driver. 

Eight Smart Grid Pilots to be implemented all over India

Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation and Chairman of India Smart Grid Task Force, recently announced at the press conference that Eight Smart Grid Pilots will be taken up in next 18 months all over India. India Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF), Which is the government advisory task force, has suggested that Burea of Indian Standards (BIS) develop Smart Grid Standards. The working committee also suggested that more towns should be covered with metering under the Prime Minister Flagship program RAPDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Program), furthermore it added, low cost Smart Metering solution should be developed, so that, distribution companies can carry out 100% installation. ISGTF is working on low cost Smart Meter and during next 18 months, it will come out with preliminary frame work for Smart Grid.

Smart Grid, which is vulnerable to cyber attacks, has to be developed by considering full-proof cyber security, which required new security technologies, standards, and law. Critical cyber security assets will be identified and will audited and monitored on regular basis.

At the press release, Sam Pitroda stressed on following six points, which will be taken into consideration for Smart Grid pilots.

• Develop an indigenous smart grid model, complete with required hardware equipments local production and skill development.
• Focus on addressing the problem of power shortage.
• Focus on theft prevention and loss reduction
• Access of power to rural areas to the poor
• Develop alternative sources of power and enhance reliability of power to urban areas
• Affordable and sustainable power production

Out of the Eight  projects which includes automated metering, six will be smaller projects, and total of Rs. 600 crore will be utilized.

Peak load management one of the key driver for Smart Grid in India

According to Central Electricity Authority, India will face 10.3% shortage and 12.3 % peak shortage of power in 2011-12.  Looking at China, which added 100,000 MW of power this year, 10 times more than India, still had a shortage of power, the country not only need more power but needs smart power. Dr. Tongia, principal scientist at Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, a non-profit research organization, provided very compelling and interesting analysis about the need of Smart Grid India in the recent article of Business Standard.

The key takings from the articles are:

 

Smart Grid, which is driven by need has different priority for each country, In the west, It is driven by labor cost, renewables, and EV to reduce carbon footprint. For India, managing peak load will be key driver as energy  cannot be stored for longer duration in large scale it has to be increased or demand needs to be reduced. At present, In the west, it is managed by increasing supply through peaker plants, which are managed at high cost and it is priced in the present cost to consumer, which is going to change with the implementation of Smart Grid. If India follows the west model, the price of electricity will rise to 35%, a very expensive proposition for developing country like India. 

The alternative option is reducing demand through demand -side management and variable pricing for peak and off-peak hours, which can be achieved only through Smart Grid. 

At present, load is controlled at feeder level and it is involuntary. According to Dr. Tongia, with Smart Grid, that can be ended, furthermore, utilities can provide power in limited quantity, say 300 -500 watts to households to meet their critical needs in the event of power shortage, whereas important, institutions like Hospitals, Colleges, Schools, government bodies can receive un-interrupted supply. Such dynamic control of power supply will provide win-win situation for everybody an help avoid brown-outs and black-outs.It was demonstrated through a small pilot in Mangalore by Dr.Tongia and  MESCOM. 

With Smart Grid, the future benefits include, increased integration of renewables, load management, better reliability and better service. Hence, Smart Grid is not an option but the only option, which the country needs to march on. Just like any other technology, adoption and transformation of Smart Grid won't be easy and overnight, it will have its own share of  excitements, challenges, failure, success, and roadblocks. It will help realize India's 21st Century power dream, in which energy is essential commodity for growth, success, reliability, and security.

India launches its first Smart Mini-Grid System

Renewable Energy Based Smart Mini-Grid System Commissioned Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Minister of Power, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde jointly commissioned the India’s first of its kind Renewable Energy Based Smart Mini-Grid System at TERI Retreat in Gurgaon today. The system has been developed with the support from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. Speaking on the occasion Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that India needs to tap all sources of energy in order to meet its growing demand for power. He said that the country must have strong safeguards so that it gets the best technology and also develops it indigenously. Shri Sushilkumar Shinde said that renewable energy is important as it reaches unreachable areas. He said that smart mini-grids will be very useful for stand-alone projects in villages and inaccessible areas. Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy Shri Deepak Gupta and Director General, TERI Dr. R.K. Pachauri were also present on the occasion.

A Smart Mini-Grid (SMG), or Micro-Grid, is an intelligent electricity distribution network, operating at or below 11 KV, where the energy demand is effectively and intelligently managed by diverse range of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as solar PV, micro-hydro power plants, wind turbines, biomass, small conventional generators such as diesel gensets etc in combination with each other through smart control techniques.

Globally, managing existing energy resources and demand in an optimal and efficient manner has become the need of the hour. Enhancing energy-security and energy-access, particularly in emerging economies is one of the major challenges that one has to deal with. Smart grid has been evolved as one of the solutions to tackle these challenges. Advanced sensing, communication and control technologies are used in smart grids these days for not only generation and transmission of power but also distribution and utilization of electricity in a more intelligent and effective manner.

Such an application will not only foster the effective inter-connection and utilization of multiple renewable energy resources but would also help in advancing access to energy to the last mile in the most optimum way by improving the efficiency of the overall system. The Smart Mini-Grid system has a great potential in large commercial and industrial complexes, hospitals, shopping malls/ complexes, apartments, residential complexes, educational institutions, remote un-electrified as well as electrified locations to ensure maximum flexibility, reliability and safety.

The project was sanctioned to TERI under the aegis of Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APPCDC) in March, 2009 with the contribution of Rs.87 lakhs from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The project was completed with the technical collaboration of the Solar Energy centre under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The smart mini grid has been deployed at TERI Retreat building in which 3.2 kW wind generator, 10.5 kW solar PV power, 1 kW thin film, 2 kW SPV systems, 100kW biomass gasifier and diesel generator have been integrated to demonstrate optimal evacuation of renewable power. 

-- Press Release