What's up at Smart Energy International India, 2011

Smart Energy India- the premier energy conference in India, which echos the development of Smart Grid is all set to debut on November 14th, 2011 with a theme "Today's inter-operable solution for tomorrow's integrated grid." According to organizers, "Smart Energy International - India forms part of a global series of events that provides one of the most effective experiential forums available to the electricity utilities industry. Events take place in Australia, Middle East, USA, Canada, Asia and now India. They are an asset that presents you to international markets by connecting global buyers to sellers and people to people in the connected future worldwide! The conference presents Smart Energy India and World Meter Design Congress, which—together with the pre-conference on Smart Cities-will form a unique gathering of international and national experts and market leaders." 

The premier event will be attended by who's who of the industry including Sam Pitroda, adivsor to Prime Minister and convener, Smart Grid India Forum.  The two keynote speakers will present their views on following topics.

 India: Technological advancements and future goals

 By Honorable Mr. P. Umashankar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India

Interoperability: Tomorrow’s answer today

Mr. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Convener, The Smart Grid India Forum

   Featured Speakers

• Mr. G. V. Balram, Chief General Manager, BESCOM
• Mr. R. K. Goyal, Principal Consultant, Tetratech
• Dr. M. V. Krishna Rao, Director, GECE
• Mr. Harsh Sharma, Vice President - Meters, BSES
• Dr. Rahul Tongia, Director, C-Step

   Key Sessions

• The current state of the Indian Grid – an insight into the transmission and distribution scenarios
• Green Power - Renewable energy Integration in the Smart Grid
• Interoperability in the smart grid – an introduction
• ICT for Smart Distribution Systems – an introduction
• Smart consumer policies for a smarter grid

Apart from the above key highlights, the additional and probably the most exciting thing this year has is Smart Grid technical study tour which will visit Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore providing participants a broader insights of Smart Energy opportunities in India. India intends to provide electricity to every household by 2012, which will require over $100 billion investment in new transmission , distribution, and other related infrastructure representing huge opportunity for investors, companies, and other stakeholders. 

For more program details, use the following links

Website: http://www.smartenergy-india.com

Event Brochure

Overview of 2011 Smart Energy India- Enabling India's Smart Grid Vision

The fourth Annual Smart Energy India Conference 2011 was held at the Lalit, Barakhamba Avenue, New Delhi. The event, organized by the Spintelligent with a theme "Enabling India's Smart Grid Vision"  attracted utilities from across the world to exhibit their solutions and intellectuals to discuss India's Smart Grid future. The Conference began with a workshop on Wind and Solar Energy led by Mr. Rahul Walawakar and Mr. Mahesh and Miss Usha Rao. They concentrated on the technologies and the challenges that we are going to face to implement smart grid in India. Apart from the technological aspects, the economical feasibility and a road map for implementation was thought as a major hurdle for the implementation of smart grid in India.

The second day started with a panel discussion amongst intellectuals from the Government Of India- Mr. Pramod Deo, Mr. Devender Singh, Shri Anil Razdan, Mr. N Murugesan chaired by Mr. Gopal Saxena. Later during the day, prominent companies like IBM , Ericssonm, Schneider Electric, Analog Devices, and SAP presented their solutions for smart grid. On the Final day, representative from Atos World Grid, National Instruments and Energie Dynamique India had very interesting panel discussion. Atos Origin launched its sub-group Atos World Grid at the conference.

Harit Soni, the co-founder of India's first Smart Grid specific startup Ecolibrium Energy, talked about the company’s pilot project at the Gujarat Secretariat. Mr. RK Goyal, Director of Tetra Tech, gave a very comprehensive view of the present smart grid infrastructure of India and also devised a roadmap for smarter grids in India. The PGCIL, one of the major utilities, gave an interesting perspective about the status of the existing transmission systems in India.

The final speech was presented by CEO of BSES Yamuna Power, Mr. Gopal Saxena. He gave different but very effective solution for India’s smart grid. The event brought smart grid companies, professionals, facilitators, government officials, academicians, intellectuals, students, and  enthusiast on one platform to discuss Smart Grid road-map for India and thus bringing it closer to realization.  

Contributed by:  Pratik Sonthalia, IIT Roorkee