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Electrical Monitor recently met up with three prominent
personalities of IEEE-SA-Ravi Subramaniam, Technical Director,
IEEE Conformity Assessment Program; Bill Ash, Strategic
Program Manager, IEEE-SA and Srikanth Chandrasekaran,
Chairperson of IEEE-SA India SIG. The three experts shared their
views on several aspects of the Smart Grid movement in India.
The following report is a collective summary of the views
expressed by them.
Smart Grid, as a term, has gained
much currency in recent times,
but many and not yet clear
about what Smart Grid is all about.
Firstly, as IEEE-SA points out, there is
no standard definition of Smart Grid.
It is the evolution of a process. The
primary objective of a Smart Grid is
to try and use existing power
infrastructure in an efficient and
optimized way.
There are several challenges in
India's quest for Smart Grid. Some of
these challenges are indeed the very
reasons why India should move fast
towards a Smart Grid regime. Firstly,
power losses are very high. Latest
reports suggest that aggregate
technical & commercial (ATC) losses
are in the range of 20-25 per cent.
Secondly, a large part of the
population-estimated at 300-400
million-has no access to electricity.
Even for those that have electricity
connections, there are concerns with
the quality of power-blackouts and
brownouts prevail.
Several problems associated with
the quality of power and also
deficiency in power can be addressed
by making the grid smarter. People
need to understand that a Smart Grid
is essentially a collective mechanism
to make the grid efficient. It tries to
create a two-way communication
protocol using communication
technology and associated software
applications, between the power
utility and the consumer. The biggest
feature of Smart Grid is that seeks to
create a two-way network. Currently,
in India, there is no mechanism for a
power utility to get real-time
information on the electricity
consumption pattern of a consumer.
Conversely, even a consumer simply
cannot "communicate" with the
power utility on a real-time basis.
Curtailing ATC losses and
improving revenue collection are
low-hanging fruits that can be
tackled first and very efficiently
through Smart Grid.
PREPAREDNESS
IEEE-SA feels that the Indian Smart
Grid movement can only happen in
phases. IEEE-SA is very optimistic of
playing a supportive role and feels
that the organisation is at the right
time and in the right place. The
Indian government has taken big
initiatives and is also putting due
emphasis on the Smart Grid
revolution, beginning with well defined
power sector reforms. The
Restructured Accelerated Power
Development & Reforms Programme
(R-APDRP) that seeks to curtail ATC
losses from the current 27-30 per cent
to less than 20 per cent is a positive
reform that needs to be pursued,
IEEE-SA feels.
INITIATIVES
The government has set up a Smart
Grid Task Force that Sam Pitroda is
driving. Along with that a Smart Grid
Forum has been set up. Eight pilot
projects have been identified and
each of the projects addresses few key
requirements of the Smart Grid. How
to improve power quality and how to
take power to deficient rural India are
some of the key objectives. The
investment in the pilot projects is
estimated at $500-600 million, and
the government looks committed to
invest $6 billion over the next five
years. The government therefore
appears to have a fairly big initiative
over the next five years, IEEE-SA
feels. The association thinks that by
then, India will have achieved some
progress. However, it would take up
2025-2030 for India to make
demonstrable progress on the Smart
Grid front.
WHEN IS THE GRID SMART?
When it comes to Smart Grid, there is
no way in which anybody or at least
India could say "We are done!" There
is no way to say that the grid is now
smart and that nothing more needs
to be done! Technology keeps
evolving and so does the Smart Grid.
Smart Grid is a journey. "It is not
like one has to simply install a smart meter and declare that we're done!"
The Smart Grid will evolve like
Internet technology. It is going to be
a long journey. Bringing new
technologies to address issues as they
pop up will be important. It is like
telecom. At one time, 256kbps was
considered "broadband" but now
nobody wants to use it! In Smart
Grid one needs to set up a plug and
play system where a change in
technology does not disrupt the way
in which you do things.
DATA COLLECTION CHALLENGES
India through R-APDRP (Part A) is
witnessing the role of IT companies in
the power sector. As of now, almost all
power utilities have appointed IT
implementing agencies for
preliminary IT-related work like
baseline data, GIS mapping, etc. IT
agencies are indeed facing great
challenges, and in this context, one
must appreciate the amount of work
involved as one moves towards Smart
Grid. On this count, IEEE-SA feels that
at least the process of data collection
and its access will be simplified
through the extensive use of optic fibre
cable. IEEE-SA also asserts that data
management is the biggest
component of Smart Grid. It is only
when a database is created can one
know who is consuming electricity,
how much is being used, etc.
ROLE OF IT COMPANIES
Smart Grid is bound to a very big role
of IT companies. Smart Grid is not so
much about power and energy as
much it is of communication and IT.
Seventy per cent of the Smart Grid
endeavour is focused on
communication and IT standards,
and only 30 per cent on energy, per se.
IEEE-SA also highlighted the role of
micro grids and distributed energy
sources. One needs to understand
and appreciate that renewable energy
through off-grid projects is going to
play a big role in bringing power to
rural India. Smart Grid will be
quintessential in the way these
distributed energy sources are
managed.
IS IT GOOD TO BE LATE?
The discussion with IEEE-SA
regarding Smart Grid in India threw up a very interesting observation.
While it is quite understandable that
India is still grappling with
inadequacies in the power sector and
that it has a long way ahead in its
Smart Grid ambitions, this delay can
be used to its advantage. India has a
very relative advantage even over
developed countries as far as Smart
Grid is concerned. There are many
areas in India that do not have basic
power infrastructure. In such areas,
the transition to Smart Grid can be
achieved by leapfrogging through
several intermediate steps. This
means that most parts of India will
not have to deal with transitionrelated
issues with legacy systems.
On the other hand, developed
countries that have fairly advanced
power infrastructure in place and are
pursuing Smart Grid have to deal
with transition-related problems.
These could relate to compatibility of
new systems or even issues relating
to migration to a new culture. With
no legacy systems in most parts of
India, the country has a chance to go
"first-time correct." In the Indian
context, there is therefore some merit
in being late in catching up.
PLANS AND OUTLOOK OF IEEE-SA
IEEE-SA has formed a group called
Standards Interest Group (SIG). It
has several engineers, technologists
and experts. However, when it comes
to standards, the relative awareness
amongst stakeholders in the power
sector is low. Hence, the extent of
participation by Indian stakeholders
from academia and power utilities
threatens to be low. One of the things
IEEE-SA wants it to make engineers
understand the standards and work
with the working groups.
There is also a feeling that the
standards developed thus far may
not be applicable in the Indian
scenario. The only way in which
standards can be evolved is through
widespread and active participation.
Unless there is close interaction
with the working groups, there is
always going to be a gap. A lot of
India Smart Grid players want to
play in markets outside India. Some
people are already doing it. The only
way to be successful is to adhere to
standards. IEEE-SA is playing an
extremely big role in addressing
these gaps, from a standards
perspective. At the same time, SIG is
not only working with engineers. It
is working with academia, industry
bodies, government agencies, etc.
SIG aims to make them understand
what standards exist and to help
evolve future standards in the
right direction.
IEEE-SA is looking at Smart Grid as
a full life-cycle. There are five
different projects that are looking at
Smart Grid-the way it will evolve say
thirty years hence. IEEE-SA is also
looking at the technology gaps and
make the evolution of technology in
Smart Grid happen. IEEE-SA will
then look at post-standards activity,
which is to help the market adopt
these technologies.
IEEE-SA is also keen on Indian
expertise to help global standards
evolve. It will be a two-way process
where India will help evolve
standards in big markets like itself,
China and USA. IEEE-SA will also be
working with government
regulators, trying to understand
what the gaps are and how IEEE
expertise can help in some of those
aspects. The association is also very
interested in working closely with
the newly formed Smart Grid Forum.
ROADMAP
IEEE-SA's interest in Indian Smart
Grid is focused on standards and
about deployment of the Smart Grid
per se. Over the next five years, the
association will like to have people
working with committees and
having groups within IEEE-SA
working on specific standards
projects. It is very important that
people working in the Smart Grid
area be aware of the standards and be
able to relate to them. From the IEEESA
perspective, it is to have global
standards for global markets, and
allow the industry to move forward.
KEEPING PEOPLE INFORMED
Consumers should be continually kept
informed about developments in the
Smart Grid area. As Smart Grid
represents a major transition, as it
would certainly be the case with a
developing country like India, there is
bound to be major resistance from
consumers. Even in developed
countries like USA, when smart meters
were deployed for the first time in
some places, there was public outcry.
Consumers alleged that the new
meters were over-charging them, when
the fact was that the meters were far
too accurate than the legacy system.
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