: The concept of a ‘Smart Grid’ is gradually gathering steam in the Capital. After the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) endorsed the idea for its Smart City project, other distribution companies in the city are following suit.
A major highlight of the NDMC’s Smart City proposal is its plan to upgrade its electricity network into a smart grid system. A senior power official said, “A smart grid network will facilitate two-way communication between the consumers and the power utilities. It will bring synergy between generation, transmission, distribution systems, consumers and also renewable sources by integrating all into one seamless system.”
An important aspect of the system is to have 100 per cent Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which will give the consumers real-time data about power consumption thereby allowing them to make informed choices about their usage. A basic example of how it will help the consumers is that they will be able to give commands right in their energy meters including troubleshooting. According to power experts, it won’t be an uphill task for utilities to upgrade to the Smart Grid system as the pre-requisite infrastructure like SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and Distribution Management System is already in place.
For implementation of AMI with smart meters in North and North-West Delhi, discom Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) has prepared a detailed project report wherein the estimated cost of the project is Rs. 234.69 crore.
The discom has roped in experts from Canada to implement the project. So far, about 200 smart meters have been installed in the area as a pilot project. In the coming fiscal, it plans to extend it to those consuming 600 units and above— about 3.5 lakh connections.
A tripartite MoU has been signed with the Smart Grid Canada and Center for Urban Energy, Ryerson University, Canada for sharing latest trends in the smart technology in the distribution sector,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD TPDDL.
The BSES discoms have taken a few steps towards the smart grid system too, but its plans are far behind those prepared by NDMC and TPDDL.
