When you have a namesake across the table, the conversation can at times be eerily like talking to oneself. Which is how it was when I recently had Murali Ramalingam as my lunch-hour guest in Business Line.
Yet, what made the difference was the ‘energy’ he was bringing to the discussion, as the CEO of ConnectM Technology Solutions Private Limited, Bangalore (www.connectm.com), a Sasken and IDG Ventures company into energy management solutions.
Energy consciousness is a key strategic differentiator, begins Murali. “It adds to the value proposition of the enterprise, and to its cost competitiveness. Technology is increasingly addressing the energy management domain, and is slated to drive continuous improvement in the same.”
We continue our chat over the email. Excerpts from the interview.
In what key areas are IT and electronics-based solutions playing a role in energy management?
IT-based solutions are greatly helping enterprises in reducing energy consumption in data centres, lighting and HVAC systems.
Wireless technology costs are rapidly coming down, and solution providers are adopting more of it in energy management solutions. They are now able to develop low-cost solutions that can address energy efficiency issues at a very granular level. An innovation in this direction is the ability to link occupancy information to that of the thermostat and further optimise lighting and HVAC efficiency.
In the telecom infrastructure industry, electronics-based solutions are playing a critical role in the form of remote SCADA. Technology here is used to understand and optimise the energy patterns of their field assets that are spread across the length and breadth of the country.
An element of electronics is also being embedded in consumer electronics design to drive ‘greening’ at the domestic level.
Internationally, and now in India, the demand side management initiatives are being accelerated by energy utilities to monitor and control the large transmission and distribution losses. Electronic meters and communication modules are playing a critical role to make this happen and deliver a “smart grid”.
Looking at the developments in technology-driven energy management space, what would you list as the major turning points over the last few decades?
Over the last few years, M2M (machine-to-machine), as a technology domain, has created a space for itself. It is the successful application of GSM/GPRS/GPS and other wireless technologies to the monitoring and management of mobile and immobile assets from a remote location.
Analysts point out that the shipment of M2M module shipments will grow 10x in the next 4 years to 22 million, and the number of remotely monitored assets will grow more than 3x to 34 million.
The rapid adoption and alignment of the wireless and industrial/energy domains has been a key turning point. Invention and use of automation systems to control and manage energy assets such as building management systems have led from the front.
A lot of R&D has also gone into the areas of alternative energy sources such as solar, and wind. This is fuelled by the awareness about the alarming scarcity of fossil-based energy sources, when compared with the growing energy demand. Globally, countries have come together to participate in collective action and drive home the need for such alternative sources. This has really helped a lot of development in tech-adoption.
What are the innovations being tried out in the labs, as regards high-tech energy management?
Google power meter project is a huge initiative to bring in awareness of energy being consumed by various equipments in households and indicate wastages that can be easily controlled. It is slated to take awareness to the very household level and enable them to participate actively in the ‘greening’ process.
A lot of innovation in the laboratories today is directed in a similar direction. There are small but impactful inventions – such as sensors to direct heating of room-heaters to where humans are present, development of new building material for energy conservation, use of nano-fluids to improve the efficiency of central heating systems, invention of solar lanterns, and so on.
Smart metering in power generation and distribution sector is being adopted to bring in the concept of ‘pay per use’ of energy.
In our own labs going 90 per cent wireless is an innovation that is on fast track and we should come out soon with a high-tech higher energy saving option.
As a player in the industry, what do you see as the main challenges when implementing an IT-based energy management solution (EMS)?
The key challenges that our customers face in adopting IT-based energy management solutions are linked to legacy and cost-of-change.
The interfacing of cutting-edge technology with the obsolete technology already in place at the premises, for instance, is non-trivial. Smart meters, remote SCADA, wireless sensors, all need to find a way to interact with the energy assets that they are targeting to monitor and control. This is an integration challenge. It requires expert understanding of both technologies, and innovation in getting them to talk to each other successfully so that they can work in tandem.
The cost-of-change is a huge problem mainly because one is trying to deal with an existing on-going operation – be it a facility, or a large industrial equipment, or a telecom wireless cell-site. There is no room for down-time, and stoppage of business activity. So, retrofitting a new IT solution in such a situation becomes a real-life challenge, something that the lab experiment has to overcome, if it has to evolve into a successful solution.
The opportunity here is for companies to leverage wireless technologies that can minimise the cost and time of change. Developers also need to think in the direction that leverages the investments that the customer has already made, and works with it to optimise the energy consumption – rather than suggest a new large investment.
With IT deployments witnessing flat budgets, what is the possibility of an SMB investing in an EMS?
SMBs (small and medium businesses) find an EMS as a very attractive investment opportunity, especially because it addresses their cost competitiveness. The reduction in energy bills adds to its bottom-line and positions it as an energy conscious provider.
The decision to invest becomes easier if the solution pays for itself, which it does, given that it returns savings in the form of reduced electricity bill to the enterprise.
We have found that SMBs prefer to work on a joint-investment model. The additional attraction for an SMB could be of participating in the carbon credit market. This is made possible by a technology vendor of the EMS solution as part of an overall programme for all its customers.
(Murali was in the US from 1978 to 1996 and worked with Fortune 500 companies like IBM, Xerox and Toshiba. He then headed the sales and marketing team for the telecom vertical of TCS. Prior to ConnectM, Murali was with Agilent Technologies, as the India Country Manager, heading the Operational Support Division focused on telecommunication.)
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