If all goes as per plan, consumers in the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company’s (Bescom) jurisdiction will have their power supply woes addressed in less than five minutes. The power utility is gearing up to complete the ambitious project, Distribution Automation System (DAS), by September next year.
Once in place, the automated monitoring, supervisory control and operation of the 11 kV network in the city will reduce the time taken to address faults — from the present 45–75 minutes to less than five minutes.
Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who visited the Ring Main Unit (RMU) in the Peenya industrial area here on Friday, said that DAS would first be implemented in the city areas.
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He appraised the consumer-centric initiatives of Bescom, including the present complaint redressal system.
G. Kumar Naik, Managing Director, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, said that the project would reduce the impact area as well as the time taken to restore power. This is because the faulty section is isolated and power supply to ‘healthy’ sections is restored by drawing power from other feeders, he said.
L. Ravi, General Manager, DAS, said the project, originally conceived in 2008, would have centralised monitoring stations at HSR Layout and Rajajinagar.
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Bescom Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said 1,590 such RMUs would be installed (1,000 have been completed) and the entire project would cost Rs. 560 crore.
Bescom has availed a loan of Rs. 450 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. While each RMU costs Rs. 7 lakh, the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) – which enables radio communication – will cost Rs. 3 lakh each.
Smart gridThough the Smart Grid Project, implemented on a pilot basis in Electronics City, is witnessing “slow progress,” Mr. Pandey said that the project would be implemented in Indiranagar.
The smart grid is an automated intelligence empowered by ICT and helps monitor energy availability and demand.