The State government is going to launch the Internet of Things (IoT) pilot projects in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in all the districts for studying energy efficiency measures with the support of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
With the success of the first pilot project in an MSME unit in East Godavari, the BEE has agreed for more such projects and sanctioned funds for them.
Now, the AP State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM) will take up the project in five MSME units in each district with the support of the Department of Industries.
Energy efficiency
SECM CEO A. Chandra Sekhar Reddy stated in a press release that the BEE was impressed by the sustainable efforts of the State government to improve energy performance in the MSME sector and responded to the proposal to implement the IoT project in selected MSMEs across the State.
Chief Secretary and SECM chairperson Nilam Sawhney thanked the BEE for clearing the line for the pilot projects, which facilitate the installation of IoT-enabled power control devices in the MSMEs.
The initial pilot project that was taken up in Padma Ceramics in East Godavari district gave excellent results. The IoT devices were found to have helped in saving about 11,000 units per annum in the whole cluster with an annual monetary benefit of ₹80,000.
Real-time monitoring
The devices support real-time monitoring of various electrical parameters and give information on voltage fluctuations continuously through mobile phone communication, which would enable the entrepreneurs to take steps that save energy.
Energy-intensive sectors such as foundry and forgings, glass and ceramics, brick, textile, dairy and food processing were identified as big gainers from the IoT project.
The distribution companies (Discoms) estimated that the MSME sector had energy saving potential of around 400 MU per annum at the rate of at least 10% per energy savings out of total consumption of 5,125 million kilo volt amperes an hour.
Special Chief Secretary (industries) R. Karikal Valaven and Energy Secretary N. Srikant are monitoring the IoT initiative in the MSMEs.
