Can Smart Grids Solve India’s Energy Woes?

Supported by the Ministries of Power, New & Renewable Energy and Science & Technology, India Smart Grid Week is an initiative to find smart solutions to India’s energy needs

The viability and cost effectiveness of smart electricity grids in India, progress on future ready smart meters, and steps towards electricity grid modernization to improve power supply, cut transmission leakages and power thefts will be among subjects that will come up for discussion at the India Smart Grid Week that opens next week in the national capital.

Meeting the constantly increasing energy needs of the country and supplying 24x7 reliable powers to all citizens is a major challenge in India. With rapid growth and increasingly rising energy needs of the domestic and commercial sectors, India is working on several futuristic fronts to find credible solutions to meet its energy needs. Smart Grids are one of the several aspects of the solution.

Power utilities, policy makers and other stakeholders are convinced of leveraging the evolving smart grid technologies in resolving some crucial lacunas in electricity delivery and this will be the key theme for the discussions at the India Smart Grid Week (2016) to be held from 16 -18 March, 2016 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, organized by India Smart Grid Forum.

The initiative is being supported by Ministry of Power, Government of India and several other government institutions and international agencies. Pradeep Kumar Pujai, Secretary-Power and Dr.Upendra Tiwari, Secretary – MNRE and Ganesh B. Pradhan, Chairperson, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission are set to be part of the deliberations.

Leading experts in the field of energy, policymakers from the government and leaders from corporate sector from across the globe are set to converge together to discuss the challenges and opportunities and build support towards establishing smart grids in India at the 3-day conclave. The discussions will center on the energy requirements of the country, capabilities of smart grids, their cost effectiveness and benefits to customers and utilities.

Overall, 94 speakers from more than 16 countries will be part of the conclave. Dr. Amory Lovins – Co Founder and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, Sir Davind King, Special Advisor to U.K. Government on Climate Change, Gireesh Pradhan, Chairperson of CERC, Ajay Mathur, DG of TERI, Alka Panda, DG of BIS, Mr. Phil Beecher – Chairman of Wi-Sun Alliance, Martin Ford – Author of Best Seller – ‘Rise of Robots’, Former FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly, Richard Schomberg, EDF, Technology Entrepreneur Chris Hickman from Innovari,Inc, Alex Laskey, Founder and President of Opower, H.E.Hararld Sandberg, Ambassador of Sweden to India, H.E.Aapo POLHO – Ambassador of Finland to India and Bangladesh, Arvind Gupta, National Technology Head of BJP, Narendra Taneja, National Convener, Energy Cell, BJP, Praveer Sinha, MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, Kunal Kumar, Commissioner- Pune Smart City, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, MD of BESCOM, Anirudha Basu, MD of CESC, Kolkata, Raghavendra Mehta, CEO of Reliance Infra and Gopal Saxena, Director of Reliance Infra are among the confirmed speakers who will be participating in the deliberations.

Smart Grids comprise a set of technologies that can transform the electricity grid into a more intelligent and reliable grid with integrated control centre that can monitor and control electricity flows in real time up to each individual customers and even up to the smart appliances inside a customer’s house, office or factory.

“Smart grids are crucial to some of Indian government’s key projects: 100 Smart Cities, 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, 40% Renewable energy by 2030, electric vehicles (to combat air pollution) and 24*7 power supplies. They are a key enabling infrastructure to develop smart solutions to resolve India’s energy woes, and address troublesome issues such as massive transmission and distribution losses and power thefts. At the India Smart Grid week we are bringing together the latest updates from across the world in these fields and experts to discuss their feasibility and cost effectiveness in India. We are looking forward to experience sharing from utilities, policy makers and technology companies on deployment of large smart grid projects in North America, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea etc which will be fruitful for stakeholders in India for planning and rollout of smart grid projects,” said Mr. Reji Kumar Pillai, India Smart Grid Forum President.

Although India operates one of the largest electricity grids in the world with 290 GW generation capacity, over 250 million people are not connected to the grid and several parts of the country experience frequent power cuts. India’s per capita consumption of electricity which is one-third of world average is expected to increase as the economic development of the country progresses. With an ever-increasing need of energy and challenges such as need to control power theft and transmission losses, India has launched ambitious missions to establish smart grids and smart cities. Making energy supplies efficient is key to power the country’s industries and growth but the power infrastructure in India faces challenges in capacity.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), UK Trade & Investment(UKTI),Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP), International Council on Large Electric Sysytems (CIGRE),International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN), International Electrotechnical Commission(IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE),National Critical Information infrastructure protection center(NCIIPC) are among the supporting partners of the conference.

Key themes of the conference include Role of Smart Grids in New programs of Government of India; Smart City Mission in India; National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM); 21st Century Electric Grids – Evolving trends towards 100% renewable and Disruptive Innovations; Smart Grid Project Outcomes: Experiences and Lessons learned, Climate Change and Impact on Utilities, Cyber Security, Advanced Analytics, Security for IoT devices, etc. There is also a Special Plenary Session on Recap of RE-INVEST in association with MNRE; and a Special Workshop on Smart Grids as Anchor Infrastructure for Smart Cities for the Municipal Commissioners from 20 selected Smart Cities.