The power sector reforms are high on the government agenda & the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Program (R-APDRP) is all set to provide it...
4%..5%..10%..33%..These are the approximate aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses in electricity distribution of four countries-Korea, USA, China, India respectively. And yes,these are figures to stare at.
While we can call Korea an ideal situation, for the US ,a developed economy, and for china ,technologically advanced, any kind of excuse for 33% losses, mostly in distribution does not seem convincing. If you put figures to these losses, it comes out to be a staggering Rs.26,000 crore ! No mean deal this one!!
According to research reports, our power consumption is all set to double from the current 600-700 units in the coming few years. The corresponding per capita average global consumption remains far ahead at 2,600 kWh. The power demand that we are going to face by2030 is going to be about 800 GW of electricity as against the present installed capacity of 140 GW.
All these things indeed are huge challenges for a country looking to register strong, GDP (Gross Domestic Product)growth and may be that is precisely why the government ,for once ,has come up with an elaborate plan for the power transmission and distribution sector in India.
The plan, called Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Program (R-APDRP)has been allotted funds to the tune of Rs.51,577 crore.R-APDRP is a flagship program of the Govt. Of India.Power Finance Corporation has been appointed as the nodal agency for the program.
One good thing about this program is that the government is that the government is actually aware of the powerful role that IT can play in the power sector. The good thing is that it actually bothered to set up a taskforce for IT implementation in the power sector and that this taskforce was chaired by Nandan Nilekani.
The recommendations of this report were put forward only recently and some state projects have already started rolling out!
Hopefully, we shall not be all that powerless down the years , if IT is to step-in and take control...
GRID WORK : As per the report presented by Nilekani, aging and poorly maintained assets, unreliable and over loaded systems, low demand side management , lack of skilled resourses and training and absence of corporate governance in distribution companies (discoms) are the reasons for high AT&C losses.
Advocating a technology trajectory for energy distribution, Nilekani says that advanced metering was imperative to trim AT&C losses, which are untenable. “IT, communication , and automation to measure and control the flow of power on a real-time basis are key to manage distribution and check losses. Similarly , a smart grid intelligently manage outages, load and congestion and shortfall has to become pervasive to use energy efficiently and optimally,” Nilekani points out. IT experts are of the opinion that a lot can happen in the grid space,and it is here where there is maximum scope of innovation and improvisation.
“The first need in this country is to come to an Indian definition of a smart grid.”Although smart grid is a huge concept of US.
The case of electricity consumption in the US is different. It is like this kid who has been brought up on a lot of candy, and how needs to be put on diet. How ever in india the requirements are entirely different. we need more and more resources and lesser losses.
INFO TECH-TECHNIQUES:
By these, we mean the various areas, within the power sector where IT can play a part. These have been broadly divided into four.
v Bringing in more accountability and monitoring through Business Process Automation(BPA).
v Offering better Customer Relationship Management(CRM).
v Providing Geographical Informational System(GIS) mapping for distribution.
v Bringing efficiency in terms of billing.
Where, the R-APDRP shall come into force, The first hurdle comes with GIS. GIS-requires huge amount of data in order to function properly and this data is constantly upgraded as well. And although, GIS has been proved extremely useful for tracking faults and other locational purposes, data management remains a problem.However with IT giants coming into picture, and bringing bagful of data management experience with them, things might take a pleasant turn.
Then of course, is a problem of each street being depend upon a transformer. Analytics in such a situation becomes difficult and collating the data thrown up by meter acquisition tools is also a challenge.
According to Tapan Sarkar, head, power division, HCL Infosystems, “In India power has lagged behind as a sector in terms of advancements.
Korea is so far ahead because it uses high voltage distribution system. In India you can find this development in very limited areas(some places in delhi)since it is a very expensive system.
However,till the industry and the government come together and take innovation in the power sector seriously,there is little that can happen, considering the creaters that lie in our way.
