In order to meet the constantly increasing energy needs of the country and supplying uninterrupted reliable powers to all citizens, India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) on Thursday announced the third edition of the conference-cum- exhibition on ‘Smart Grids’ and ‘Smart Cities India’ to discuss the challenges and opportunities and build support towards establishing smart grids in India. The initiative is a public private partnership, being supported by Ministry of Power and several other Government institutions and International Agencies.
Talking to The Pioneer Praveer Sinha, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Power Delhi Distribution ltd said “Although India operates one of the largest electricity grids in the world with 310 GW generation capacities, 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.”
Addressing experts in the field of energy, policy-makers from the Government and leaders from corporate sector, Reji Kumar Pillai, president, India Smart Grid Forum commented, “Smart Grid is an evolving set of technologies to transform the electricity grid in to 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 premises. These technologies can help electric utilities manage supply and demand effectively in real time and avoid power cuts, ensure power quality that will eliminate the need for voltage stabilizers and inverters. This will also help customers save money by shifting some of their electricity usage like water pumping, washing machines etc to run during non-peak hours at reduced rates.”
“As India has ratified the Paris Climate Agreement and pledged to meet 40% of its energy needs from non-fossil resources by 2030 which is a formidable task to achieve. Government of India has already launched several focused programs to provide uninterrupted electricity to all citizens by 2022. Presently, India is pursuing the target of adding 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. In order to meet the Paris Climate Agreement, we need to substantially increase the renewable energy target. Besides, India is also building 100 Smart Cities and promoting 6-7 million electric vehicles by 2022. In this context grid modernization has assumed paramount importance and utilities in India are preparing roadmaps for smart grid implementation and smart meter rollouts on fast track,” a official of India Smart Grid Forum said.