VIJAYAWADA: As part of its national initiative, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has inaugurated a renewable energy management centre (REMC) at Andhra Pradesh State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) here on Friday. Ten other REMCs were also commissioned in states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan on the occasion. Members from the Power Grid Corporation of India, which oversaw the commissioning of the project, met APTRANSO joint managing director KVN Chakradhar Babu ahead of the inaugural.
They explained to him that the project would help in forecasting and scheduling of renewable energy generation, whose variability is a critical challenge, in real-time, thus helping in grid balance. They also explained that the centre would provide visualisation and situational awareness tools required to monitor and control solar and wind power, which are weather-dependent.
The REMCs would be closely coordinated at all levels -- pooling stations, SLDC, regional load despatch centre (RLDC) and national load despatch centre (NLDC) -- for better scheduling on a pan-India basis.
The state officials said the centre would help them plan scheduling effectively. Since there will be forecast data in real-time, we will be able to plan our grid, which is susceptible to drops due to drastic fall and rise of renewable generation, in a better manner, Chakdradhar Babu noted.
The data is also expected to be a shot in the arm for the state power utilities, which have been accused of willful curtailment by wind and solar generators. The generators also petitioned with the APERC seeking compensation for the alleged willful curtailment. “Now that the data will be monitored in real-time, it will help us substantiate our argument that curtailment would be done only for the security of grid,” another official explained.