With the State planning huge investment in the power transmission utility for smoother evacuation of power, experts and technocrats on Thursday highlighted the opportunities of leveraging smart grid technology to optimise the benefits for all stakeholders.
Inaugurating a national workshop on smart grid here, Principal Secretary (Energy) Pradeep Jena said the State’s power sector is poised for massive growth. “The workshop assumes significance at a juncture when Government intends to draw an ambitious plan to convert State Capital into a Smart City besides building its first ever Smart Grid City in cyclone-battered Chhatrapur town in Ganjam district,” he said.
Introduction of smart grid as a tool of automation with its robust mechanism of IT system is an honest beginning to reduce transmission and distribution loss and supply uninterrupted power to people, he said.
Chairman and Managing Director of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) Hemant Sharma presented various applications of high-end technology including unmanned substation, GIS technology and smart grid in transmission and distribution sector, which will pave the way for grid stability and economic operation.
The national workshop was jointly organised by India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF), a public private partnership (PPP) initiative of Ministry of Power, in association with OPTCL and GRIDCO.
A smart grid is an electrical grid with automation, communication and IT systems that can monitor power flows from points of generation to points of consumption and control the power flow or curtail the load to match generation in real time, said ISGF president Reji Pillai.
The domain experts and technocrats from ISGF, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and IEEMA highlighted the opportunities of leveraging smart grid technologies to optimise the benefits through a holistic approach involving customer engagement, utility operations, governance and regulatory systems.
Vijay Sonavane of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) explained through a case study the cost-benefit analysis of smart grid pilot projects being successfully executed by Tata Power in Mumbai.
BK Mishra, Member, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) highlighted the challenges posed to different stakeholders.
More than 150 delegates from power utilities of West Bengal, Bihar, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh participated in the workshop.