India is projected to become the world’s 5th largest economy by 2020. To achieve that will require a lot more power generation. Electric power demand in India has been growing at an average 3.6 % over the past 30 years. Electric power generation capacity reached over 185.5 GW in November 2011, placing India 5th in the world. But a quarter of the population (about the population of the US) does not have access to electric power. The IEA estimates that $135 billion in investment is required to provide universal access to electric power. Even more incredibly the IEA estimates that India will require 600-1200 GW of new capacity by 2050. For comparison US total generation in 2010 was just over 1000 GW. In addition India is investing in renewable energy, primarily wind and solar. Indian renewable energy investment reached $10.3 billion in 2011, up 52% over 2010 and ahead of Brazil at $8.2 billion, but much less than the US ($56billion) or China ($47billion).
Given the shortage of power it is essential that the country does something about the up to 30% of India’s power generation that is lost to “aggregate technical and commercial” (AT&C) losses.
To address these challenges in May 2010, the Union Government created the India Smart Grid Task Force, chaired by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister. Five working groups have been constituted which give a clear idea of the focus of the smart grid initative in India.
- WG1 Trials/pilots of new technologies
- WG2 Loss reduction and theft – data gathering and analysis
- WG3 Power to rural areas and reliability and quality of power in urban areas
- WG4 Distributed generation and renewables
- WG5 Physical cybersecurity, standards and spectrum
Smart Grid Pilots
In July 2011 eight smart grid pilots were announced that are to be funded jointly by the Ministry of Power and the 14 electric distribution utilities in India with an estimated investment of Rs 50 to 60 crore ($10 million). The distribution utilities have been invited to submit proposals and the intention is that the projects are be completed in 12-18 months. The objectives for the pilots are to address three prioriity issues facing the power grid in India
- Reduction of technical and non-revenue losses
- Peak load manageent
- Integration of renewable energy into the grid
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