SMART GRID MARKET ANALYSIS: INDIA

Introduction
India has one of the fastest growing economies globally with its GDP growing on an annual
average of 6 percent between 2008-2017. With this India’s per capita electricity consumption has
also grown from 91KWh in 1971 to 1010 KWh in 2015[1]. In order to provide reliable and
quality energy to all, Indian power distribution sector has seen a number of initiatives and smart
grid is a key tool to achieve this goal. Presently most of the supply is met using coal and oil but
in 2015 India led a alliance of developing 175GW renewable energy capacity by 2022 with
100GW of solar energy[1]. In past years the formation of forums like ‘Indian Smart Grid
Forum’ and forces like ‘Smart Grid Task Force’ gives an indication of developing a more
efficient Smart Grid in India.

Existing Grid system in India

A lot of functionalities and technology were adopted for smart grids in India some of them are:

1. Advanced Meter Infrastructure – It is the communication infrastructure[2] of the grid that

is it allows bi-directional flow between utility centers and consumers to transfer
information and thus helping in making billing system virtual and transparent. It is done
using the installed smart meters at costumer locations and thus also preventing bad debts
etc.
2. Peak Load Management:- This approach is necessary as it helps in avoiding tripping of
feeders for load shedding and manage it by either curtailing loads or price incentives
using Time of use pricing which is done by smart meters. It is done using inputs from
SCADA and run different algorithms based on different parameters.[3]
3. Distributed Generation:- Using renewable resources in combination with supply from
central station to meet the power demands. Renewable resources include wind,
photovoltaic, solar etc. It benefits customers in pricing management and helps in not
relieving pressure from central stations in peak hours and also making it more
environments friendly.
4. Micro-grids :- It ensures reliable and quality electric power to the customers.A Micro-
grid is an integrated energy and communication system consisting of interconnected
loads and Distributed Energy Resources (DER), which mainly operates in standalone
mode or in parallel with the grid (macro grid) in case of emergency.

Gap Analysis
The smart grid vision for the future must be compared first with the present-scenario to identify
the gaps intechnology,business processes and customer acceptance[4]. A smart grid road map is
developed as a result of the gap analysis which can be seen as:
 Phase-1 Phase-2 Phase-3 Phase-4
Technology 1. Automated 1. Time of 1. Peak 4. Advanced
Metering use billing Load Metering
2. Data using manage Infrastructur
acquisition smart ment e
3. Geographic meters 2. Transpa 5. Distributed
al 2. Distributio rent Energy
information n billing generations
system Managem cycles
ent 3. Power
systems theft
Consumer Engagement Easy Active
Acceptance Programs for communication participation of
customer awareness between consumers
authorities and
user friendly
systems for their
ease

References
[1]http://swedishsmartgrid.se/globalassets/publikationer/marketanalysis_india2.pdf

[2] SMART GRID Fundamentals of Design and Analysis by James Momoh

[3] http://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/India%20Country%20Report%20on%20Smart%20Grids.pdf

[4] http://nsgm.gov.in/sites/default/files/Insights-from-SGPP-for-Scaling-Up-Smart-Grids-in-India.pdf