India Smart Grid Week: Conference to discuss Potential of Smart Grids

Meeting the constantly increasing energy needs of the country and supplying 24x7 reliable power to all citizens is a major challenge in India. Power utilities, policy makers and other stakeholders are convinced of leveraging the evolving smart grid technologies in resolving some crucial lacunas in electricity delivery and this will be the key theme for the discussions at the India Smart Grid Week (2016).

At a press conference held in the capital , the organizers laid down the agenda of the conference while delineating the key subjects of discussion among leading experts and delegates from national and international organizations. The discussions will center on the energy requirements of the country, capabilities of smart grids, their cost effectiveness and benefits.

Leading experts in the field of energy, policymakers from the government and leaders from corporate sector from across the globe are set to converge together to discuss the challenges and opportunities and build support towards establishing smart grids in India at the 3-day conclave. India Smart Grid Week (ISGW) 2016 is the second edition of the Conference cum Exhibition on Smart Grids and Smart Cities organized by India Smart Grid Forum from 15-19 March, 2016 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.

The initiative is being supported by Ministry of Power, Government of India and several other government institutions and international agencies.

Dr. Amory Lovins – Co Founder and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, Sir Davind King, Special Advisor to U.K. Government on Climate Change, Pradeep Kumar Pujai, Secretary-Power, Dr.Upendra Tiwari, Secretary – MNRE, Gireesh Pradhan, Chairperson of CERC, Ajay Mathur, DG of TERI, Alka Panda, DG of BIS, Mr. Phil Beecher – Chairman of Wi-Sun Alliance, Martin Ford – Author of Best Seller – ‘Rise of Robots’, Professor Ignatio from MIT, Former FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly, Richard Schomberg, EDF, Technology Entrepreneur Chris Hickman from Innovari,Inc, Alex Laskey, Founder and President of Opower, H.E.Hararld Sandberg, Ambassador of Sweden to India, H.E.Aapo POLHO – Ambassador of Finland to India and Bangladesh, Arvind Gupta, National Technology Head of BJP, Narendra Taneja, National Convener, Energy Cell, BJP, Praveer Sinha, MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, Kunal Kumar, Commissioner- Pune Smart City, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, MD of BESCOM, Anirudha Basu, MD of CESC, Kolkata,  are among the confirmed speakers who will be participating in the deliberations.

Smart Grid is defined as a set of technologies which can transform the electricity grid into 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 house, office or factory.

“Smart grids have emerged as a key enabling infrastructure to develop smart solutions to resolve India’s energy woes. Smart grids are also crucial to some of Indian government’s key projects: 100 Smart Cities, 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, 40% Renewable energy by 2030, electric vehicles (to combat air pollution) and smart meters amongst others. At the India Smart Grid week we are hence bringing together the latest updates from across the world in these fields and experts to discuss their feasibility and cost effectiveness in India. We are looking forward to experience sharing from utilities, policy makers and technology companies on deployment of large smart grid projects in North America, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea etc which will be fruitful for stakeholders in India for planning and rollout of smart grid projects,” said Mr. Reji Kumar Pillai, India Smart Grid Forum President.

Although India operates one of the largest electricity grids in the world with 290 GW generation capacity, 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. With an ever-increasing need of energy and challenges such as need to control power theft and transmission losses, India has launched ambitious missions to establish smart grids and smart cities. Making energy supplies efficient is key to power the country’s industries and growth but the power infrastructure in India faces challenges in capacity.

Smart grid 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 and 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.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), UK Trade & Investment(UKTI),Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP), International Council on Large Electric Sysytems (CIGRE),International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN), International Electrotechnical Commission(IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are among the supporting partners of the conference.

Key themes of the conference include Role of Smart Grids in New programs of Government of India; Smart City Mission in India; National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM); 21^st Century Electric Grids – Evolving trends towards 100% renewable and Disruptive Innovations; Smart Grid Project Outcomes: Experiences and Lessons learned, Climate Change and Impact on Utilities, Gross Cutting Themes – Cyber Security, Advanced Analytics, Security for IoT devices, 21^st Century Electric Grids: Disruptive Innovations and its applications for utilities, etc. There is also a Special Plenary Session for Recap of RE-INVEST in association with MNRE; and a Special Workshop on Smart Grids as Anchor Infrastructure for Smart Cities for the Municipal Commissioners from 20 selected Smart Cities.