Energetica India Magazine December 2020

48 energetica INDIA- December_2020 With the eagerness of the government to bring in reforms to the power sector, easily availability of resources, renewed thrust on ‘aatmanirbhar’ manufacturing, and urgency to revive ailing DISCOMS, makes the switch to ad- vanced smart metering infrastructure more viable today and is absolutely the need of the hour. Smart metering is the quickly becoming the new norm in the power and utility industry. The electricity demand in the country is expected to grow rapidly and almost double by 2030. To support this increas- ing energy demand the government has focused on expanding our energy mix and incentivised installation on non-fos- sil fuel-based energy generation plants to meet the current and future require- ments. Understandably, manage the rapid complexities arising out of the in- crease in demand as well as generation capacities the country would need to shift en-mass towards establishing a ro- bust smart electricity grid in the country. Digitally augmented smart electricity grids will help to automate and manage the increasing intricacies on the supply as well as the demand side. Smart grids will not only help in smartly integrating renewable energy but would be ex- tremely helpful in reducing AT&C loss- es. With the reduction in AT&C losses, the crisis in the power distribution sector can be alleviated, and the DISCOMS can become efficient. Data from public sector undertaking Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) shows that utilities have smart metering infrastructure showed 95% billing effi - ciency during the lockdown in the first quarter of this fiscal year, and were ad - ditional able to generate 15-20% more revenue per meter. There is already a push from govern- ment as well as power sector to replace conventional electricity meters into pre- paid smart meter. Government of India has shown considerable focus on smart metering and Energy Efficiency Ser - vices Ltd.’s (EESL) Smart Meter National Programme aims to retrofit 250 million conventional meters with smart variants in the coming years. Advanced Smart Metering Infrastruc- ture provides a reliable and effective solution Large-scale adoption of smart metering solutions can quickly ramp up collection efficiency for the DISCOMS. AMI enables two-way communications with customers, remote meter reading for error-free data, identifying network problems; load profiling, energy audit and partial load curtailment in place of load shedding. From the perspective of DISCOMS and utility, a major driver pushing for quick adoption of smart meters is the reduc- tion in AT&C loss. At the same time, it al- lows for seamless online billing process, real time tracking of electricity usage, and reduction of billing errors. DISCOMs will also get the advantage of tracking inefficient points of losses and unauthorized usage of electricity network while also analyzing and pre- dicting energy requirement. With real time sharing of data on energy usage will help in keeping the energy grid bal- anced and better managed. Additional- ly, smart meters enable time of day me- tering and thus contribute to the better integration of renewable power in India’s energy mix. From the consumer point of view, smart metering infrastructure enhances con- sumer satisfaction through better griev- ance management, system stability, re- liability and transparency. Consumers can access real time information on en- ergy consumption in an in-home display unit, thus allowing consumers to under- Mr. Gautam Seth Joint Managing Director, HPL Electric & Power Ltd POWER SECTOR Smart Metering Technology in India: Need and Scope