Energetica India 89 - May 2020

POWER SECTOR 42 energetica INDIA- May_2020 The Lessons of COVID-19 for the Indian Power Sector To bring the power sector back on track, utility leaders need to consider the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and introduce measures that increase resilience in power systems. These should in turn optimize perfor- mance, improve employee safety, increase customer satisfaction and maximize revenue and profit. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing how the world operates and significant - ly impacting Indian businesses as lock- downs and social distancing become the new normal. Harsha Anand, Chief Evangelist at Enzen Group, a global knowledge enterprise specializing in en- ergy and water, explains why this creates a significant opportunity to introduce in - novative new business models. The main challenge facing the power sector during the pandemic is keeping the lights on for citizens, both from an operational and financial perspective. Facing severe manpower crunches, and unexpected changes in demand, utili- ties are finding it difficult to continue with business as usual. With a large proportion of people work- ing from home and many industries shut- ting down, there has been a sizeable decrease in power demand, which is in turn impacting the sector’s revenues. Widespread lockdowns mean labor-in- tensive processes like collections and maintenance activities are also being significantly hampered. To bring the power sector back on track, utility leaders need to consider the long- term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and introduce measures that increase resilience in power systems. These should in turn optimize performance, improve employee safety, increase cus- tomer satisfaction and maximize revenue and profit. Building Resilience Through Data While the Indian power sector uses tech- nology for some of its operations, it’s still highly dependent on people to function smoothly. The pandemic has shown how organisations need to be ready for man- power shortages and look for alternative solutions in the absence of highly trained specialists. They must also be prepared to deal with the potential health issues of front-line maintenance workers who can- not follow social distancing norms. Bolder use of technology offers a solu- tion to these challenges. The advance- ment of emerging technologies like the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning now has the po- tential to create huge amounts of insight- ful data, which can help utilities achieve situational awareness, better deci- sion-making and superior forecasting in times of crisis. Power utilities can leverage these devel- opments in data analytics to predict sys- tems breakdowns, identify vulnerabilities and support those who may be impact- ed. Similarly, utilities can also use data modelling tools to analyze the health, locations and skills of their workforces, optimizing their workforces in real-time while safeguarding personnel. For example, optimization algorithms based on the potential susceptibility of assets, the customers affected by them, and the proximity of workers to essential services like hospitals and pharmacies will all drive faster decision-making when it comes to deploying people. Both de- terministic and stochastic models which use these algorithms can forecast and predict unplanned events, helping pow- er utilities to manage their operations better. Such models can also help prior- itize investments through asset risk indi- ces. This is a good example of how data – by transforming utilities’ understanding from hindsight to insight to foresight – will be- come the primary enabler of efficiency and effectiveness in the power sector in the near future. Smart Technologies Thanks to the availability of sensors and smart meters, plus tools that integrate them into a unified system, utilities have the power to manage their assets remote- ly to a greater extent than ever before. When combined with online billing and collection systems, such smart technol- ogies – and the metering big data they create – can also help utilities capture revenue and reduce their dependence on teams going door to door. Meanwhile, new visualization tools like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Re- Harsha Anand Chief Evangelist, Enzen Group