ENABLING THE SMART GRID IN INDIA: PUDUCHERRY PILOT PROJECT

Client Context The Electricity Department of Puducherry was laboring with old metering systems characterized by error prone manual meter reading, lack of visibility of peak demand periods and inefficiencies in energy accounting due to tampering issues and power theft. The issue was further compounded by ever increasing demand for electricity, which the utility was unable to match, and an inadequate distribution network with high overheads. A smart grid was envisaged for the city of Puducherry to reduce distribution losses, improve electricity efficiency in the grid as well as at energy users homes and offices, and enable two-way digital communication to monitor devices associated with the grid from a centralized control center. The smart grid would also bring equilibrium to the demand-supply relationship, increase reliability by improving response time to outages and enhance operational efficiency. The utility would also be able to monitor energy consumption in real-time leading to speedy identification and resolution of

tampering and theft issues. Consumers too would benefit from reduced electricity bills, greater reliability and quality of power supply.

SolutionThe Electricity Department of Puducherry and the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) decided to launch a consumer utility interactive smart grid pilot in the city of Puducherry. The Puducherry smart grid pilot is Indias first smart grid project, involving installation of smart meters in households, aiming to ultimately cover a total of 87,000 households in Puducherry. About 65 organizations worked together on this project and Kalkitech is a key member of this group. The Indian Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF) envisages a total of 14 pilots, to be followed by mass deployment on a staggered basis across major cities. The pilot project would enable Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)/Smart Metering as well as improve the quality of distribution management system applications.

Company

Electricity Department,

Government of Puducherry

Region

India

Industry

AMR/AMI

Website

http://electricity.puducherry.gov.in

Case Study

www.kalkitech.com

The Electricity Department of Puducherry was facing issues due to error prone manual meter reading, lack of visibility of peak demand periods and inefficiencies in energy accounting.

Enabling seamless collection and transmission of data A low cost Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) with automated meter reading facility was implemented for all consumers under various distribution transformers located in the pilot area. PGCIL proposed interoperable, open standards based solution compatible with Zigbee smart energy and DLMS/COSEM protocols.

Kalkitech installed its SYNC 1711 LT Metering DCU with built-in Zigbee modem and GPRS interface to collect data related to energy consumption, demand and tamper events from single phase meters in areas with

The Electricity Department of Government of Puducherry is responsible for the transmission, distribution and retail supply of electricity in Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe regions of the Union Territory of Puducherry. It operates an extensive network of power transmission and distribution systems spread across the four regions of the Union Territory.

www.kalkitech.com

a high density of population. The DCU stores the data collected from each meter and transmits it to the SYNC 5000 MDAS, which is a server based meter data head end system compatible with multiple standards based protocols as well as proprietary protocols. The web services interface of SYNC 5000 allows it to transmit billing data to the third party MDM system. Kalkitechs interoperable solution using Zigbee smart energy protocol delivered valuable results by validating the suitability of 2.4GHz Zigbee radio mesh technology for adoption in residential areas with a high density of consumers.

Figure 1: Architecture Diagram

There are 14 pilot projects planned and a corpus of Rs.9,500 crore has been earmarked for smart grid implementation. So the Smart Grid has a bright future in India. Kalkitech has a very unique role to play as MDAS and DCU, which are critical components of smart grid implementations, are its strengths.

Senior Official, Smart Grid Initiative, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL).

ResultsThe smart grid project at Puducherry has delivered multiple benefits to the Electricity Department of Puducherry as well as to end users. The pilot has laid the communication infrastructure in place for deployment of peak demand reduction program which is presently under implementation. Real-time identification of tampering and power theft issues from control center has resulted in speedy resolution. The web

KALKI Communication Technologies Private Limited#147, 5th Main Road, HSR Layout Sector 7, Bangalore 560102, INDIA

Telephone: +91-80-4052 7900Fax: +91-80-2572 5473Email: info@kalktech.com sales@kalkitech.com

Contact Us

2013 Kalki Communication Technologies Private Limited

based user interface of SYNC 5000 MDAS has enabled easy monitoring of the AMI system by maintenance crews and utility offices.

Consumers have gained visibility into power consumption and are able to make informed decisions about usage, leading to better management and fewer billing disputes. They have also benefited from quicker restoration of power in case of an outage.

We faced a few challenges during deployment like establishing a neighborhood area network between the meters and the DCUs with Zigbee RF Mesh topology. Through this deployment we have gained insights into DCU positioning and in addition developed guidelines for improving the reliability of the RF mesh network in urban areas. The Kalkitech team worked closely with meter vendors, PGCIL and the MDM vendor to establish an inter-operable, end-to-end metering solution based on open standards.

Nobin Matthew, AVP CoE, Kalkitech

Smart Grids are the future of electric power supply and would go a long way in reducing environmental impact and making power more accessible for all. Transforming the existing electric infrastructure through a Smart Grid is the way forward to ensure efficient and reliable power supply, and achieve energy conservation on the path to sustainable development.