NDMC's smart grid project to step up efficiency now

The NDMC is coming up with a smart grid project to improve the power distribution system in its jurisdiction. This is a part of the council’s smart city project.

Once the project takes off, the council will be able to accurately judge the electricity requirement in every locality, cut down on outages and to sell off surplus electricity.
The cost of the project has been estimated to be running above Rs 500 crore, said a senior official, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The NDMC has divided the project into three broad sections — replacing the old equipment and cables, installing smart metres across households and institutions in the council jurisdiction and developing sophisticated software to improve the overall efficiency of electricity distribution here. Currently, the NDMC meets a peak demand of 380 MW of electricity at any given time during the summer. In the winter, the demand comes down to 90 MW of electricity at a given time.

The council will rope in consultant agencies for the technology development. This will help the civic body cut down on its losses by optimum power distribution. It is also likely to improve customer satisfaction through accurate power scheduling.

“The software will project the future load requirement in every area accurately. If there is deficiency of electricity in a particular area, we can take decisions on scheduling distribution of power in advance. The main benefit is outages will come down. During winter when less electricity is required, we will sell off the surplus electricity beforehand as the forecast is likely to be accurate,” said the official.

The smart grid system will also help predict voltage interruption. But the first step is an overhaul of old cables, transformers and other equipment. Even though doing away with existing equipment will incur huge cost, the council is likely to benefit in the long run, said another NDMC official.

The smart metres will help bill collection online. These metres will also help trace the habitual defaulters.   “We want NDMC to be the model civic body. The grid project will be technology reliant and transform the existing scenario,” said the official.