Cyan readies smart meters for Mysuru

UK firm bets big on planned smart grid rollout

Integrated wireless systems and utility metering firm Cyan Technology India, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Cambridge, UK-based Cyan Holdings, on Thursday announced receiving a purchase order to provide over 21,000 smart meters to power distribution company (discom) Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC), as part of a large pilot project, for its power distribution operations in Mysuru.

The project has been entrusted to Cyan by Enzen Global Solutions, with the first few meters expected to go live before the end of 2015 and a full rollout expected by the first half of 2016.

Cyan will act as Enzen’s end-to-end solution provider for the smart metering elements of the latter’s contract with Tata Power.

Cyan will supply its 865 Mhz RF mesh communication network, including the modules, data concentrator units (DCUs) and head-end software, a Meter Data Acquisition System, and 21,824 smart meters.

According to Cyan Country Manager (India) Shiv Kaushik, “Automatic smart metering is the perfect solution that diminishes the human intervention in manual reading, leading to real-time data collection.”

The Union Ministry of Power’s Smart Grid Vision and Roadmap for India defines a smart grid as “an electrical grid with automation, communication and IT systems that can monitor power flows from points of generation to points of consumption (even down to the appliances level) and control the power flow or curtail the load to match generation in real-time or near real-time”.   

“Cyan is manufacturing its DCUs, radio chips and related software for electricity meters at contracted manufacturing facilities in Chennai and Bengaluru. The materials will feed real-time live data through an in-built GPRS modem, which can be accessed from any computer via the cloud or the Internet,” Kaushik told Deccan Herald.

Currently, Cyan is aiming at a B2B (business to business) model, but with more consumers taking to such technologies, B2C (business to consumer) might become a reality.

There are around 200 million regular meters in India. The India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) expects that in the next five years, around 130 million smart meters will be required.
“Communication of real-time information is the key to prevent power wastage and enable accurate billing. In the last couple of years, we have handled 15 pilot projects. We were awarded an order for Tata Power in Mumbai (2,000 consumers covered; to touch 5,000 by May), besides an order for 5,000 meters for Essel Utilities in Muzaffarpur, Bihar,” Kaushik added. Bescom is also believed to be considering such technologies for its customers in Bengaluru.