'Electric cars to replace fuel run cars'

Depleting fossil fuels will make electricity the major power source

The transition from fossil fuel-based energy production to electricity-based energy production will happen in the next few decades.

As a result, car manufacturers will have to concentrate on electric cars, as against vehicles run on crude oil, said Director General of Central Power Research Institute, N Murugesan, here on Saturday.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Smart Grid Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges’, organised by the Electrical Engineering division of The Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI),Mysore.

Smart grids are designed to deliver electricity to suppliers using digital technology to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability, he said. However, switching from the current grid system to a smart grid will not be easy.

Quoting examples of developed nations, he said, Japan has 99 per cent reliability in power supply, with consumers suffering a maximum blackout of five minutes annually. “Such kind of efficiency requires a lot of investment into machinery and technologies,” he said.

Predicting that use of solar and wind power will catch up in the country, he said India would become the third largest manufacturer of electricity within the next three decades.

Striking a contrast on excessive power consumption, he noted that countries in Europe will try to reduce their energy usage by 20 per cent by 2020, as per a policy approved by the European Union in 2010. “This is a result of environmental consciousness among the people,” he said.

Director(Technical), Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom), W M Shivakumar, said, the power sector was witnessing a slowdown due to escalating cost of fuels, lack of maintenance and other problems.

He said, implementation of a smart grid would eliminate power blackouts, pin point electricity thefts and leaks and will help in receiving power directly from solar and wind energy grids.

Power generation in the country should keep pace with the increase in power demands, he said.