Smart Grid project gets a new lease of life

Bescom aims to bridge gap between demand and supply of electricity

 After five years, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company’s (Bescom) ambitious project, ‘Smart Grid’, has shown signs of revival with the company preparing a detailed project report (DPR) on it.

The Bescom will also take up a similar project for domestic consumers at Indiranagar here on a smaller scale.

The Bescom had envisaged the ‘Smart Grid’ project at Electronics City to bridge the demand and supply gap and ensure better and efficient management of consumer electricity usage.

The Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) gave the preliminary clearance for the  project which is expected to reduce the City’s power woes. But the project was dogged by problems until recently.

“We are now taking up the project with assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The DPR is being prepared,” Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Managing Director, Bescom, told Deccan Herald.

Two-way technology

Being an integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the transmission and distribution system, the ‘Smart Grid’ project ensures electricity to consumers, using two-way technology and enables efficient management of consumers’ electricity usage. “It identifies and corrects the supply-demand imbalances in the grid and enhances the reliability of the system by a self-healing process,” a Bescom official said.

Explaining the objectives of the project, the official said that it would increase energy efficiency. In addition, it will focus on consumer portal service, billing data generation, energy auditing and condition-based maintenance, besides facilitating load research,workforce management and network monitoring.

A similar project for domestic consumers will be taken at Indiranagar on a smaller scale, another Bescom official said. The smaller project is, however, yet to be approved by the Bescom board. “But we have already selected the locality. It will come up near Domlur,” the official added.

In 2010, the United States Trade Development Authority (USTDA) had conducted a feasibility study to develop the requirements and specifications for implementation of a smart grid project.

Estimated at Rs 87 crore

The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 87 crore. Aimed at meeting the growing demand for energy, the pilot project will come up at Keonics city area of S8 subdivision at Electronics City.