India’s private discoms have been at the forefront of recent smart grid development. Both wholly-owned and public-private discom consortiums, have invested in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), IT, and automation solutions to reduce network losses and improve grid reliability. This has improved the commercial basis for the industry which has faced many challenges to due legacy pricing issues.
Public discoms, reliant on government funding, have been slower to implement network modernisation projects but the situation is improving following the introduction of government schemes such as UDAY which supports loss-making utilities to improve operation efficiency through infrastructure upgrades. As a result these discoms are beginning to venture into IT integration, digitisation and Smart Grid initiatives which will further improve operational efficiencies.
Public discoms need to accelerate these changes in line with their private counterparts to ensure India has an electricity infrastructure fit for the 21st century and beyond. Government entities like the ministry of power and the related India Smart Grid Forum will really help the industry move forward and address some of the challenges it is facing.
[Ajithkumar Kesavan, in an exclusive exchange with T&D India, sharing his views on the adoption of advanced technology by private and public discoms.]