Metering.com 23 SEPTEMBER 2016
India power utility CESC Limited was awarded ‘Smart Grid Project of the Year’ at the Asian Power Awards this week.
The utility firm serving 2.9 million metering points in the Indian state of West Bengal was awarded the ‘Smart Grid Project of the Year’, at the 2016 Asian Power Awards held on the 21st of September.
In its smart grid project, the power company is deploying and making use of Silver Spring Networks technologies in Kolkata.
The technologies include the solution firm’s ‘Starfish’, IPv6 public cloud IoT network and data analytics platform ‘Operations Optimiser’.
CESC is using the Starfish solution to manage and operate its advanced metering infrastructure and distribution automation applications.
With the Operations Optimiser data analytics solution, CESC is able to access real time status of grid infrastructure to improve grid reliability as well as reduce transmission and distribution losses.
The analytics solution enables CESC to ensure accuracy in power billing.
Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman of CESC, said: “IoT is central to CESC’s strategy to modernize Kolkata and its surrounding areas to increase the value of service, drive new customer and city applications, and unleash creativity for new applications that the industry has not yet developed.”
The two companies have also started to provide smart grid and smart city services to other organisations in West Bengal using the Starfish solution. [Indian state selects Oracle to improve rollout of smart city solutions].
“New innovations in technology are heightening customer expectations for services such as energy management and city operations. CESC has recognized that global trend and set the bar for world-class services in India through modernization of their grid using IoT technology that is proven, reliable, secure and scalable,” added Eric Dresselhuys, executive vice president of Global Development at Silver Spring Networks.
India smart grid project
In early September, engineering firm Mindteck was selected by the Indian government to implement a smart grid pilot in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK).
The smart grid pilot will include the installation of advanced metering infrastructure and smart home automation technologies in selected residential premises at the IIT-Kanpur campus and surrounding areas.
The initiative is partly funded by the Indian Ministry of Power, the Indian government and IIT-Kanpur.
The programme will allow deployment of single-phase and three-phase smart meters, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), meter data acquisition and meter data management systems to ensure accurate power billing, real time management of grid network and implementation of energy conservation measures.
In addition, participants of the smart grid pilot will be equipped with roof top solar to allow them to generate their own electricity for use during peak demands.