Digital intelligence for smart grids

NEW DELHI, 10th November 2010: Key leaders from Energy and Utility Industry and the Government of India are coming

together on a common platform to discuss how India can transform its energy sector by adding a layer of digital intelligence to the country’s power grids. The forum, scheduled from November 15-19, in New Delhi  has been

convened by IBM and NDPL, a joint venture between Tata Power and the Delhi Government,  to take advantage of the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition (GIUNC) meeting hosted by both companies in New Delhi.

The GIUNC is a group of innovative electricity utility companies working with IBM to accelerate the adoption of smart grid technologies and now collectively serves more than 115 million energy consumers globally. NDPL is the first Indian utility to join the IUN Coalition which also includes utilities in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions - all working

together to accelerate the development of common standards, technology solutions and processes for intelligent networks.

"India's energy demand is growing rapidly and it is imperative to ensure a robust distribution network by adopting the latest technologies to sustain this," said Sunil Wadhwa, Managing Director, NDPL. "As a member of the global coalition, NDPL is able to leverage best practices and the latest innovations so we can continue to drive strategic efforts to develop smart grid solutions and enhance the efficiency and reliability of utility operations here in India. We expect the smart grid features such as remote management of metering services and two way communication with meters to

contribute to fewer and shorter outages and enable our consumers to better manage their energy use through real time consumption analysis. We are confident that the Coalition will contribute actively in energy conservation through technological intervention and strategy thereby powering India's growth efforts."

The acceleration of smart grids in an emerging market like India is significant. With an estimated 1 million people around the world moving into cities each week, experts predict population in the world’s cities will double by 2050. (In 1900, only 13 per cent of the world's population lived in cities. By 2050, that number will have risen to 70 percent, from

approx 3.3 billion people today to 6.4 billion). Governments, regulators and utility companies need to ensure that cities will survive under the crush of demand for access to the power grid.

Adding generation capacity and building additional analog utility grids is not the most efficient answer. By contrast, smart grids improve energy system performance, reduce energy loss and enhance customer service. The infusion of digital intelligence will also enable horizontal integration of traditional and new sources of power -- wind, plug-in electric cars, solar, etc. -- providing end-to-end insight across all forms of energy. In the process, it will make possible greater levels of reliability and security.