Accelerated deployment of Smart Grid technologies in India - Present scenario, challenges and way forward

The idea behind `Smart Grid Vision for India' is to transform the Indian power sector into a secure, adaptive, sustainable, and digitally enabled ecosystem that provides reliable and quality energy for all with active participation of stakeholders. Realizing the growing importance of Smart Grid technologies in the Indian power sector, very recently Ministry of Power, Government of India on the recommendation of India Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF) has shortlisted fourteen (14 Nos.) Smart Grid pilot projects that are planned to be executed in power distribution sector in India. As per the `Smart Grid Roadmap for India', these pilot projects are expected to help technology section guides, develop business cases, policy and regulatory recommendations for larger projects in the next phase, while showcasing the relevance of Smart Grid on different aspects such as, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Outage Management System (OMS), Peak Load Management System (PLMS), Renewable Energy (RE) Integration etc. The average estimated cost of each pilot project would be US$ 10 million (approx.) out of which 50% is grant will be provided by Government of India through (budgeted INR 2 Lakh Crores for Smart Grid projects across India under 13th Five-Year Plan) Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (R-APDRP) and rest to be borne either fully by the utility or, shared between the utility and the technology providers, and targeted to be completed by the end of 2014. The main objective of this technical paper is to underline the present scenario of those selected Smart Grid pilots in India, including proposed state-of-the-art Technology Integration, Consumer Coverage (Base), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This study will also capture the Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Smart Grid Maturity Model (SGMM), developed by the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition (GIUNC) as a management tool, towards the Smart Grid transformation to assess the performance (including, current status) of those utilities responsible for pilot demonstrations and provide necessary recommendations to use this framework for establishing future strategies and work plans as pertain to Smart Grid implementations in the country. The purpose of this research will further emphasize on the progress of applicable Smart Grid interoperability and standards relevant to the Indian context, development of indigenous low-cost smart solutions, gap analysis and appropriate changes conducive to the deployment of Smart Grid pilot projects, and discussion on National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) in India.