A technical review on smart grids in India

The depleting fuel resources, deteriorating environmental conditions and ever increasing power demands make imminent the modernization of the electricity transmission and distribution networks. The future of power distribution relies on utilities to maximize their efficiency and optimize the network to consistently deliver power to consumers at minimal cost and smart grid technologies are a promising solution for dynamic optimization of grid operations and resources, metering, distribution automation in response to demand, etc. In this paper a brief introduction of various components of smart grid architecture is given. Further, smart grid policies adopted worldwide are described and a brief review of various ongoing projects in India and norms set by Indian government for the implementing agency of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is presented. Challenges and issues associated with this development in India are also described in this paper.