The country will soon have a modern and intelligent power transmission system with features such as real-time monitoring and automated operation of the grid, improved situational assessment, the ability to increase the proportion of renewable capacity in the power mix, increased utilization of transmission capacity, greater resilience against cyber-attacks and natural disasters, centralized and data-driven decision-making, and a reduction in forced outages through self-correc.
Following the recommendations of a 2021-established task team, India is preparing to implement a significant reform in its electricity transmission infrastructure. The country will soon have a modern and intelligent power transmission system with features such as real-time monitoring and automated operation of the grid, improved situational assessment, the ability to increase the proportion of renewable capacity in the power mix, increased utilization of transmission capacity, greater resilience against cyber-attacks and natural disasters, centralized and data-driven decision-making, and a reduction in forced outages through self-correc.
It is interesting that current technology will play a vital part in this whole transmission process. The report of the committee was adopted by the government after deliberations headed by Minister Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh recently. At the discussion, the minister underlined that a modern transmission grid is crucial to realizing the government’s ambition to supply 24×7 dependable and inexpensive power to the people and also achieve environmental goals. Singh stated that a completely automated, digitally managed, rapid-response grid that is robust to cyber-attacks and natural calamities is required immediately.
In order to safeguard the grid and prevent greater outages, he stated that such a system must ensure the isolation of certain locations in the event of an emergency. Singh commended the efforts of the task force and ordered the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to develop the necessary standards and regulations for the adoption of identified technological solutions and to establish benchmark performance levels in order to construct a robust and modern transmission network for the nation. The Commission in its report has identified a bouquet of technical and digital solutions which might be utilized to make the state transmission grids future ready. These proposals have been grouped under categories of modernization of existing transmission systems; use of innovative technologies in construction & supervision, operations & management; smart & future-ready transmission systems; and up-skilling of the workforce.
The Task Force has proposed Centralized Remote Monitoring, Operation of Substations including SCADA, Flexible AC Transmission devices, Dynamic Line Loading system, Wide Area Measurement System utilizing PMUs and data analytics, Hybrid AC / HVDC system, Predictive maintenance techniques utilizing AI/ML, HTLS Conductors, Process Bus based Protection Automation and Control GIS/Hybrid Substation, Cyber Security, Energy Storage Systems, and Drones & Robots in the construction During building and maintenance, the employment of robots is anticipated to not only reduce human intervention and life-threatening dangers, but also save time while maintaining accuracy. The task group also established standards for transmission network availability and voltage control based on the performance of global transmission utilities.
These and other proposals are part of a report of a task group set up by the Power Ministry in Sep 2021 under the chairmanship of the chairman cum managing director, POWERGRID to offer strategies for the upgrading of the transmission industry and make it smart and future-ready. Although the short-term to medium-term suggestions will be implemented over one to three years, the long-term interventions are planned to be executed over a period of three to five years.
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