Decentralised RE will help upgrade India's grid network: GE Grid Solutions

Company's advanced products focussed on grid automation, stability and remote control are being deployed in Rajasthan, UP, J&K and Himachal Pradesh

While India has one of the world's most extensive power grid networks, its modernisation, especially at the last-mile level controlled by power distribution companies (discoms), has progressed slowly. The need to upgrade their archaic power systems along with increasing the share of renewable energy (RE) in their network is prompting these discoms to embrace high-tech solutions. GE Grid Solutions is looking to tap this opportunity by offering solutions to absorb more decentralised RE, senior company executives told Business Standard.

GE has deployed its digital substations in Chandigarh, and its advanced grid management products focussed on grid automation, stability and remote control in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, J&K and Himachal Pradesh, the executives said. The company is also partnering with large industrial groups such as Reliance Industries Ltd, which are now incorporating more RE at both captive and business levels.

While RE has been a key area focus during the past decade, the development of a dedicated grid for incorporating RE is not keeping pace with generation projects. In India, the grid has been built over the past 100 years, but a nationwide synchronisation happened barely a decade back. The Centre announced a Rs 2-trillion plan last year to develop a dedicated transmission network for evacuating RE.  

"India has the same challenges, and is now seeing the same trend as Europe and North America, where the grid has been extensively modernised. It's just that in India, there is a simultaneous need for access to electricity since a lot of the country is yet to electrify. So there is a push for decentralised renewable," said Vera Silva, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer & Vice President, GE Grid Solutions said. The company is aiming for grid orchestration, she said. However, given the geographic diversity of the country, and changing levels of power consumption, this is a complex process.

"For the fast and spot-on deployment of these new technologies, we are interested in partnering earlier with the customer so that we co-develop the right thing," Silva said.

In India, the company is partnering with RIL for its renewable ambitions, said Sandeep Zanzaria, Strategy, Technology & global account for Asia Pacific. With large parts of the oil and gas industry becoming multi energy, major producers have outlined ambitious plans to develop renewable energy. The strategic evacuation of these new sources of power is being eyed by GE Grid Solutions, Zanzaria said.

Focus on new tech

The Centre has been specially focused on grid stability in recent times, and many products developed by the company are focussed on it. "Even as the grid becomes increasingly complex, you still have to balance it on a millisecond basis. We have just launched a product called grid OS, a software to maintain grid stability while we connect more and more renewable energy," Silva added.

The company is also marketing a lot of power electronic and flexible AC devices to stabilise the grid. India already has one of the most sophisticated energy management systems at the transmission level.

"There are other layers such as IT-OT integration dealing with advanced functions such as protection, control and automation of the network. This is an area where India is prepared to catch up with European markets such as France," Vera stressed.

Digital substations

The company is also rolling out the next generation of digital substations nationwide.

"Often the hardware parts such as substations already exist. What we need to do is to establish a central operations control centre. In Jaipur, we have built one which is capturing the entire data from individual substations, and in case a problem emerges with any equipment, it can be pinpointed," Zanzaria explained.

The focus remains on the reliability, availability and quality of power. The company's digital substation in Chandigarh which uses fibre optic technology, as compared to the traditional copper wires, reducing upto 50 per cent the footprint of the property.

It also uses less land. "The financial burdens on the state discoms limit their ability to invest. But we are working with several state governments on advanced digital solutions such as with Rajasthan, UP, J&K and Himachal Pradesh," Zanzaria said.

In future substations, the firm plans to introduce devices that help monitor and operate key functions remotely.

"This became a priority area during the pandemic when it became difficult to send crews down to the ground, and is now one of the key asks from Indian utilities," Vera said.

Powering Up

• GE Grid Solutions will introduce products to make the grid more stable, smart, and sustainable
• Smart substations utilising digital features to reduce cost, carbon footprint
• Grid OS software introduced to maintain grid stability as more RE is connected
• Remote device management at substations allows key functions to be monitored and operated remotely
• IT/OT integration to protect and automate network