Puducherry government to implement 'smart grid' project

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Puducherry government has announced that it will implement the Rs 46.11 crore smart grid pilot project in the Union Territory, aimed at bettering power distribution.
The highlights of the project would be developing consumer-utility interactive pilot smart grid which would cover smart metering and control through advanced metering infrastructures and peak load management in the Puducherry urban distribution town limits of the department.
An MoU was signed today in this regard between Electricity Department and Dong Fang Electronics Corporation of China, selected to complete the project as an 'investor model'.
"The Chinese company has been selected as investor model and service provider through the process of e-tender," a communication of the Department of Electricity said.

The project would cover in the first phase, 34,000 domestic power consumers in the boulevard limits of Puducherry and 1,640 low tension industrial units. It would go on stream in November next year.
The Union Power Ministry will bear 50 per cent of the cost of the project as grant while Puducherry government will bear the remaining expenditure by associating with Dong Fang Electronics Corporation.

Power Ministry had taken up the establishment of Smart Grids in the country to achieve 'most efficient management of distribution system and also to deliver best possible service to consumers.
Superintending Engineer of Electricity Department K Mathivanan and Project Manager of the Chinese firm, Sriram Anumanchipalli, signed the MOU, in the presence of Electricity and Education Minister R Kamalakannan.

The release said the Power Grid Corporation of India along with its associates and collaborators had planned to establish the smart grid in power distribution areas of Puducherry town in association with the Electricity Department in 2012.
However, the power grid corporation expressed its inability to the territorial government in 2013 to fund the pilot project and requested it to fund the utility share of Rs 23.05 crore to complete the project.
The government has now finalised China-based Dong Fang Electronics Corporation as investor-cum-service provider and has launched the process of establishment of the pilot project as the Puducherry government was not in a position to allocate funds from its budget due to fiscal constraints.

Installation of advanced meters would help consumers monitor real time power consumption data and would also enable them to know exact billing at any point of time.
On part of the department, the project would enable it to monitor online energy usage pattern and also to detect malpractices or energy theft, if any, so that power disconnection could be taken up on line.
The installation of smart meters would be taken up in a phased manner to cover all the areas in Puducherry region.