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Smart Grid Initiative for Power Distribution Utility in India

Arup Sinha,MemberIEEE, S.Neogi,Non-Member, R.N.Lahiri,MemberIEEE, S.Chowdhury, MemberIEEE,, S.P.Chowdhury,MemberIEEE, N.Chakraborty,MemberIEEE

Abstract-- After enactment of Electricity Act 2003 in India, a

comprehensive change is happening in Indian power sector, and power distribution utilities are going through a reformation process to cope up with the regulatory change for reduction in Aggregated Technical and Commercial Loss, improvement in Power Quality, Reliability of Power Supply, Improvement in Customer Satisfaction and rationalization of electricity tariff. Apart from restructuring and unbundling of the power sector there is a need for introduction of smart grid technology to increase the operational as well technological efficiency of the power distribution network to meet the growing energy demand of India in line with the GDP growth of the country. Smart Grid is sophisticated, digitally enhanced power systems where the use of modern communications and control technologies allows much greater robustness, efficiency and flexibility than todays power systems. A smart grid impacts all the components of a power system especially the distribution level. One subset of smart grids is smart metering / advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) etc. In a smart grid, all the various nodes need to interconnect to share data as and where needed. Smart Grid envisages providing choices to each and every customer for deciding the timing and amount of power consumption based upon the price of the power at a particular moment of time, apart from providing choices to the consumer and motivating them to participate in the operations of the grid, causing energy efficiency and accommodating all generation and storage options, Smart Grid also envisages various properties for the Grid like self-healing and adaptive The suite of Smart Grid products and technologies help maximizing system uptime, while also helping the utility more quickly to restore power to homes and businesses in the event of an outage. Government of India has recently formed Smart Grid Forum and Smart Grid Task Force for enablement of smart grid technology into Indian Power Distribution Utilities as a part of their Smart Grid initiative to meet their growing energy demand in similar with the developed country like USA, Europe etc. Key Words: Smart Grid, AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure), Distribution Automation, AT & C (Aggregated Technical and Commercial) Loss, Asset Management.
Arup Sinha is with Energy & Utilities Group of Capgemini India Private Ltd., Kolkata, India, (e-mail: arup.sinha @capgemini.com). Sanjay Neogi is with Energy & Utilities Group of Capgemini India Private Ltd., Kolkata, India, (e-mail: sanjay.neogi@capgemini.com) R.N.Lahiri is with Energy & Utilities Group of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Kolkata, India, (e-mail: rn.lahiri@tcs.com). S.Chowdhury is with Electrical Engineering Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa (e-mail: sunetra.chowdhury@uct.ac.za). S.P.Chowdhury is with Electrical Engineering Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa (e-mail: sp.chowdhury@uct.ac.za). N.Chakraborty is with Power Engineering Department & Dean (FET) of JadavPur University, Kolkata, India(e-mail: dean_fet@admin.jdvu.ac.in).

I. INTRODUCTION

ndian economy is forecasted to grow at 8 to 9% in 2010-

2011 fiscal year, which in the coming years is set to reach double digit growth (10%+). But India suffers from grave power shortage which is likely to worsen over the next few decades. On one hand, there are problems with the lack of adequate generation capacity with power cuts ranging to several hours still prevalent in many cities. On the other hand, there are problems with the lack of transmission infrastructure with several thousand villages still not connected to the national grid. 15-20% power transmitted is lost in the transmission and distribution network while 10 to 20 % is lost to theft across the utilities in India. While these losses have been coming down slowly over the recent years, there is still a long way to go for the utilities to achieve the desired state of operations. India has also been missing its generation infrastructure expansion plans for the last several decades. Recently the Government of India announced the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency which aims at improving energy efficiency in industrial as well as commercial and residential sectors. While for the industrial sector a scheme similar to the carbon trading, called the energy efficiency certificate scheme is in works, the case with the commercial and residential sector is slightly complicated. The industries can take care of themselves once the binding efficiency targets have been stipulated to them but the government needs to put in more effort for improving efficiency in the commercial/residential sector. Therefore, such a situation calls for the implementation of the smart grid. A smart grid would help the utilities get information about the electricity use by the consumers and can potentially adapt it distribution process with respect to the time and quantum of power demand. The smart grid which uses smart meters could potentially be used for detecting power theft. In addition, the info that the consumers would have access through the smart meters would possibly help them manage their energy use in a better and more efficient way. Such hyper growth will need unprecedented amount of energy that can only be met through efficient energy utilization through smart metering and smart grid technology. The

978-1-4577-1002-5/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

substations, transformers, and energy meters, which are important part of the energy infrastructure are sort of standalone silos in India, and have no real-time monitoring. II. WHAT IS SMART GRID Smart Grid is the modernization of the electricity delivery system so that it monitors, protects and automatically optimizes the operation of its interconnected elements from the central and distributed generator through the high-voltage network and distribution system, to industrial users and building automation systems, to energy storage installations and to end-use consumers and their thermostats, electric vehicles, appliances and other household devices. Smart grid is the integration of information and communications system into electric transmission and distribution networks. The Smart Grid in large, sits at the intersection of Energy, IT and Telecommunication Technologies. The smart grid (Refer Fig1) delivers electricity to consumers using two-way digital technology to enable the more efficient management of consumers end uses of electricity as well as the more efficient use of the grid to identify and correct supply demand-imbalances instantaneously and detect faults in a self-healing process that improves service quality, enhances reliability, and reduces costs. The emerging vision of the smart grid encompasses a broad set of applications, including software, hardware, and technologies that enable utilities to integrate, interface with, and intelligently control innovations. Some of the enabling technologies & business practice that make smart grid deployments possible include: Smart Meters Meter Data Management Field area networks Integrated communications systems IT and back office computing Data Security Electricity Storage devices Demand Response Distributed generation Renewable energy

III. OBJECTIVE OF SMART GRID INITIATIVE FOR POWER DISTRIBUTION UTILITY IN INDIA Key objective of Smart Grid Self-healing: The grid rapidly detects, analyzes, responds, and restores Empowers and incorporates the consumer: Ability to incorporate consumer equipment and behavior in grid design and operation Tolerant of attack: The grid mitigates and is resilient to physical/cyber-attacks Provides power quality needed by 21st-century users: The grid provides quality power consistent with consumer and industry needs Accommodates a wide variety of supply and demand: The grid accommodates a variety of resources, including demand response, combined heat and power, wind, photovoltaics, and end-use efficiency Fully enables and is supported by competitive electricity markets. IV. SMART GRID INITIATIVES IN INDIA India has formed smart grid forum & task force to study and finalize the smart grid road map, keeping in view of the following points: A1 Smart Grid for India The focus of Smart Grid to provide choices to each and every customer for deciding the timing and amount of power consumption based upon the price of the power at a particular moment of time India has recently experienced an impressive rate of growth as its government implements reforms to encourage foreign investment and improve conditions for its citizens. However, with its electrical grid, India loses money for every unit of electricity sold because India is home to one of the weakest electric grids in the world; the opportunities for building the Smart Grid are great. A2 Need for Smart Grid in India With such enormous deficiencies in basic infrastructure, why would India want to consider investing in smart grid technologies? Ultimately for India to continue along its path of aggressive economic growth, it needs to build a modern, intelligent grid. It is only with a reliable, financially secure Smart Grid that India can provide a stable environment for investments in electric infrastructure, a prerequisite to fixing the fundamental problems with the grid. Without this, India will not be able to keep pace with the growing electricity needs of its cornerstone industries, and will fail to create an environment for growth of its high tech and telecommunications sectors.

Fig1: Structure of Smart Grid

A3 Recent developments in Indian Grid The Indian National Government, in cooperation with the State Energy Board, put forward a road to improvement when it announced the new Electricity Act of 2003, aimed at reforming electricity laws and bringing back foreign investment. The act had several important measures: Unbundling the State Electricity Boards assets into separate entities for generation, transmission, and distribution, with the intention of eventual privatization Implementation of RAPDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development & Reform Program) program for power distribution utilities across the country for preparation of baseline data for each project covering Consumer Indexing, GIS Mapping, Metering of all DT (Distribution Transformer) and substation Feeders, and also automated data logging for all DTs, Feeders and SCADA(Supervisory Control and data Acquisition) /DMS (Distribution Management System) for energy auditing /accounting and IT based consumer service centre. Adding capacity in support of a projected energy use growth rate of 12%, coinciding with a GDP growth rate of roughly 9% Improving metering efficiency Auditing to create transparency and accountability at the state level Improved billing and collection Mandating minimum amounts of electricity from renewable Requiring preferential tariff rates for renewable End use efficiency to reduce the cost of electricity transmission grid in the United States reaches over 99% of its population. A5 Financial Health of the Indian Grid Indias transmission and distribution losses are among the highest in the world, averaging 30% of total electricity production, with some states as high as 50%. When nontechnical losses such as energy theft are included in the total, average losses are as high as 40%. The financial loss has been estimated at 1.5% of the national GDP, and is growing steadily. Indias power sector is still largely dominated by state utilities. Despite several attempted partnerships with foreign investors, few projects have actually been implemented. This lack of foreign investment limits utilities ability to raise needed capital for basic infrastructure. This financial frailty, coupled with public ownership of utilities and the related bureaucratic slowness, has made it very difficult for investors to take interest in Indias grid. The Smart Metering Conference is now happening in India. In fact smart grid conference is going to happen in India in the Ist Quarter of 2011.

There has been a recent push in India to begin labeling appliances with energy use to help consumers determine operating costs. There has also been significant effort to improve energy efficiency, for example to increase the average energy efficiency of power plants up from 30% to 40%, and pushing major industries to reduce energy consumption after execution of Energy Conservation Act2001. A4 Need for Design of India Grid in line with US. As is the case in most of the world, the Indian national grid was not designed for high-capacity, long-distance power transfer. As is the case in the United States, India needs to interconnect regional grids. Although coal and hydro-electric potential has peaked in many parts of India, there are still several regions with excess capacity. Large wind potential and increasing wind capacity in the south and west also create a need for transmission infrastructure. Unfortunately, like the United States, regions are generally sectionalized, with some asynchronous or HVDC links allowing for minimal power transfer. The biggest difference is that Indias transmission grid only reaches 80% of its population, while the

Practically speaking, the organization has to assess how its end-to-end delivery and operational value chains will be affected and determine how smart grid enhancements can add value to the customer and other stakeholders. Given sufficient time and effort, all of these challenges are manageable. The test for corporate leaders is to create a shared vision and engage internal and external stakeholders in a common focus to collaborate and ensure that smart grid benefits are delivered cost effectively.
India has problems not unlike other developing countries Indias grid is in need of major improvements. This neglect has accumulated in a variety of system failures like: Poorly planned distribution networks Overloading of system components Lack of reactive power support and regulation services Low metering efficiency and bill collection Power theft While the Indian governments ambitious Power for All plan calls for the addition of over 1 TW of additional capacity by 2012, it faces the challenge of overcoming a history of poor power quality, capacity shortfalls and frequent blackouts. One of the first things governments have to do when privatizing the state distribution utility electricity is to make the enterprise attractive to investors. This is not always easy because often a key reason for privatizing is that the government-owned electricity company has run up substantial

losses and accumulated large debts under government ownership. Private firms are not interested in loss-making, debt ridden concerns. One way round this is for the government to assume the debts of the distributors so that the private firms take on investments that are debt free. Alternatively, the sector can be organized to ensure that the monopolistic structure is maintained so that investors will be more likely to make a profit. Another option is to increase prices or to guarantee a return to investors. V. MAIN DRIVERS FOR SMART GRID INITIATIVE IN INDIA B1 Aggregated Technical & Commercial (AT &C) Loss reduction: In response growing concern about AT &C loss across all power distribution utilities India, Smart Grid Technology will contribute to reduce the losses to achieve the target goal of AT &C loss around 15% across all utilities against presently 30 to 35%. It will do by collecting data through AMI (Automated Metering Infrastructure), cleansing and analyzing the data through MDM, developing energy audit mechanism to identify the loss prone areas, and finally reduce the losses by applying effective energy conservation measures. B2 Consumer Price Signals; Smart Grid aims to create an understanding among consumers that pricing of electricity varies significantly during the day. Facilitating consumer readily accesses it and which will influence their behavior, encourage initializing the wiser use of energy. B3 Integration of Renewable Energy Sources: The two most common form of commercial renewable energy available in India are Wind and Solar. Both are intermittent and tend to be geographically dispersed than conventional generation. In this case smart grid will help the utility to deal with this nonconventional energy sources, especially when these resources are becoming prevalent in India. VI. KEY AREAS FOR SMART GRID INITIATIVE IN INDIA Following are the Important areas where needs technological development as a part of smart grid initiative in India: C1 Advanced Metering Infrastructure The Indian Power Distribution utilities had a wide array of meter reading practice but virtually no AMI capable systems the following meter reading capabilities were identified: Most meter reading systems are manual or handheld based A few fixed network systems existed, but they were not AMI-grade systems

operational efficiency. The opportunity brings with it a set of inherent security risks that need to be mitigated for ensuring the success of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure. The driving forces for an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program for utilities as follows: Empower utilities to get information in real time of consumption patterns and use this data to plan for demand thereby increasing efficiency Automate the aggregation of meter data Remote management of meters to detect outages and prevent theft Provide consumers time-based pricing options and therefore effectively manage demand

C2 Meter Data Management Meter Data Management is a relatively new concept to Indian power Utility. The approach for the MDM system is to implement a multi-location instance that would allow individual utility to take advantage of the system by allowing view a subset of the collected data from all of the Locations after integration with AMI system. C3 Geographical Information System (GIS) GIS application not yet fully implemented in power utility sector in India. GIS widely recognized for its strong role in managing the transmission and distribution network GIS will likewise will play a strong role in the smart grid for the utilities. GIS already provides most comprehensive inventory of the electrical distribution network components and their spatial locations. GIS can provide a spatial context to the analytics and metrics of Smart Grid. With GIS utilities can track the metrics over time and provide a convenient means of visualizing trends. C4 Enterprise Asset management The enterprise asset management system forms an integral part of the management process in a utility businesses and hence there is significant role of EAM system to cope the Indian utility businesses in competitive market, and is one of the most critical areas. It deals with the management of total life cycle of asset in a utility businesses related to investment planning, construction, operation, maintenance and disposal of asset. The results are then used for asset performance analysis to help further decision in investment, operation & maintenance. At various levels, management information reports need to be extracted to communicate the required information across various levels of management. The core processes of enterprise asset management involve a huge amount of paper work and manual labour, which makes it tedious, time-consuming and prone to human errors. Moreover, the time taken at each stage as well as the transparency of the relevant information has a direct bearing on the economics and efficient operation of a utility business. Both system performance and information transparency can be

Advanced Metering Infrastructure provides utility companies the opportunity to enhance customer service and improve

enhanced by designing & developing a software system for a complete IT solution for the managing the core business processes of asset management of Indian power utility businesses. C5 Distribution Automation Distribution networks of Indian Power Utility have grown more than double in size and complexity in the last 10- 15 years. Resulted in increase in volume of workload, the inefficiency in whole distribution system.. Continuance with conventional manual systems is going to prove a luxury in terms of cost apart from resulting in consumer dissatisfaction at the quality of service rendered & less control on Aggregated Technical & Commercial (AT&C) Loss. Enactment electricity Act 2003, pressurizing tall the power distribution utility to plan a clear road map towards achieving Distribution Automation without further delay and start implementation forthwith to meet the objective and begin the Distribution Automation starting with urban areas and rolling it out gradually to rural areas. The automation system can be designed using available technology in computer systems, control systems and metering systems and dovetailing the same into the existing power systems. All the tools required such as Computers, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), breakers, Switched Capacitor Banks, OLTC Transformers, Auto Reclosures, Sectionalizes, AMR Systems and Communication Systems are available. An integrated Distribution Automation system enables Indian power utilities to have real time control over the costly energy sold. Improved efficiency results in lower costs & energy loss, better reliability in power supply, planned control actions, optimum power factor, and reduction in losses. It enables also online or offline energy audit with or without AMR system for all power utilities in India. C6 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Customer management, particularly regarding increased availability and reduced commercial losses, is key driver for the smart grid. India has a long way to go in customer management because most of its distribution companies are in various stages of updating and organizing their customer information. Integrating customer relations management (CRM) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data will be a key enabler here, as it will help derive the benefits of optimized capacity utilization and system performance. Up-to-date load data at each feeder section are required along with customer load profiles in order to develop auto fault detection, location isolation, and service restoration. In addition such data will help evolve fault isolation and service restoration switching sequences for premium customers. This integration will also enable utilities to set up quick response teams that will improve demand response (DR) and lead to the integration of AMI/DR in systems planning and engineering. Coincident load data for optimized load balancing and the potential for using AMI for end voltage monitoring will help complete the load profile data for estimating and minimizing technical losses. An important aspect of CRM is customer awareness (education) and participation. Customers will be important stakeholders in the smart grid and they will need to be more aware of the risks involved.

For example, unless availability-based tariff customers modify their usage patterns, they will see higher bills. Also, because smart meters will be more accurate than current electromechanical meters, customers usage will be tracked more accurately and they may see higher bills. Last, the energy savings accrued through smart grids will need to be distributed and incentives to conserve energy will be needed. Customer participation will be important in all of these activities and will also help improve the smart grids overall governance and utility-wide implementations. C7 Automated Call Centre At present, the complaint handling process in India is weak, resulting in decreased customer satisfaction. The automated call centers will allow utilities to integrate customer information, address customer queries and complaints, and provide basic information about office locations, billing information, bill payment centers, modes, connection status, service levels, planned outages, and information on efficiency programs, among others. These initiatives will help utilities measure and drive customer satisfaction, and make customers more aware of opportunities for energy efficiency. They will also help utilities track consumption patterns and payments. In addition, the databases maintained by the centers would enable quick-start smart grid implementations, through targeted programs for home area networks and smart appliances projects to increase availability and reduce commercial losses. C8 Utility portals Utility portals (interactive websites that are linked to the call center databases and help customers log directly into websites. Their objectives are similar to those of the automated call centers and give customers another medium for interacting with the utility. C9 Renewable energy

Wind generation, small hydro, micro hydro, solar and similar supply-side technologies need to be integrated into the power system network. Smart control devices are needed to connect these renewable energy sources to the power grid, and exchange information and commands with the energy dispatch center.
C10 Demand Response Smart grid applications allow electricity producers and customers to communicate with one another and make decisions about how and when to produce and consume. Emerging technology will allow customers to shift from an event-based demand response where the utility requests the shedding of load, towards a more 24/7-based demand response where the customer sees incentives for controlling load at all times. Although this utility-customer dialogue increases the opportunities for demand response, customers are still largely

influenced by behavioral as well as economic incentives and any have demonstrated reluctance to relinquish total control of their assets to utility companies. Smart grid applications increase the opportunities for demand response by providing real-time data to utilities and consumers, but economic incentives remain the driving force behind this practice. The foundation for this would again be having accurate customer profiles with load, consumption pattern and asset data so as to be able to evolve customer segmentation and develop business cases for supporting each of those categories with different plans and incentives. VII. METHODOLOGY FOR SMART GRID PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN INDIA The Smart Grid project mainly comprises three technological areas as follows: 1. Metering & Meter Data Management. AMI/AMR (smart meters/modules, AMR application and relevant server Meter data transport infrastructiture and communication network Meter Data Management (MDM) application & relevant Server 2. Distribution Automation (DMS/SCADA): DMS/SCADA application , Server , RTU and Communication network. Distribution peak demand reduction application Conservation of voltage regulation system 3. Demand Response Industry and home automation along with dynamic electricity tariff.

Project size and complexity will correlate to the detail and repetition of activities used within process groups To have any degree of confidence in the outcome of a project there is a need to put in place the right people with the right combination of skills. They should work with the best practice processes and tools to make sure the project is properly defined and run. This needs to be in place before the work starts. In a well-run project the level of activity is quite high. Routine project management processes require a combination of special skills and administrative resource. Rarely is it enough just to appoint a single project manager. Since smart project is complex in nature, there ia need for separate project do the job properly requires time and resources. It is beneficial to put in place a team of individuals comprising a project management office (PMO) to deal with the administrative tasks of the project, freeing up the project leadership and resources to get on with their jobs. A project management office team might comprise roles such as project director , project planner, progress tracker, financial controller, process administrator (change control, risks, issues, configuration, and documentation management), quality controller, communications manager, organizational change manager, and administrative support. VIII. CHALLENGES FOR SMART GRID PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN INDIA The challenges for implementing the Smart Grid project in India are much the same as the challenges faced during reformation due to market liberalization was first announced nearly 20 years ago. The problems that afflict Indias power sector are many and serious, and are very well known to all stake holders.. The loss of 30% of total electricity generated, the sectors legendary voltage fluctuations, chronic blackouts in rural areas, the lack of electricity connections for almost half the population, and so-called free power to the 25-30% of farmers with irrigation pumps are not simply unfortunate happenstance. All these outcomes persist despite the Government of Indias huge annual subsidy to the sector and what must now be the equivalent of many billions of dollars in time, effort and capital that have been invested in power sector reforms since the early 1990s. There are causes for these effects and, if left unaddressed, they could dampen the impact of any smart grid scheme as they did in the past for other initiatives. The power sectors chronic problems must be acknowledged, but not accepted. Despite the troubled state of the industry, there have been some notable successes, including the Delhi public-private partnership, under which DISCOMS operated by Tata Powers NDPL and two Reliance-owned DISCOMS are revitalizing one of the most intractable electricity distribution systems in the country, and the franchise concept that offers intriguing potential38 as does an early trial of an agricultural demand-side management (DSM)project currently

The relatively straightforward part of Smart Grid programs is putting meters and network components in the field and building the Home area network (HAN). As the vision for Smart Grid technology moves from concept to reality, utilities worldwide are struggling. System-wide integration is being acknowledged, but operational integration is missing from many program plans. A move from "business as usual" is required; the move to a fully integrated smart grid, operationally and organizationally, is possible with proper planning and execution through effective project management.
One of the most important aspects of a Smart Grid project implementation is a standard project methodology supervised by a centralized project management team. Implementation methodology is based on Project Management best practices, which includes five steps in project management labeled process groups: project initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The activities defined within each process group can be iterative. Not all activities have to be used during a project life cycle to be successful.

under contract with an electricity service company (ESCO) with BESCOM in Karnataka. In addition to BESCOM, several other state-owned DISCOMS are moving forward with impressive accomplishments, including MSEDCL in Maharashtra, MGVDCL in Gujarat and APCPDCL in Andhra Pradesh, but even with these successes, the pace of change is too slow in India. As experienced by other economies, electricity is an ever more prized form of energy, especially for high-tech industries but, increasingly in manufacturing and other old-line industries too. It would be dangerous for India to be complacent about the importance of world-class electricity as an enabler of world-beating growth. The major hurdles for smart grid project implementation are: No proven commercial viability for large-scale smart grid roll outs Poor financial health of most state-owned T&D companies Low awareness of technological developments in the utility sector No coordinated national road map for smart grid deployment Each power distribution utility, setting a comprehensive smart grid strategy involves a complex mix of internal and external challenges as follows: The technical challenges of new systems, new devices, new communications technologies, and a deluge of new data can be overwhelming The impact on existing business processes needs to be identified, with new business processes defined. The organization has to make itself ready for the significant and perhaps radical changes that will take place Customers, regulators and investors need to understand the change and be convinced that it is beneficial. A successful migration to a smart grid environment will require that all of them embrace the vision, not merely accept it

involving and affecting utilities, regulators, energy service providers, technology and automation vendors, and all consumers of electric power. The smart grid envisages providing choices to every customer and enabling them to control the timing and amount of power they consume based upon the price of the power at a particular moment of time. Some basic benefits of a smart grid are: Peak load reduction: TOD price signals have unique potential for India. AT& C loss reduction: This is a major commercial and regulatory consideration. DICOMS may consider communication technology. Self-healing: A smart grid automatically detects and responds to routine problems and quickly recovers, minimizing downtime and financial loss. Consumer motivation: Smart grids give consumers visibility into pricing offers an opportunity to control usage Improved power quality. A smart grid helps provide power free of sags, spikes, disturbances and interruptions. Accommodation of all generation and storage options: Enables interconnection to distributed sources of power and storage Optimized assets and operating efficiently: Lowers need for construction of new infrastructure and enables sale of more power through existing system. However in nutshell following are the direct benefits to power utility as well as to consumer in India: Reduced generation operation costs Deferred generation capital investments Reduced ancillary service cost Deferred transmission capital investments Deferred distribution capital investments Reduced equipment failures Reduced distribution maintenance costs Reduced distribution operations costs Reduced electricity theft Reduced electricity losses Reduced electricity cost to consumers Reduced major outages Reduced restoration costs Reduced momentary outages Reduced, SOx, NOx emissions

Practically speaking, the organization has to assess how its end-to-end delivery and operational value chains will be affected and determine how smart grid enhancements can add value to the customer and other stakeholders. Given sufficient time and effort, all of these challenges are manageable. The test for corporate leaders is to create a shared vision and engage internal and external stakeholders in a common focus to collaborate and ensure that smart grid benefits are delivered cost effectively. IX. POTENTIAL BENEFIT OF SMART GRID INITIATIVE IN INDIA The smart grid promises to change the power industrys entire business model and its relationship with all stakeholders,

X. CONCLUSION This paper discusses about the smart grid initiatives in India, implementation methodology, challenges and benefits. The paper discusses the need for smart grid technology to minimize the AT & C losses which is a burning issue across all power distribution utilities in India. The authors have highlighted some aspects of various key areas related as to smart grid initiative for Indian Power distribution utility like AMI, GIS, CRM, EAM, DMS etc.. Also elaborates the methodology to implement the smart grid project in Indian power scenario. Highlights the various challenges to implement smart grid in India. Finally elaborate the benefits, will achieve through successful implementation of smart grid for the utilities as well for the consumers, and obviously benefit to the Indian economy. XI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors are grateful to the Energy and Utility Group of Capgemini India Private Ltd., Kolkata, India and Electrical Engineering Department of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India and Electrical Engineering Department of The University of Cape Town, South Africa. XII. REFERENCES Periodicals:
[1] The Green Grid: Energy Savings and Carbon Emissions Reductions Enabled by a Smart Grid, EPRI Palo Alto, CA: 2008 [2] Frederic Butler, A Call to order A regulatory perspective on the smart grid, IEEE Power & Energy Magazine, April 2009

Papers from Conference Proceedings (Published):

[18] Integration of Distributed Generation in the Power System- A Power Quality Approach, M. Bollen, Y. Yang, F. Hassan, Keynote paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Harmonics and Quality of Power, Wollongong, Australia, 28 September - 1October 2008.

XIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Arup Sinha holds Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (BEE) and Master in Business Administration (MBA). Presently working with Capgemini India Private Ltd, Kolkata as a Utility Domain Expert and IT Consultant for implementation of IT application in Energy & Utilities Sector. He has over eighteen years of experience of which six years in IT consulting & implementation for utility industries in India & overseas and twelve years industrial experience in power generation In addition to above he has good experience in Energy Auditing & Accounting of Power Utility, and is a Certified Energy Manager & Auditor by Ministry of Power, Government of India. He is a member of IEEE (USA), IET (UK) Email: arup.sinha@capgemini.com Sanjay Neogi holds Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (BEE) and Master in Business Administration (MBA). Presently working as a Utility CoE (Centre of Excellence) lead in Energy &Utilities Practice of Capgemini India Private Ltd, Kolkata. He has over seventeen years of experience of which nine years in IT consulting & implementation for utility industries in India & overseas and eight years in industrial experience in power generation, transmission & distribution in various power utilities Email:sanjay.neogi@capgemini.com R. N. Lahiri holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and a PG Diploma in Computer & Control Engineering. He is presently working in Tata Consultancy Services Limited, India, as Principal Consultant heading the Energy-Utilities Practice. He has over Twenty-six years of professional experience in Information Technology, Energy and Utilities Sector. He is a member of IEEE (USA), IET (UK), IE (I), IETE (I), CSI (I) Email: rn.lahiri@tcs.com S.Chowdhury received her BEE and PhD in 1991 and 1998 respectively. She was connected to M/S M.N.Dastur & Co. Ltd as Electrical Engineer from 1991 to 1996. She served Womens Polytechnic, Kolkata, India as Senior Lecturer from 1998 to 2006. She is currently the Senior Lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department of The University of Cape Town, South Africa. She became member of IEEE in 2003. She visited Brunel University, UK and The University of Manchester, UK several times on collaborative research programme. She has published two books and over 55 papers mainly in power systems. She is a Member of the IET (UK) and IE(I) and Member of IEEE(USA). Email: sunetra.chowdhury@uct.ac.za S.P. Chowdhury received his BEE, MEE and PhD in 1987, 1989 and 1992 respectively. In 1993, he joined E.E.Deptt. of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India as Lecturer and served till 2008 in the capacity of Professor. He is currently Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He became IEEE member in 2003. He visited Brunel University, UK and The University of Manchester, UK several times on collaborative research programme. He has published two books and over 110 papers mainly in power systems and renewable energy. He is a fellow of the IET (UK) with C.Eng. IE (I) and the IETE (I) and Member of IEEE (USA). He is a member of Knowledge management Board and Council of the IET (UK).Email: sp.chowdhury@uct.ac.za N. Chakraborty received his BEE and MEE in 1986 and 1989 respectively from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He was awarded with the Diploma of Imperial College (DIC), London, UK and PhD degree from University of London in 1999. At present he is a Professor in the Department of Power Engineering, and Dean Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. His fields of research interest include power economics & deregulation, non- conventional generation & environment, novel materials and applied superconductivity. Email: dean_fet@admin.jdvu.ac.in

Books:
[3] [4] [5] [6] Sohal, G.S., Glimpses of Power Sector, Ist Edition, Confluence International, New Delhi, 2004 Shahi, R V, Indian Power Sector: Challenge & Response, Excel, New Delhi, 2006 Overview of Power Sector in India 2005 (revised edition), India Core Publishing, New Delhi, 2005 The Indian Electricity Market: Country Study and Investment Context P.M. Lamb. , July.2006

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