Smart Grids for
Sustainable Mega Cities
and a
Delhi Innovation
Anil Razdan
Former Secretary Power
Government of India
Erice : Italy
August 2012
A Rapidly Urbanizing World

For the first time in history, the proportion of world population
living in urban areas reached 50% in 2008

Will reach 60% in 2030 if present trend continues

Developed countries had attained 50% urbanization in 1950’s
Developing countries will attain that level in a decade.

The least developed have most of their population in rural
areas and will face the fastest urbanisation in the near future

Between 2007 and 2050 the world population growth will be 2.5
billion and the cities will absorb 3.1 billion

Urbanisation in developing countries not linked to economic
growth, will happen even otherwise
The Challenges of Urbanisation

Populations in developing countries move to cities for better
wages, amenities, health care and education

People prefer to be poor in city slums rather than in a remote
rural area for better economic opportunities

Besides housing, this presents vast challenges of meeting
energy demands of electricity, transportation and cooking fuels

Need to assure ENERGY Availability, Accessibility and
Acceptability (3As)

In the context of developing countries 4Es are relevant Energy, Environment, Efficiency and Equity

Challenge becomes greater on account of multilevel
governance and financial jurisdiction-local, state and federal

Poverty and nascent democracy restrain harsh enforcement
measures
Mega cities

In 1975 there were 179 cities with more than 1 million
inhabitants.
In 2007 they were 430

MEGA CITIES defined by UN as an urban conglomeration of
more than 10 million, constitute only 4% of urban population

Mega cities are cultural, political and economic centres

Most visual part of the urbanising world depicting the
advantages, disadvantages and disparities of life in a city

The biggest 30 cities produced 16% of the global GDP while
accounting for only 4% of the population

Between 1975 and 2010 the number of people living in mega
cities rose from 53.2 million to 318 million

In 1950 only two mega cities : Tokyo and New York.
By 2025, there will be 27, and Asia will have 15 of them
Urban Energy Surge

World Energy Outlook 2008 : Cities consumed two thirds of
global energy consumption in 2006, will consume three fourths
by 2030

Cities in transition move from traditional bio mass fuels to LPG
and electricity as incomes rise

Mode of transport often determined by density and spread.

Metro services reduce oil consumption and pollution, but
demand more and reliable electricity

Vertical rise of cities raises electricity demand for climate
control (AC), water supply and lifts

However, mega cities often provide a better opportunity for
innovation through better finances, political clout, media
attention and visibility for federal support
CHARACTERISTICS and BURDENS of MEGA CITIES

Given their economic importance, each mega city must
remain highly competitive in terms of infrastructure in a
globalized economy

Serious energy constraints in developing countries made
more acute in high demand mega cities

Climate change and local pollution concerns make capacity
addition from conventional fuels more difficult

Business, transportation, high rise buildings, sensitive IT
based information and communication system, traffic
signals and large hospitals place a huge demand for
electricity

The presence of ultra rich with energy intensive life styles
adds to the demand
CHARACTERISTICS and BURDENS of MEGA CITIES
Contd.

The integration of neighboring villages in extended limits
of mega cities leads to pockets of lower quality electricity
service

Energy poor settlements and erstwhile rural areas without
an urban culture create serious problems of power theft
and governance

Metro transportation has increased burden of secure and
steady power

Working population leaving and returning home at the
same time in a service oriented economy leads to peak
demand

Space constraint for developing renewable energy
infrastructure to meet renewable purchase obligations
CHARACTERISTICS and BURDENS of MEGA CITIES
Contd.

Energy Demand Management becomes a critical issue to avoid
disruptive black-outs and shortages

It is crucial and necessary to involve consumers in demand
response management through differential tariff

Developed countries retro fitting smart grids

Danger of mega cities emerging in the developing world
through sheer population size without modern logistics to
ensure safe and secure electric supply
Solution: We have to find a technology solution which
minimises power demand, gives quality supply, is remotely
controlled and involves participation of consumers.
As life in a mega city is controlled by electricity the
installation of Smart Grid is no longer a luxury or a brand
idea. It has become a necessity.

DELHI : A MEGA CITY WITH CHALLENGES

From a small town of 0.4 million in early twentieth century Delhi
is home to nearly 17 million people today

The National Capital Region NCR has a population of over 48
million

Highest per capita income in India

By 2012 population of Delhi 23 million NCR will be 64 million

3.63 million households and an electricity consumer base of
3.33 million

Peak Power Demand met in 2004-05: 3490 MW
in 2012 : 5600 MW

Aggregate Technical & Commercial Power loss in 2002 : 52% ,
2011 : 18%
Contd.
DELHI : A MEGA CITY WITH CHALLENGES
Contd.

Vast improvement in distribution control system post Public
Private Partnership in 2002

Further reduction in losses hampered by some urban and rural
pockets having high power and material theft and malpractices

Quality of power in villages poor on account of long distribution
feeders

Regulator has imposed Renewable Power Purchase obligations.
No local renewable source except solar.

Space constraint for any solar farm in congested urban area

Number of private vehicles has risen from 2.75 million in 1997-98
to 5.30 million in 2007-08

Large scale introduction of Metro Rail Service to provide Mass
Rapid Transport to decongest roads and reduce vehicle pollution
has increased dependence on electricity.
Delhi : Pattern of Electricity Consumption in 2007-08
Source: Central Electricity Authority
Commercial , 30.67%
Domestic, 43.75%
Industrial (LV/MV), 16.23%
Miscellaneous, 4.28%
Industrial (HV), 1.11%
Public Water works & sewage
Pumping, 1.27%
Agriculture , 0.23%
Traction, 0.91%
Public Lighting , 1.56%
YEARWISE STATUS OF AT&C LOSSES FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES IN DELHI
(IN PERCENTAGE)
Distribution
Company
Opening
Levels of
AT & C Loss*
BYPL
57.2
BRPL
NDPL
48.1
48.01
200203
200304
200405
200506
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
Target
56.45
54.70
50.70
44.65
39.95
34.77
30.52
26
Achievement
66.89
54.29
50.12
43.88
39.03
29.82
20.02
24.32
Target
47.55
46.00
42.70
36.70
39.10
26.69
23.46
20
Achievement
47.40
45.06
40.64
35.53
29.92
27.17
20.59
19.64
Target
47.60
45.35
40.85
35.35
31.10
23.03
20.35
18.67
Achievement
47.79
44.86
33.79
26.52
23.54
18.31
15.41
15.16
*AT & C Loss : Aggregate Technical and Commercial Loss.
2010-11
21.95
18.82
MAKING DELHI SUSTAINABLE

Conserve scarce water through waste water recovery and rain water harvesting

Building Designs to be energy efficient

Solar reflecting roofs and water heating

Encourage Roof Top Solar power

Widespread use of CFL/LED lighting

Subsidised power tariff for low power consumption

Strong public campaign for consumer awareness to install energy efficient
labeled appliances

Scrapping coal based thermal power stations Replaced with gas fired stations

Erect a world class Metro Rail network to substitute petrol/diesel driven
vehicles.
In 2012, Delhi Metro has 160 KM corridor carrying 2.2 million passengers daily
with an average trip length of 15 Km
By 2017 nearly 4 million passengers
By 2021nearly 250 km corridor to carry 10.8 million passengers daily with an
average trip length of 15 Km
Issue : How to optimise power demand and availability
POWER SECTOR MODERNISATION VITAL FOR DELHI

Delhi has become highly dependent on a secure and reliable power
supply system without adequate generation of its own

Delhi is part of Northern Region (NR) which has met a peak demand of
40,000 MW this summer. Peaking shortage in NR has been 12-14%
though Delhi has virtually no peaking shortage.

Delhi is part of an interconnected NR, WR, ER, NER grid of about
80,000 MW

Owing to over drawls and grid indiscipline by some constituents
there were two successive grid collapses on 30th July and 31st
July 2012 after almost 10 years leading to huge disruption for
some hours

Large base load Coal Thermal Power means large off peak surplus.
Need to curtail it through Smart Grid analytics and solutions

Distribution and Transmission networks need urgent modernisation
and intelligent grids, as well as islanding of Delhi

Delhi being a national capital needs to immediately develop a smart
grid to ensure safe supply, discipline consumers, optimise power
requirement and improve quality of supply
KEY CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED BY A DELHI
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
1Break down
Response
Failure information
Alternate feed
Fault isolation
3
Consumer Engagement
ABT tariff
2
High Loss area
High loss DT
Hostile consumers
Payment collection
4
Rural Electrification.
Long feeders
Involvement of consumer
High technical loss
Demand response
O&M difficulties
What is a Smart Grid?
Smart Grid is the integration of intelligent IT technologies, basic electricity
principles, and processes into transmission and distribution networks, with
the use of smart meters for the mutual benefit of grid controllers, distribution
companies and consumers, thereby optimizing the use of minimal installed
capacity and ensuring system stability with self healing characteristics
Grid-side applications supported by
a fibre back bone and powerful IT
Sensors & control
devices
Distributed & renewable
generation and storage
Consumer applications & options
enabled by last –mile communication
Smart Meters & load
control
Consumers
HAN, smart
appliances &
Plug-in
electric cars.
Smart Grid Characteristics
20th Century Grid
21st Century Smart Grid
Electromechanical
Digital
One-way communications (if any)
Two-way communications
Built for centralised generation
Accommodates distributed generation
Radial topology
Network topology
Few sensors (limited to Zone SCADA)
Monitors and sensors at all levels of T&D network
“Blind”
Self-monitoring & timely
Manual restoration
Semi-automated restoration and, eventually selfhealing
Prone to failures and blackouts
Adaptive protection and islanding
Check equipment manually
Monitor equipment remotely
Emergency decisions by committee and phone
Decision support systems, predictive reliability
Limited control over power flows
Pervasive control systems
Limited price information
Full price information
Few customer choices
Many customer choices
Source : Energy Networks Association
Smart Grid – Key Components
• Customer Applications
• Grid Applications
- In home displays (access
consumption data from appliance and
not meter)
- Direct load control via smart
appliances
- Home automation (load control of
high priority smart appliances)
- Volt-VAR Control
- Fault detection, Isolation and
Restoration
- Sub-station and feeder monitoring
and diagnostics
- Wide area measurement
• Smart Meters
- Remote meter reading
- Real time consumption and power
factor data
- Two way communications to:
• Integration of renewables and
distributed generation
• IT Systems and back office
- Enhanced system control,
network planning, operations
and maintenance
•
•
•
•
•
Set Supply capacity limits
De-engerisation and re-engerisation
Provide direct load control of customer
appliances (via home area networks )
Remote service checking
Other utility meters (e.g. water) via HAN
RURAL DISTRIBUTION CHALLENGES IN DELHI
To enable improvement in reliability and quality of rural electricity in
Delhi it was decided by the distribution company to design a Smart
Grid Rural Electrification Network to meet one of the four identified
challenges.
Problems in Identified Villages






Technical loss 15%, AT&C loss 50%, low voltage, long feeders
Material theft
Billing & Collection difficulties. Hostile and aggressive consumers
Difficult physical disconnection
Long breakdown: need to make fault intimation, isolation and
alternate feed instantaneous
Fault forecasting
Solution
Install Renewable Energy Distribution with Smart Grid as a winwin Solution. It will also be cheaper to install solar panels in rural
area to meet Renewable Power Obligation
SMART GRID MATURITY MODEL
Is a Management tool developed for electric utilities under the aegis of
Carnegie Mellon University, USA, to

Map the current state of smart grid deployment and capability within
an electric utility

Help in establishing future strategies and work plans for Grid
modernization

Help organizations to bridge gaps between Smart Grid strategy and
execution

Share vision of the smart grid with internal and external stakeholders

Prioritize options and measure success of Smart Grid Implementation
The Delhi distribution company model has been validated by Carnegie
Mellon USA which believes that the company is at a right position to
start Smart Grid implementation
PROPOSED SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Generation
Local
Intelligence
Supply Connect/Disconnect
(pole level)
Change Over
Isolator
Intelligent Unit
Supply Quality
&
Measurement
Meter
On Pole
LAN / WAN
(RF / PLCC)
Data Concentrator
DT
Meter
Transformer
x
Communication
Shackle Point/
Alternate feed
Connect /
Disconnect
APFC
Alarm
Generation
GPRS / GSM /
Optical Fibre
Consumer
Server
Power Line
Data Line
SMART NETWORK – PHASE ONE COMPONENTS
Distribution
Transformer
Pole
Consumer
 AMR
DT Automation &
Smart APFC
AMI
Technology
Green Club &
Consumer Interactive
Display
 I/O
 LT ACB automation
 Sensors
 Concentrator
 Meter
 Communication
 Pole Meter
 Communication
 Pole Meter
 Communication
 Consumer Meter
 Communication
 Load On-Off
 KWh Display
 Interactive Display
Component design should be
Flexible, modular and scalable
 Communication
 Load On-Off
 Frequency based Off
Proposed site for Renewable Distribution with SG
Name of site – Village Pandwala Kalan, Najafgarh


DT electrical parameters
 Nos of DTs……… 03
 Rating ….. Each 400KVA
 Feeder length (HT)….. 12~14KM
 Consumer tagging .. Yes
Cost
Rs. 5 Million
Approx US$ 0.1 Million
System Cost
Rs. 45 Million
<US$ 1 Million
Consumer brief
 Nos of consumers…… 1000
 DT loss (%)……….. >50%
 Any shackle joint…. YES

Generation capacity
50 KW Solar/Solar Wind
Infrastructure
 Communication….. GSM/ CDMA
 Road……………… YES
Large power theft to be
checked using Energy
Gap Method between DT
and consumer meters.
Alarm to be sounded for
theft with automatic
disconnection.
Village community to
isolate power thieves.
AMI Solution - Features
Bi-Directional
Communication
Supply connect
disconnect
Remote
Connect/
Disconnect
Intelligent unit
at DT
Alarms – power
failure
Meter on pole
Technical loss
computation
Energy Audit
Compliance with CEA specification
AMI-Remote Connect/ Disconnect





The command can be executed on-line
Can disconnect/reconnect customer based on defaults/
request
Server keeps history of Connection/ Disconnection in
Database
Provides Pre or Post payment option without any change in
the hardware
Logic based auto-disconnect
 Load limiter
 Peak load limiter
 Load type limiter
Negatives
Cyber Security Concerns
Data Privacy (Crime etc.)
Benefits of Replicable Model
Huge T&D loss can be contained by local generation
No fuel cost
Least Maintenance
Quality Power
Renewable purchase obligation (RPO)
Quick ROI
Reliable and quality power
Mitigating Climate change concern & carbon credits
Anil Razdan
Former Secretary Power
Government of India
Email : anilrazdan127@gmail.com
anilrazdan127@yahoo.com