The Rajasthan smart grid project, under the aegis of the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM), is reaching the half-way mark, in terms of smart meter deployment.
According to a recent status report released by NSGM, an initiative of the Union power ministry, a total of 68,633 smart meters were installed as of November 30, 2021.
The Rajasthan smart grid project is being implemented in six urban towns of Baran, Bharatpur, Bundi, Dholpur, Jhalawar and Karauli, together covering 1.5 lakh consumers.
The project aims at the basic functionality of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), essentially meaning deployment of smart meters.
Much of the activity on this project took place during 2021. During the first eleven months of 2021 (January to November), a total of 65,133 smart meters were installed. On average, around 6,000 smart meters have been deployed per month in 2021.
The overall project is estimated to cost Rs.87.43 crore, which includes financial support of Rs.26.23 crore from Government of India.
Chandigarh ventures progress
The Chandigarh Smart Grid project, which includes the entire city except the Sub Division 5 (SD-5) area, also recorded some recent progress in that the sanction to the revised project was communicated to the Chandigarh Electricity Department (CED) on November 8, 2021.
It may be recalled that the Chandigarh smart project in question was earlier to have several functionalities like AMI, SCADA, DTMU and ERP. The project was then expected to cost Rs.241.49 crore. However, in around April 2021, the scope of the project was downsized, now to only include AMI. Accordingly, the project cost was revised to Rs.119.58 crore (inclusive of government support of Rs.35.87 crore). So far, the government has released Rs.7.25 crore from its total share. The revised cost, it may be mentioned, is still under concurrence from the power ministry.
The smart grid project will address 1.84 lakh consumers across the entire city of Chandigarh, except SD-5.
Also read: Chandigarh City Smart Grid Project Likely To Be Shelved
For SD-5 alone, there is a separate project, also under NSGM. This project will cover 29,433 consumers with functionalities like AMI, SCADA and DTMU. As of November 30, 2021, a total of 16,931 smart meters were installed for the Rs.28.58-crore project.
The two project implementation agencies of the Chandigarh (SD-5) smart grid project are Hyderabad-based Analogics Tech India Ltd and Faridabad-based Synergy Systems & Solutions Ltd.
