Tata Power has announced a partnership with AutoGrid to deploy an AI-enabled smart energy management system across Tata Power’s customers in Mumbai.
The partnership aims at deploying an AI-enabled smart energy management system focusing on the behavioural demand response across Tata Power’s residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Mumbai.
AutoGrid is a leading provider of Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Distributed Energy Management System (DERMS).
This pioneering program will help address peak demand challenges and support India’s clean energy transition and Net Zero goals, Tata Power said.
Peak capacity reduction
Serving Tata Power’s customers in Mumbai, India’s most populous city, the demand response management program aims to engage 55,000 residential consumers and 6,000 large C&I customers to achieve 75 MW of peak capacity reduction, within the first six months of the rollout, beginning February 2023 , and then continue to scale up to 200 MW by the summer of 2025.
Extension of partnership
The two companies’ collaboration started in 2021 with the launch of demand response program for Tata Power Delhi Distribution’s residential customers in Delhi. Based on the success of this engagement, Tata Power significantly expanded the initiative within the Delhi distribution region in 2022. AutoGrid is now extending this program across Tata Power’s distribution territories to include all consumer segments.
Also read: Tata Power-DDL Opens Vocational Centre In Rural Area
Benefits to consumers
In addition to the behavioural demand response (BDR) program, Tata Power will stack on an automated demand response (ADR) program with direct load control assisted by customer participation with its in-house smart plug platform called EZ Home.
With Tata Power’s new demand response program built on the AutoGrid Flex™ platform, consumers can earn incentives by choosing to curtail their load in response to signals relayed via text messages and/or email during times of critical need. The aggregation of small demand adjustments by consumers has the potential to eliminate the need for costly and heavy-polluting plants.
AutoGrid’s platform has been proven to scale DER management programs from thousands to millions and is therefore uniquely positioned to take advantage of India’s opportunity, Tata Power said.
Growth in DER
Over the last two decades, India has seen rapid growth in distributed energy resources, including solar, smart meters, electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure. The country has a huge opportunity to harness demand side flexibility, strengthen the grid, and advance sustainability, but the lack of a singular, scalable program has hindered progress in the past. Additionally, the lack of adequate regulatory approval prevents these resources from being utilized at the incredible scale the India market has to offer.
Editor’s note: According to information available with T&D India, AutoGrid has become part of the Schneider Electric Group since mid-2022.
