Digitization of the power T&D sector is leading to the generation of huge amounts of data, and the key to an efficient power grid would be judicious analysis of this data, observed top Siemens officials at the company’s annual flagship event “Siemens India Innovation Day 2022” held in Mumbai recently.
According to Peter Koerte, Chief Technology Officer and Strategy Officer, Siemens AG, renewable energy feed-in, the rapid evolution of microgrids and e-mobility will be the key departures from the conventional power grid.
The modern grid, thanks to the aforementioned factors, will get increasingly complex. Grid operators and distribution companies will need a new approach in managing the demand and supply of electricity in their grids, Koerte said.
The processing of all different sources of energy available within its area, will be the principal responsibility of grid operators, Koerte felt, adding that such a situation presents an effective use-case for “Siemens Xcelerator”.
Siemens Xcelerator, which was launched worldwide in June this year, and in India at the Siemens India Innovation Day 2022, is an open and evolving digital business ecosystem that comprises a comprehensive, curated portfolio that includes digital and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled offerings (software, hardware and digital services) from Siemens, and certified third parties. Siemens Xcelerator is aimed at accelerating digital transformation and value creation for customers of all sizes in industry, buildings, grids and mobility.
Stressing on e-mobility, Peter Koerte explained that worldwide transportation accounts for 60 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Little surprise then that every country around the world is electrifying its transportation sector. Going forward, the amount of energy required for charging of e-vehicles would be very significant, and this would present a big challenge to discoms. Not only would demand of electricity increase due to EV charging requirements, there would also be newer forms of energy, mainly clean but intermittent energy like solar and wind.
Dwelling on the subject, Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO, Siemens Ltd, said that digitization of the grid has led to the inadvertent creation of huge volumes of data. Discoms, Indian discoms in particular, would need to work smartly with the data at their disposal.
On the transmission side, the grid tends to become unstable with the increasing feed-in of renewable energy. This is because conventional energy sources (like coal, gas, nuclear, etc) work on efficiency levels that are different from say those of solar and wind power plants. Instability in the transmission grid, so caused, can be addressed by solutions like FACTS, Statcom, which incidentally are already being provided by Siemens.
When one comes to the distribution side, one must remember that most state government discoms need technical upgrade but they are not in the best of financial health to be able to undertake this upgrade. All said, discoms could achieve a more efficient grid – technically and commercially – if the data processing and analysis is intelligently done.
Discoms would need to recognize their bulk consumers; they would also need to know in which part of their command has high electricity consumption, etc. Meta data systems and even advanced meta data systems will be the norm for power utilities. Bringing all the data from such systems together and translating that into a format that makes sense to discoms would set the foundation for better regulation and monitoring of grids, Mathur explained.
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Smart grids that are being deployed worldwide as well as in India are getting increasingly complex thanks to newer consumer-centric features that are being incorporated through smart meters. For instance, future smart grids will be equipped with time of day (ToD) metering features that will add one more dimension of complexity to grid management.
Intelligent handling and interpretation of data will hold key to making the grid of the future technically robust and commercially profitable, Sunil Mathur stressed.
Inside photograph shows Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO, Siemens Ltd (left) and Peter Koerte, Chief Technology Officer and Strategy Officer, Siemens AG, addressing the media at the “Siemens India Innovation Day 2022” in Mumbai.
