The Chairman of National Committee on Transmission (NCT), in its most recent meeting, has called for early planning of the National Unified Network Management System (UNMS).
The Chairman, NCT, was of the view that the National UNMS (N-UNMS) should be planned at the earliest so as to have a holistic view of the super network comprising regional, intra-regional and intrastate networks.
He also emphasized that standard operating procedure for Centralized supervision and maintenance of ISTS (interstate transmission system) communication system should be finalized at the earliest while specifying the roles and responsibilities of concerned entities/ agencies for smooth implementation of the hierarchical UNMS schemes situated in state, regional and national level.
Western UNMS
In a related development, the NCT has also approved the setting up of the Western Unified Network Management System (W-UNMS) with an estimated outlay of Rs.84 crore, excluding Rs.19 core as annual maintenance charges for seven years. The proposed W-UNMS will be set up by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) under the regulated tariff mechanism (RTM) route, with an implementation timeframe of 24 months.
Also read: NCT Recommends TBCB Mode For Three ISTS Schemes
Regional UNMS
It may be mentioned that such UNMSs are being set up in each of the five regions of the National Grid – northern, eastern, western, southern and northeastern.
While the W-UNMS has been recently approved (as discussed above), those for the northern, eastern and northeastern regions are under construction with commissioning expected by end of FY24.
The Southern UNMS (S-UNMS) was approved by NCT in May this year and is currently under bidding.
All the regional UNMSs are being implemented by PGCIL under the RTM route. However, the operational control will lie with Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd (CTUIL). It is learnt that one workstation console of each regional UNMS will be installed at CTUIL headquarters while another console will be put up at the control centre of Grid Controller of India Ltd (Grid-India), formerly known as Power Systems Corporation (POSOCO).
