A pilot smart grid project at Tripura, originally planned under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), will no longer receive Central government funding, it is learnt.
According to informed sources, the Tripura smart grid project will now have to be completed by the state government with its own resources. The project implementing agency is Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL), a state government enterprise.
The smart grid project aims to cover 45,290 consumers in the Electrical No.1 Division of capital city Agartala. The functionalities offered under this project are AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) and PLM (peak load management).
The project was declared “go live” way back in June 2019. However, communication-related issues cropped up during the testing phase and the project could not be declared commercially operational for several months.
Ultimately, in January 2022, the project was officially terminated by the National Smart Grid Mission, which falls under the Union power ministry. Just before the termination, an alternate plan was being worked out that reportedly did not work out.
As of now, though the project is not officially scrapped, it has moved out of the funding ambit of IPDS. The project will need to be completed by TSECL, with its own funding.
According to latest information available, the project cost is Rs.63.43 crore, including Central government support of Rs.31.72 crore. Of this support, Rs.25.37 crore has been the total disbursement till date. Wipro is involved as the smart grid implementation agency (SGIA).
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Currently, there are ten pilot smart grid projects under IPDS, all of which are completed. These projects cover areas like Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka), Manesar (Haryana), Kala Amb Industrial Area (Himachal Pradesh), Naroda (Gujarat), Puducherry, Siliguri (West Bengal), Guwahati (Assam) and Jeedimetla Industrial Area (Telangana).
Featured photograph for representation only
