Jaipur-headquartered RMC Switchgears, in a stock exchange filing, said that it has developed an IoT device that can help power distribution utilities in reducing power theft.
RMC Switchgears elaborated that its newly-developed IoT device can help in monitoring the location, problems, abnormalities actual and power consumption. The power consumption monitoring done by this new device has features that makes it smarter than smart meters, the filing said. The new device was developed after five years of research, the company said.
The IoT device will soon be rolled out for domestic applications, the company said, adding that it could become the basis for home automation solutions.
This new system will be one of the biggest problem solvers for utilities as it will help them to bring down the AT&C losses by reducing leakages and power theft, increasing the life of the equipments and eliminating electrocution issues.
Mobile application
RMC Switchgears has also developed a mobile and web application to manage and control the aforementioned IoT system for utilities. This application can be customized as per the utility and will ensure encryption of data. This system will improve power reliability and will also ensure that the consumer of the utility will get break-down maintenance within 24 hours itself, as it will directly communicate with the lineman for any reported incident.
Successful trials for the same have been running for the last one and a half years in many states of India and many utilities are deciding to procure this system as it guarantees maximum ROI to them, RMC Switchgears said.
AT&C Losses
According to latest figures released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India’s overall aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses in the power sector stood at 18.19 per cent in FY19 (provisional estimate), down from 22.31 per cent in FY18. India has targeted to restrict such losses 12-15 per cent by FY25. A recent report by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) placed India’s AT&C losses at 20.93 per cent in FY20.
Editor’s Note: T&D India attempted to contact RMC Switchgears Ltd for more details on the new product. However, there was no response till the time of publishing this story. The featured photograph (source: energycentral.com) is purely for representation.
