Work on smart power grid begins

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, December 24   

The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL) has started work on a smart grid to prevent the power theft and transmission loss at the Industrial Area in the city.

The work is likely to be completed in 18 months. Under the project, IT-based techniques will be used for the supply of power, enabling officials to keep a tab on the power supply. A control room will be set up to keep watch over the entire operation area on a real-time basis. Existing meters will be replaced with the smart ones that will send “tamper alerts” to the control room, which will have a remote power shut off capability.

MP Singh, Superintending Engineer, said after testing the project at the Industrial Area on a pilot basis, it will be replicated in all over the city. He said this would not only improve the electricity supply but also stop the power left through “kundi connections”.

This will also make possible to keep tabs on daily usage, voltage and outage counts of each user from the control room. If any of the consumer tries to tamper with the meter or draw electricity more than  its sanctioned load, his or her connection would be disconnected immediately.

To check overloading, a system will be installed at the transformer that will not allow to draw the electricity over its capacity.