Smart Grid project gets Power Ministry’s nod

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, June 29

To improve the electricity supply through curbing leakage, theft and reducing transmission loss using the IT-enabled tools, the Experts Committee of the Ministry of the Power has approved the Rs 250 crores Smart Grid project for the city.

Sources said with the approval of the committee, the Ministry of the Power would sanction the project soon.

Earlier, The Ministry had sanctioned the Smart Grid project on the pilot basis at the Sub-Division No. 5 (Industrial Area). The Chandigarh Administration has allotted the work of the pilot project to Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL). The RECL will soon start the work at the industrial Area as process of finalisation of the tender has reached the final stage.

Under the project, information technology-based instruments will be installed for power supply which will enable the officers to have the real time watch over the electricity supply in the area concerned. A control room will be set up to keep a watch over the entire operation area on the real-time basis.

Existing meters will be replaced with smart meters that will send tamper alerts immediately to the control room, which will have a remote power shut-off capability. This will also help in keeping a tab on the daily individual usage, voltage, voltage profile and outage counts of each user from the control room. If any of the consumer tries to tamper the meter or draws the electricity more than the sanctioned load, his connection will be disconnected immediately. To check the overloading, a system will be installed at the transformer which will not allow anyone to draw electricity more than the load sanctioned to him/her. Due to overdrawing of electricity, transformers get burnt many times during summers but this will not happen once the system is in place. The improvement in the supply of electricity is the top-most agenda of the Administration. The Administration is also working on the plan to make the entire electricity supply underground.

Work to start at Industrial Area soon

Earlier, The Ministry had sanctioned the Smart Grid project on the pilot basis at the Sub-Division No. 5 (Industrial Area). The Chandigarh Administration has allotted the work of the pilot project to Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL). The RECL will soon start the work at the industrial Area as process of finalisation of the tender has reached the final stage.