A Silicon Valley-based utility company AutoGrid founded seven years ago as a startup at Stanford University has tied up with the State government to develop smart grid using Internet of Things to improve power consumption at reduced cost.
“The sun does not shine in the night and we don’t know when the wind will blow. By using technologies we have partnered with the State for smart management of grids so as to reduce power tariff and save energy,” AutoGrid founder and CEO Amit Narayan told The Hindu on Sunday.
He said the pilot project would be implemented first in Southern Power Distribution Company of AP (APSPDCL) and later replicate in other distribution companies. “I met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at World Economic Forum at Davos in 2017 and on his invitation we will implement the sustainable and eco-friendly project in A.P,” he stated.
Mr. Naidu launched the initiative at the third edition of CII Partnership Summit and Sunrise A.P Investment Meet here. The project aims to ensure demand-side management (DSM) covering key segments including agricultural pump-sets, residential/commercial ACs and industrial units.
APSPDCL provides over 28 TWh (terawatt hour) of power annually to about 11 million consumers. In spite of being one of the efficiently-managed utilities company, APSPDCL’s latest statement showed a net deficit of ₹3,400 crore per year (approximately USD 500 million) on annual revenues of nearly ₹14,900 crore (approximately USD 2.3 billion).
DSM solutions
Mr. Narayan said the DSM solutions in the project would enable benefits of over ₹1,000 crore per year (over USD 150 million) when deployed at scale. “This savings will be achieved via peak shaving for capex avoidance and time of use implementation to leverage cheaper power at off-peak hours.”
We will ensure use of soil-moisture-based pump-set operation to intelligently reduce power used for agricultural purposes, AC cycling to drive both energy efficiency and peak load shaving, and renewable integration to incorporate cheaper solar and wind power supply without impacting reliability or quality of service, Mr. Narayan said.
