National Smart Grid Mission

The government will soon launch a National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) and monitor the implementation of policies and programmes envisioned in the smart grid road map for the power sector.

“This will help in finding solutions for some of the daunting challenges the Indian power sector is faced with, such as enabling better access to electricity, providing lifeline supply to all households and reducing T&D losses among others. This would also guide planning and investments for future power projects and T&D activities,” B N Sharma, joint secretary, ministry of power said.

This will help in modernising the ageing grids as well as for transition towards low carbon power economy by integrating renewable generation with the grid. (Know more on –How to calculate GHG emission for electricity consumption from the grid?)

According to ABB, a smart grid is an evolved grid system that manages electricity demand in a sustainable, reliable and economic manner, built on advanced infrastructure and tuned to facilitate the integration of all involved. Smart grids will provide more electricity to meet rising demand, increase reliability and quality of power supplies, increase energy efficiency, and be able to integrate low carbon energy sources into power networks.

A power grid system includes a number of electricity generating stations, high-voltage transmission lines for carrying electricity and distribution lines that connect end customers. India is geographically divided into five regions namely, Northern, Eastern, Western North Eastern and Southern grids. Since August 2006, the Indian electricity system is divided into two grids, the Integrated Northern, Eastern, Western, and North-Eastern regional grids (NEWNE) and the Southern Grid. All the states and union territories in India fall in either of these regions. The first four (NEWNE) out of five regional grids are operating in a synchronous mode, which implies that the power across these regions can flow seamlessly as per the relative load generation balance hence these four regional grids have been integrated together into NEWNE. (Understand more on power grid system in India)

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