India’s Integrated Power Sector Challenges & Solutions

Since India’s independence, the power sector of the country has made incredible progress. The total installed capacity has increased to more than 350 GW in 2021 and the transmission & distribution network has grown from small residential and industrial areas to form National Grid. However, the supply of electricity has always been lagging behind the demand. The importance of electricity as a key role in progress and in order to enhance the development of power system the Indian government has started various organizations e.g. Power Grid Corporation Limited (PGCL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation (NHPC) and State Electricity Boards (SEB) etc. However, still the India is not fulfilling power or demand to the new upcoming power network.  

Indian power sector:  

• Access to electricity (% of population) at 97.82%  6% to 8 % GDP growth rate. 
• Rank 5th in energy producer of the world.  
• Ranks 3rd in energy consumption.  

Now, the power sector in India is going through to a rapid change in technology, and we cannot deny the change that technology has brought to both the power sector and our lives. We see the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big data being observed to advance the way of power sector. We witnessed this technology advancement when The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India appealed to the citizens on 3rd April 2020 to switch off their lighting system at 9 pm on 5th April 2020 for 9 minutes. Then Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) with the use of technology handled situation very efficiently as the anticipated reduction in all India demand during this period of 9 minutes was around 12000 – 14000MW which may cause fear of Grid failure by cascade tripping.  

The Electrical department in Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College has observed that no choice but to go for technology enhancement in various power sectors is eminent to study. New courses in curriculum help in addressing this target. Like addition of topics related to digitization in power plants fundamentally means combining technology such as IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Big Data with advanced hardware to deliver reliability, affordability and sustainability.  

Then in case of new cable technology topic adoption in both for overhead and underground transmission of electrical power has gained increased attention in the recent times from the point of view of safety, reliability and economic aspects. There are other issues that are not solved just by bringing technology like rising demand for clean energy, increasing instances of cyber attacks on energy infrastructure, growing requirement for reliable and secure global power supply etc. are to be addressed separately in courses.  

We feel that safety as a critical subject will go through transition in India. Electrical safety & quality is a subject which is close to us. In this regard our electrical maintenance and power quality instruments have been safe for students as per the applicable regulatory Standards and now we have entered into electrical safety in a bigger way. We have created a special Safety & Power Quality Cell where we have equipped with few of the recent latest instruments who are into voltage-current sensing, Heat sensing and electrical monitoring systems along with safety tools for electrical safety and power quality inspection. Today safety & quality currently is a word which is good to have not must-have and that is why we feel this cell will happen sooner than expected among students.

We are very optimistic about bringing new topics & things in courses. This transition has made shift from ‘Chalta hai’ on quality education to ‘Quality Education is Must’ and all of us have been target to that shift. We know Indian Engineering education change pace cautiously and we want to be with them as the change happens so that by the time it builds to a level where people say this is ‘Must-have’ we will be in a place to serve them and bring these best of line solutions in students life. 

- Mr. Suhas D Jawale
Assistant Professor,
Electrical Department, 
Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, 
MGM University, Chh. Sambhajinagar