Smart Meters are the way to go

Integral to UDAY, these meters can help discoms overhaul services.But picking the right technology is the issue The announcement of the National Smart Grid Mission and the release of the Model Smart Grid Regulations by the Forum of Regulators (FoR) in 2015 have set the stage for a paradigm shift in India’s electricity distribution system.The Government recently launched the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme with theobjective of improving the financial and operational efficiencies of electricity distribution companies(discoms). One of the commitments under the UDAY scheme is to make the installation of smart meters
compulsory for all consumers using more than 200 units of electricity a month. At present, there are some smart metering projects operating successfully on a pilot basis in India. However, going forward, there is a growing interest by the Government in deploying smart meters at a large scale. The UDAY Scheme envisages fast track rollout of 35 million smart meters by the end of 2019.

Rural areas pose their own unique challenges in terms of network availability in spite of low density of consumers and reliability of power supply. Smart metering infrastructure is expected to be a long-term asset for the utility, while smart meter technologies are dependent on the rapidly developing electronics design and manufacturing industry. The overarching concern in smart meter technology for utilities still remains cost. Additional factors such as economies of scale, consumer awareness, technological advances,
innovative financial schemes can significantly influence costs of smart meters. Under these circumstances, the flexibility of communication technology provided by pluggable meters needs to be considered carefully. A detailed feasibility analysis to understand the geographical topology, applications and the utility’s requirement of communication capabilities in smart meters will provide utilities a holistic view on the choices and aid the process of planning smart meter deployment in an effective manner. Since the decisions of a utility ultimately affect its consumers, utilities should consider weighing the
advantages along with associated costs before choosing a particular smart meter technology especially during large-scale deployments.

Read the full article here