INTRODUCTION The development of Indian Electricity System hitherto had been on a regional basis with five RLDCs established

in the mid 1960s having the responsibility to co-ordinate the integrated operation within each region. The Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre (SRLDC) is one of these five RLDCs, located at Bangalore, the IT Hub of India and it is the nerve centre for monitoring and coordinating operations of the Southern India Regional Grid comprising the states of Andhrapradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Pudcherry and Tamilnadu. Amongst the five regions, the North Eastern Region and Eastern Region were the first to be operated in synchronous mode since 1993. Subsequently, these two regions were synchronized with the Western Region in March 2003 and the three connected regions were termed as Central Grid. Later in August 2006 the Central Grid has been synchronized with the Northern Region termed as N-E-W grid. The Southern Regional Grid continues to remain connected with the other four combined regional grids in an asynchronous manner through interregional HVDC links.

ANDHRA PRADESH INSTALLED CAPACITY :-12793 MW KARNATAKA INSTALLED CAPACITY :-10483 MW PEAK DEMAND MET :-7815 MW MAX. ENERGY CONSUMPTION:-170.0MU PEAK DEMAND MET :-11829 MW MAX. ENERGY CONSUMPTION:265.02MU DAILY AVERAGE CONSUMPTION:210.91MU

DAILY AVERAGE CONSUMPTION:127.03 MU 108.38 MU

TAMILNADU INSTALLED CAPACITY :-14959 MW PEAK DEMAND MET :-10789 MW MAX. ENERGY CONSUMPTION:233.61MU DAILY AVG CONSUMPTION 204.71 MU

PUDUCHERY
INSTALLED CAPACITY :-32.50 MW PEAK DEMAND MET :-301 MW MAX. ENERGY CONSUMPTION:- 6.97MU DAILY AVG CONSUMPTION 5.36 MU

KERALA INSTALLED CAPACITY:-2441 MW PEAK DEMAND MET:-3119 MW MAX. ENERGY CONSUMPTION:- 57.8MU DAILY AVERAGE CONSUMPTION:47.95 MU

The five RLDCs and NLDC in India are owned, operated and maintained by Power System Operation Corporation of India Limited (POSOCO) (A fully owned subsidiary of POWERGRID, the Central Transmission Utility (CTU) of the country). The source wise effective generating capacities in the Southern Region are as shown below:
SOURCE WISE EFFECTIVE GENERATING CAPACITY OF SOUTHERN REGION AS ON 31-03-2011
NUCLEAR 2.63%

WIND/OTHERS 19.12%

HYDRO 24.16%

GAS/DIESEL 14.31%

THERMAL 39.78%

SOURCE HYDRO THERMAL GAS/DIESEL WIND/OTHERS NUCLEAR TOTAL

IN MW 12118.71 19956.81 7178.71 9590.10 1320.00 50164.32

IN % 24.16% 39.78% 14.31% 19.12% 2.63% 100.00%

The Electricity Act 2003, designated RLDCs as Apex Body for real time operation to ensure integrated operation of the power system in the concerned region and NLDC as the nodal Load dispatch centre of India. All the stakeholders connected in the regional grid comply with the directions issued by the RLDCs in the interest of security, stability, economy and efficiency of the power system operations in the region. FUNCTIONS OF SRLDC As the Apex Body for operation of the integrated Grid in the region, the statutory functions of SRLDC are: Responsible for Carrying out real time operations for grid control and despatch of electricity within the region through secure and economic operation of the regional grid in accordance with the Grid Standards and the Grid Code. Optimum scheduling and despatch of electricity within the Region; Monitoring grid operation ; Exercising supervision and Transmission System (ISTS); control over the Inter-State

Keeping accounts of quantity of electricity transmitted through the Regional Grid;

SALIENT FEATURES OF SOUTHERN REGIONAL GRID Third largest geographical area amongst the five regions, covering apporx.19.31% of the area & approx. 21.81% of Indias population and 28.89% of the Installed Capacity. Best Hydro thermal mix(31-69%) amongst all five regions facilitating highest operational flexibility 2600 MW Capacity Thermal Power Station of NTPC at Ramagundam is one of the largest generating stations in India. Largest Pump storage schemes in the country at Srisailam (900MW), Andhra Pradesh and at Kadamparai (400MW), Tamil Nadu, brings about economy in scale and operational flexibility. 2500 MW capacity Talchar-Kolar HVDC interconnection with the Eastern Region is the largest capacity HVDC interconnection in the country. 9590 MW Wind Mill & NCE generating capacity is the highest amongst all Regions. 17817 MW capacity from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) generating plants, which is also the highest amongst all Regions.

Commercial Mechanism and Settlement System in the Region: Availability based tariff (ABT), a rational tariff structure notified by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has been implemented in Southern Region w.e.f. 1st January, 2003. This three-part tariff structure for inter utility energy exchange has not only brought competition in electricity generation / demand management but also brought to a great extent grid discipline in the power system operation harnessing more capacity availability and catering broader sectors of load. SRLDC plays an important and a key role in metering and settlement system in Southern Region and is responsible for maintaining the data collected from over 591 Special Energy Meters of 0.2S class of accuracy covering around 99 locations in the region. SRLDC also validates processes and maintains the energy transaction accounts as per the Electricity Act, 2003. It also operates and maintains the regional energy pool accounts for UI and reactive power on behalf of SRPC. The complete range of information from the day-to-day schedules, Short Term Open Access (STOA) transactions, un-requisitioned surpluses, real time data, metered data and pool account details etc. are posted in the SRLDC web site viz. www.srldc.org thereby bringing about complete transparency in the entire process, resulting in almost zero dispute regime in SR.

Unified Load Despatch Scheme: Computerised load despatch and communication facilities are an essential requirement in managing the control centre operations encompassing a large and complex interconnection such as Southern Regional Grid. The modern despatch and communication facility with the state-of-art technology was made operational at SRLDC in January, 2002 and it is amongst one of such biggest facilities available in the world. The hierarchy of ULDC in Southern Region is given below:
Load Despatching Facilities in India
NLDC

New Delhi

Kolkata

20 Sec

RLDC
2 Sec

Bangalore

SLDC
2 Sec Sub LDC 10 Sec RTU

Bangalore
+ BLR Sub LDC

Hyderabad
+ HYD Sub LDC

Kalamessary
+ KLY sub LDC

Chennai
+ CHN Sub LDC

SCC UTP

GTR

LGR

CDP

WGL

VIJ

KNR

TVM

MDI

ERD

IES SYSTEM

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

RTU

Salient features available in SR ULDC Scheme include inter-alia: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) covering around 320 Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) for real time monitoring and management of the grid. Energy Management System (EMS) tools such as load/inflow forecasting, resources scheduling and commitment, state estimation, power flow studies, contingency analysis, optimal power flow and Real Time Generation application. Historical Data Recording (HDR), Historical Information Management(HIM), Sequence of Events(SOE) recording for better post dispatch analysis of events and perturbations in the power system. Despatch Training Stimulator(DTS) Dedicated broadband communication backbone network over the three level hierarchy of control centres (14 sub-LDCs, 4 SLDCs and one RLDC) within the region and outside for a country level access.

Integrated Opn of Ten Power Utilities Annual InterRegional Energy Transfer 23635MU Installed Capacity 50164 MW Generators Hydro, Thermal,Gas/IPP 518 nos. Transmission Network 400/220kV 54352 Ckm

67,050POINTS Active Power, Reactive Power, Voltage, Frequency, Transformer Tap Position, Circuit Breaker Position, Isolator Position etc

Transformers (220kV and above) 686 Nos.

Dynamic Grid Conditions

Transformation Capacity 92,936 MVA

CHANGED FACE OF OPERATION OF SR GRID After the synchronization of inter regional links of N-E-W Grid substantial enhancement in utilization of all HVDC / Inter Regional links of SR with neighboring regions viz. ER and WR has been achieved in both directions. This has helped all the grids to combat the high demand situations through import of power through opportunistic UI, STOA and PX transactions. The enhanced power handling capacity of Talcher-Kolar HVDC Bi-pole of 2500 MW coupled with 1000 MW capacity HVDC B2B links each at Gazuwaka and Chandrapur has certainly played a vital role in the Southern Region System operation as apart from wheeling long term allocated power and UI, many utilities used these links for exchanging STOA/PX power through / from SR to other regions and vice versa Grid Security and Safety The SR grid security and safety has been enhanced remarkably in the recent past, following large number of measures taken and close co-ordination with the different Control Centers / Utilities for regular mock drills of Restoration procedures and maintaining highest alertness on system monitoring and maintenance. As a testimony to this, it can be seen that NO MAJOR DISTURBANCE in Southern Region has taken place in the last six years.

SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF SRLDC a)

b)

Economic and Efficient System Operation In view of the strengthening of the network and various reactive control measures like switching in/switching out of the Reactors, FSCs & changing of Transformer Tap positions and operation of generating units in VAR generation/absorption mode etc., the voltage profile in SR grid except in Chennai area has improved. As a result of the improvement in the voltage profile, the overall system loss in the region also been optimized bringing in overall economy and efficiency. ABT mechanism which is in practice for the last 8 years coupled with OA Regulations has infused a sense of commercial awareness amongst all the constituents of the Region and brought about a marked improvement in the system operation, parameters, economy and efficiency. Power trading opportunity has also enhanced the utilization of available Generation resources & Transmission corridors by constituents including use of Unrequisitioned Surplus (URS) power and high cost Diesel/Naphtha generation, which led to economy as well as improvement in system parameters. A good amount of co-generation has also come into the limelight through STOA. To facilitate Advance Reservation of STOA transactions, ATC calculation in all major Transmission corridors were made through daily & monthly LGBR data received from constituents.

c)

Metering and Settlement System under ABT Regime SRLDC played a key role in metering and settlement system in Southern Regional grid. Over 591 Special Energy Meters (SEMs) of 0.2S accuracy class have been installed and commissioned covering 99 locations in the Region in order to measure active as well as reactive energy exchanges at various inter utility exchange points of the States and ISGS. The data from these meters are read on weekly basis on every Monday and transferred electronically to SRLDC for processing, validation and for preparation of weekly Unscheduled Interchange (UI) / Reactive Energy (RE) accounts. With the sustained support rendered by constituents, the pool accounts for UI and Reactive Energy Charges in the region are well operated and maintained by SRLDC resulting in NIL outstanding dues for settlement in the Pool Account.

d)

In-house development of operational utilities The following software utilities developed in-house by SRLDC has further helped SRLDC immensely in commercial and operation activities: Web Based Scheduling Software

Web Based Power Supply Position Report SEM data Checking / Validation Software Regional Energy Accounting Software Short Term Open Access (STOA) Software Utility ISTS Shutdown Coordination Software Utility e) Training In order to enhance the skill of the system operators / development engineers at different control centers in the Region, SRLDC with the help of in-house and external faculty has conducted various training programmes for the operating staff of SR constituents, which include Black Start Restoration, various Regulations of CERC, Sharing of Tr charges & losses through PoC methodology, IMS, Java programming for SCADA, RTU and XA-21 user level modules, etc. These training programmes have given rise in the confidence level of operators / development engineers, in utilizing the facility provided under ULDC scheme in best possible manner. Training was also provided to engineers on web based scheduling, Grid Management & Open Access which helped them in gaining good knowledge for grid operation and scheduling. SRLDC staff members shared their experience by conducting familiarization workshop / sessions on implementation of frequency linked dispatch guide lines , Black Start Restoration procedure, Transmission pricing / Sharing of losses IEGC, Intra-State ABT, FGMO, etc., to some of the SR constituents viz. APTRANSCO, KPTCL, TNEB, NLC & NTPC and research & training institutions like NPTI, CPRI, KPCL, etc. f) SRLDC IT infrastructure: SRLDC provided high speed internet and intranet facilities along with PCs to all its executives to help them deliver on line & off line support to system operation & security effectively round the clock. To enhance cyber security measures SRLDC got certified for ISMS by M/s. BSI. SRLDCs main website www.srldc.org and backup website www.srldc.in hosts lot of useful and relevant information in regard to grid operation and control apart from on line scheduling facility. In order to update all the players and other agencies in and outside the grid, the various power supply position (PSP) reports prepared at SRLDC on daily, weekly and monthly basis, and other relevant MIS reports/documents are regularly up-linked to the website. The complete range of information related to daily schedules, bilateral contracts, un requisitioned surplus power, real time data, energy meter data and pool account operation details etc., are updated

continuously and also made available on the website thereby bringing complete transparency in the entire process and leading to a zero dispute regime of system operation . GRID SECURITY ENHANCEMENT USING SPECIAL PROTECTION SCHEME (SPS) The System Protection Scheme to safeguard the system in the event of tripping of 2500 MW capacity HVDC Talcher-Kolar link has successfully operated in the SR Grid during the year. Under this scheme automatic load shedding is being carried out in the event of tripping of HVDC link by transmitting inter-trip signals to distant sub-stations through PLCC Channels. Total load relief of around 1500MW from sub-stations of all the states is achieved by communicating trip signal through wide band communication network. The scheme has been of immense help in enhancing the SR grid safety and security in the event of tripping of HVDC Talcher-Kolar links. Apart from above, SPS for Nagajheri, Madakathara & islanding scheme of Ramagundam is implemented in SR Region Further to enhance the grid security, SRLDC with the help of SRPC Secretariat and SR constituents continuously monitored and reviewed load changeover period parameters and status of Free Governor Mode of operation of generators in SR which helped in minimizing the rapid frequency fluctuations and enhanced achieving grid stability. Further the restoration (Black Start) procedure was updated keeping in view of the addition of new generators and transmission lines and a workshop on familiarization of updated restoration procedure was also conducted at all constituents premises which was attended by the concerned engineers of all the SR constituents. THE ROAD AHEAD Indian economy is fast growing and to commensurate with it the nation is striving hard on all fronts to meet the ever increasing demand of electricity. Government has taken several measures to check the rapid growth of demand and short supplies of electricity. It is necessary for the country not only to plan aptly for the future requirements of generation & transmission, but also optimally utilize the available scarce resources and assets of electricity. In this regard the CERC directions through its various orders and CEA Regulations issued from time to time are certainly helping the operators in maintaining the grid in safe and operable limits. An important issue which requires immediate attention is developing smart grids besides managing the complex power system network to harness large quantum of unutilized generation available with Renewables, CPPs and IPPs within the States as this would not only help the grid to meet its increased demand, but would also give assistance to the neighboring

Regions during crisis situations by transferring the power through STOA and UI. Implementation of intra-state ABT in the State is yet another important issue that would help in rationalization of tariff and optimization in scheduling process within the States for the generators and distribution companies. It is therefore important that the States make all possible efforts to achieve this goal and optimize their generation as well as adopt best possible demand side management techniques utilizing good load forecasting methods and other available means. Further, with the interconnectivity of more networks and different regions, the grid operation has become challenging which necessitate adequate training to be imparted to the system operators for handling systems in all conditions. Another issue of absolute importance during the current scenario, particularly in respect of Southern Region is that abundant Wind generation is available without good predictability tools. Therefore, it is necessary to develop accurate tools for forecasting the wind generation on priority. Modified Open Access Regulations, advent of Multiple Power Exchanges and entry of Mega and Ultra Mega Power Projects with associated Transmission System, HVDC links and next higher voltage corridors do throw fresh challenges apart from the already existing complexities to Power System operators. The CERC Staff paper, their new Regulation Orders on many latest issues like ISTS tariff & losses, Ancillaries, Renewables, etc., throw additional challenges to the Power System Engineers in the coming years. SRLDC opines that a reasonable understanding of the new requirements and appropriate implementation with collective effort and co-operation, system can be maintained healthy with optimal utilization of resources.