Electricity & The Grid

The bright streaks of lightning that seared the sky had long remained a mystery to the primitive man. Two and a half centuries have passed after man has realized lightning was a form of electricity. Today, the over head power lines that crisscross the country reminds us of the revolutionary changes that electricity has brought to our lives. Think of this electricity that virtually powers almost all our equipments ranging from the sophisticated medical imaging systems to huge electric cranes. These equipments are driven by a stream of electrons whose continuous flow creates an electric current. The electric power that reaches our wall sockets can primarily be defined by three parameters - voltage, current, and the frequency. In India, the utility supply has 230V as the rated voltage and 50 Hz as the rated frequency. All our equipments are designed to be powered by electricity that has these specifications. Any large deviation from these parameters can affect the life of the equipments. When we say that the utilities strive to provide reliable power, we mean that we are getting power at 230 V, 50 Hz power in an uninterrupted manner. Another important parameter which often finds mention in the news is the power factor. Roughly, the power factor is a measure of how efficiently the energy is transferred from the generator to the equipment that is powered. The power factor can at the most be equal to 1 and normally anything above 0.98 is considered to be good. A power factor of 0.5 means that about half of the power that is fed to the equipment is reflected back, and is not used in getting any useful work done. The electric power that is generated by the power generating stations pass through long transmission lines, intermediate transformers and a maze of distribution networks before it reaches the end consumer. As the transmission losses are less at higher voltages, the generated electricity is initially stepped up to a higher voltage for transmission and subsequently for distribution to the consumer it is brought down to lower levels using distribution transformers. The electric power on its way to the consumers encounter a whole range of network components like cables , circuit breakers , switches and transformers and along the line a fraction of power is lost as the losses in transmission and distribution. These losses which are classified as the technical losses happen mainly along the transmission line due losses in the conductors and losses in voltage conversions that happen at the transformers. Another major component of the loss of power is the commercial losses which include the loss from theft of power and avoidance of payment of electricity tariff. These losses combined are normally termed as the Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (ATC loss).

Power utilities in India have been reeling under high ATC losses in excess of 40%. Higher transmission and distribution losses mean that a large chunk of the power (which is already scarce) that the utility generates do not reach the end consumer and causes huge revenue losses to the utility. The Grid

The grid does not have a universal definition, but it includes all or some of the components that carry the bulk of the power generated by the utility to the end consumers. This may include the power generation, transmission of power, distribution and the systems for power control. In a simple sense it is the network of wires and equipments that will deliver the generated power to the end consumer. The term grid can be used to refer the network at a regional level or at a national or continental level. A stable, reliable electricity grid is the backbone of economic activities in any nation. This is possible only when all the market players observe a certain discipline with respect to their drawl from and the supply into the grid. It is essential that for the security of the grid the frequency to be maintained at the stipulated levels. If it fluctuates wildly, mainly due to excess supply or demand conditions, it can bring down the grid to a complete collapse. So the regulatory authority stipulates certain grid discipline which is essentially the guidelines for market players to maintain a healthy grid. India has one of the largest integrated grids in the world with about 50 GW (of the total of 180 GW) of generation capacity connected to it. The country is divided into five regional grids, North, East, West, South and the North East. Prior to the formation of PGCIL (Power grid corporation of India Ltd) in 1991, the transmission grids were built ,owned and operated by the Central Power generating units , primarily by NTPC and the NHPC. The regional grids evolved because of the need to integrate the regional power generators. Subsequent to the formation of PGCIL all transmission assets owned by the NTPC, NHPC and other CPSUs were transferred to PGCIL. Under the Electricity Act 2003 , transmission is a licensed activity. Earlier the transmission charges were fixed at a regional level and with the increasing volume of trade of energy between different regions; the regional pricing policies were increasingly becoming a major impediment in the integration of the grid. The transmission costs were originally bundled with the CPSU generation tariffs, and with the introduction of Availability Based Tariff (ABT) on the generator side these were decoupled. Transmission cost is now calculated on the basis of MW share of the beneficiaries.