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CITY

TRANSFORMS
Smart city movement and Indian transformer industry

opportunities
for transformers

IN Make in India

lubrication

technology for

wind turbine

biomass
co generation

In India
An I-Tech Media Publication

TECH VIEW

Assembling smart grid technologies to

meet distribution optimisation goals

The grid, described as most complex

machine ever made by man was always
the harbinger of smartness in industrial
space. The power systems were the first
to deploy digital computers within first
few years of their emergence. However,
the distribution layer was always seen to
be straightforward in design, ownership,
implementation and management. The
fact that principal power consumption
occurs at this level, distribution system
was seen more as statistical solace which
smoothened the demand curve and
made dispatch planning predictable.
HVDC, FACTS, PMUs have given high
level of observability and controllability
in the transmission layer. However,
the foregoing finds itself more in sync
with a grid where the generation is
deterministic.
With advent of renewables, the element
of predictability in generation is no

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APRIL 2016

longer a valid assumption. Wind and

solar comes with substantial variability
in generation. Moving in to deep seas
will mitigate variability largely and the
connections would be at transmission
level whereas solar would be integrated
largely on lower tiers of the grid.
The handling of variability of generation
brings substantial challenges for
operation of the grid and having
reasonable estimates for dispatchable
generation. This brings forth requirement
of additional layer of forecasting
models which would predict generation
and handle demand management
complementing
the
conventional
decision making mechanism of arriving
at plausible unit commitments and
scheduling dispatches.
Smartness in distribution
Even without new developments,
distribution system saw new tools

being used for asset management,

revenue realisation, demand modelling
and network planning. The advanced
metering infrastructure has laid the
foundation of new possibilities like
(apart from the usual meter reading and
integration with utilities):
Giving better visibility to the utility
and the consumer of pattern of
usage during the day
Better correlation between the time
of use, kind of usage, availability and
cost of power
Instead of plain tariff or simple
Time-of-Day metering strategy,
customer can participate in market
linked consumption decision-making
customer an empowered participant
in electricity markets
Data for the regulators for arriving
at quality of service offered to the
customers and have a dataset which
can be legally taken cognisance
of, permitting a superior level of
regulatory oversight and customer
satisfaction.
What is smartness in a grid?
Upper tiers of grid have always been
smart. However, the distribution
ends were garden hoses with power
flow unidirectional and it was in the
distribution that the participation of
consumer was absent (apart from being
the one who just paid for the energy
consumed). Distinguishing features of
smartness as we now see it are- there
is an element of active participation
of all stake holders, connectivity of
stakeholders (customers connected
to each other and to the utility on bidirectional communication links) and
flexibility (reconfigurability, multiple
ways of interaction-a customer entering
in to a transaction with another or
customer trading his watts or negawatts).
However, one cant limit smartness to
Electrical & Power Review

TECH VIEW
distributed and intermittent generation.

Demand
Renewables
EVs
Structure

Integration of bi-directional power ows

Protection
Fault identication & localisation
Asset

Distribution

Controllability
O&M
Observability
Outage Management
Metering
Revenue

Pilferage prevention
Opportunistic pricing

Integration with the market

Figure #1

Demand management

Aggregation

just IT enabled services. Distribution

systems as they undergo basic structural
change need advanced control and
protection also-which in turn get
connected to themselves for meeting
the assured service quality indices.
True Smartness: Negawatts
The Concept
Negawatts is a profound concept
pioneered by the physicist Amory Lovins
in 1970s. The beauty of this concept lies
in its simplicity-which got translated in
to the oft reported maxim power saved
is power generated.
Negawatts is conceptually more
generic than demand management and
demand response. Adequate exposition
of this concept permits handling of
non-deterministic and intermittent
distributed generation a key imperative
of power sectors present and future.
Negawatts can be loosely understood as
avoided consumption-either by way of
energy efficient equipment or by way
of deliberate decision to modulate the
demand by the customer.
Say a set of shopping malls participates
in a demand management program
in a region. When the demand of this
region increases these participating
malls can give up their air-conditioning
loads by moving their thermostat
settings to higher temperature (the
thermal inertia of large spaces can
Electrical & Power Review

Scheduling negawatts

easily permit this with users not feeling

the change immediately). This avoided
consumption is akin to generation
of negative watts or negawatts,
thereby easing the demand placed on
generation of physical watts. Thus,
in the paradigm of negawatts, power
engineers can readily grasp demand
management and response. This makes
the new framework of planning on
same footing as conventional approach
towards generation being matched to
demand.
Negawatts scheduling
Like we conventionally schedule
dispatches, weather forecast models
embedded in generation forecasters
is now emerging as key instrument of
integrating variable, non-deterministic
generation. Better observability afforded
by PMUs make grids more resilient to
intermittency (certain variability always
existed in the grid-from the consumer
end. This was smoothened statistically
by serving several diverse customers
together. In new paradigm, variability
is now being introduced on generation
end also). With distribution systems
ceasing to be simple unidirectional
flows, PMUs for distribution is also
an emerging technology which will
improve resilience, observability and
controllability of distribution systems.
Roof top solar is now being encouraged
in cities all over the world and would
need such elements with proliferation of

However, when we want to leverage

existing intelligence and assets, one
can cleverly deploy demand avoidance
by such entities which agree to forsake
their demand to accommodate a demand
surge elsewhere. However, negawatts of
individual customers cant be scheduled
due to their small size-this opens role
of a new player-the aggregator. This
entity aggregates negawatts of the
participant entities and make it available
as a unit which then can be scheduled.
This aggregation can also factor in
non-utility embedded or distributed
generation (DG).
It is seen that such participation is
made possible by developments in
resilient networks and advanced IT tools.
Development of capability to handle
high velocity and high volume of data
makes advanced analytics applicable in
such possibilities.
The Watts
Having discussed the avoided watts, lets
take a look at the real watts that flow.
Disruption
Disruption in basic defining feature of
distribution network has occurred due
to integration of distributed generation
in the distribution. This makes power
flows bidirectional in circuits, which
are designed, operated and protected
for unidirectional power flows. Another
interesting characteristic being-this
generation is likely to be on single
phase and that it would be behind
(downstream) the meter.
The Impact
Embedding
increasing
levels
of
distributed generation has potential of
impacting operation, protection, fault
location, voltage quality and voltage
control.
There is hence need of more aware
protection
schemes
with
relays
having directional sensitivity. Fault
passage indicators having directional
indication would facilitate more
APRIL 2016

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TECH VIEW
directed
information
on
faults.
However, protection of distribution
with embedded DG deserves a far more
detailed treatment.
Voltage quality needs to be addressed
atleast at two levels. Firstly, the single
inverters need to be given ability to
connect to different phases depending
upon the prevailing voltage quality.
Research on phase reconfiguration is
work in progress which investigates
the strategy for over all optimisation of
the system. Also, the inverters, though
usually are designed for upf, they may
be called upon by the utility to source or
sink reactive power, to support voltage
quality. This can be possibly facilitated
by suitable business model.
DC vs AC debate
There is lot of discussion on the future
of distribution in terms of the kind of
system that would evolve as most of the
end loads are increasingly becoming DC.
This issue is addressed by the Systems
Evaluation Group-4 (SEG-4) of IEC. The
group is in process of collecting experience
of use of DC from the use cases of LVDC
in distribution, in marine, aviation, road
and rail. SEG-4 treats voltages less than
1500 V as LVDC. Recently, SEG-4 met
in New Delhi (28-Oct-2015) following
international LVDC conference on 26/27Oct 2015 (organised by IEC-BIS) to
deliberate upon the user experience, with
focus of arriving at strategy for adopting
LVDC for distribution. The author made

following submission at the meeting:

Challenges faced by the third world,
electricity deficit countries are very
different from those of the first world.
Depth and spread of skill in handling
advanced technology in distribution
is not available in the third world.
Thus, increase in system complexity
and number of components will have
adverse impact on system reliability.
There is need to separate voltage
levels within ambit of LVDC like it has
been the practice in AC. Clearly a 5 V
DC USB interface cant be dealt on the
lines of 750 V DC metro power supply.
Ominous designation at this stage
of evolution will create perception
barriers in potential users. Also, a
suitable discrimination in voltage
levels would facilitate application
of codes, practices and norms with
greater clarity and ease.
Challenge of higher currents exits at
lower system voltages. Thus, a more
calibrated approach which pairs
energy efficient end equipment with
DC distribution needs to be taken.
Though, domestic heavy loads like air
conditioners can be served by BLDC
motors which can work at lower dc
voltages, living with higher currents
needs much higher upgradation
effort for entire distribution
ecosystem of practice and skill.
Distinction between electricity
system at the socket, between
socket and meter, between meterdistribution point.

Figure #2

Watts
Sourcing Interface

Generation
Negawatts

Delivery Interface

Revenue realisation
O&M

Smart Distribution

Socket-Meter

System Level

Distribution Point-Meter
Transmission-Distribution

Figure #3

Bulk Generation-Transmission

Work has been done at creating

over 700 V DC backhaul circuits for
distribution essentially to contain
system currents.
Challenge of highly dependable
switchgear which can stand the
abuse of distribution systems.
Lack of fault discriminants in DC
systems.
Conclusion
Distribution systems hence see a
disruption-on account of bidirectional
flow in circuits designed for unidirectional
power flows and due to new possibilities
of integrating end customer with
markets by the instrument of negawatts
and customer owned generation. The
market incentives can meaningfully
operate only with advanced IT
infrastructure and by creating better
observability and controllability of
the system. Embedding DG introduces
additional element of interactive
control. As new technologies would be
implemented in brownfield distribution
systems, the challenge of protection,
tools for analysing fault scenarios as DG
penetration increases would require to
be addressed. Increasingly one sees new
IT based tools emerging and at the same
time, switchgear, protection, network
planning and analysis tools being
upgraded by the major players in power
sector.

Generation

Authored by__

Storage
Asset Interface

Ownership
Network
PQ Equipment
New network architecture (bi-directional ows)

36

At the socket

APRIL 2016

New Protection philosophy

Sujeet Mishra
Advisor (Projects)
Ministry of External Affairs
Government of India

Electrical & Power Review