Schneider Electric Emphasizes the Role of Digitization to Ensure 24×7 Power for All

With EcoStruxure Grid, Schneider Electric strengthens its commitment towards attaining a New World of Energy.

With an aim to further strengthen its commitment towards attaining a ‘New World of Energy’ that is more efficient, sustainable, reliable and connected, Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, today brought-forth the massive opportunities that can be leveraged through ‘digitization of power distribution’, and presented its digital architecture, EcoStruxure Grid. The architecture is an open IoT-enabled framework for digital transformation of distribution utilities. EcoStruxure leverages the IT/OT convergence, ensuring high efficiency in grid operations, optimal asset management and enables an overall digital transformation.

Schneider Electric in partnership with IDC, also released a white paper that highlights the pressing need for Indian utilities to embark on the technological advancements in the sector, in order to trim operational inefficiencies and create a more agile organization. At a time when global energy consumption is expected to increase by 40% over the next 25 years, the ‘New World of Energy’ lays emphasis on the need to Decentralize, Digitize and Decarbonizes.

Describing the critical role of the technological evolution to ensure smart distribution of power, Mr. Anil Chaudhry, Country President and Managing Director, Schneider Electric India, said, “Digitisation offers tremendous opportunities for improving competency of power distribution in India. Traditionally, we have addressed the energy equation from the supply side— adjusting the amount of electricity generated to ensure that supply matches demand. But depending solely on supply-side solutions will not allow us to meet our obligations to reduce our carbon emissions and reduce energy consumption. In the new world of energy – where lives are more electric, more connected, and more distributed – we are better able to address the problem from the other side — from the demand side, from the perspective of the energy user. In line with this, a prerequisite to extracting optimal efficiency of power DISCOMs is the coming together of energy, automation and software & analytics. This makes the energy value chain more intelligent — more predictable.”

He further added, “The EcoStruxure architecture leverages IoT and cloud capabilities along with automation and software & analytics, to drive greater energy and process optimization. We, at Schneider Electric, are completely committed to extend all our support to the Government in achieving its goal of 24X7 quality power supply.”

Distribution utilities are at the core of a ‘New World of Energy’. These utilities are often impacted by business and economic volatilities such as evolving regulatory framework, market integration, redesigning of energy value chain, grid complexity etc. In such a scenario, it is imperative to develop a framework that can provide a holistic approach towards addressing these challenges.

Addressing the media roundtable along with Schneider Electric, Mr. Salil Shrivastava, Chief Engineer, Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) said, “We are happy to be associated with Schneider Electric as we embark together to make Naya Raipur – the first green field integrated Smart City. We believe IoT is the backbone of this project, and the Schneider Electric solution enables end to end integration a reality. Through this project, our vision is to provide high-quality infrastructure in the city which will also help in catering infrastructure needs of industries in the city. As smart city project rolls out, Naya Raipur would not only encapsulate modern infrastructure but also push the envelope of being an eco-friendly city which will offer modern amenities for residents and visitors.”

Schneider Electric is currently working with various state DISCOMs to provide digital technologies for the grid. Last year, the company commissioned a SCADA-DMS project for the Bihar Power Distribution Company that helped the state utility reduce its overall costs by curbing power theft and losses, reduce unscheduled downtimes, improve customer usage mapping, detecting faults faster, and gain new capabilities to scale up to meet increasing power demand.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture and platform enables the ability to create an interoperable and open platform that is IoT enabled. It enables assets across the grid to be managed proactively. This means that companies will be able to achieve improved efficiency and cost outcomes. Data will be accessible in real time, enabling the ability to resolve critical issues and increase customer satisfaction by proactively managing issues that arise across the grid.

Highlights of the Research Report

The research outlines the heavy focus that Indian utilities have placed on operational efficiency to improve their financial position, with improving efficiencies and reducing costs figuring as their top two priorities in the next 12-18 months. Manual distribution processes, lack of decision making transparency, insufficient infrastructure, and lack of real-time information are some of the other challenges that are in turn resulting in delayed revenue realization, poor operating efficiency, and high operating costs, the study revealed.

According to the paper, IoT, analytics and cloud capabilities are particularly important elements for utilities seeking to monitor and control equipment across the network of assets and to manage their grid environments. IDC’s research shows that amongst Indian utilities organizations, cloud platforms for data management, IoT and utilization of data within 3D visualizations are particular priorities for organizations looking at new areas of technology investment.

According to the IDC survey, 64% of Indian utility companies cited the digitizing of manual or paper processes as one of the biggest drivers for people, process and technology transformation within their organizations. Organizational flexibility and agility is also an issue, with 68% of respondents stating their desire to create a more agile organization as the top driver behind their IT investments.