Real-time monitoring and maintenance to prevent power failures

Power industry specialists briefly mentioned the advantages for innovation in smart cities created by India’s increased emphasis on sustainable cables and wires, as well as the importance of fire safety requirements.
Spokesperson & Quotes –
Manjit Singh, Executive Director – Cables, KEC International Ltd.-“real-time monitoring and condition-based maintenance are essential to the safety of underground installations”
Vinay Rathi, Director, Gloster Cables: “We manufactures a variety of fire-resistant cables with limited integrity to avoid any fire disasters.”
Intro:Power industry specialists briefly mentioned on the advantages for innovation in smart cities created by India’s increased emphasis on sustainable cables and wires, as well as the importance of fire safety requirements.
Power cable networks are becoming increasingly important as smart cities and smart distribution networks are developed. System for intelligent cable management with the goal of supporting smart cities and increasing operational and maintenance efficiency. Considering this, Vinay Rathi, Director, Gloster Cables highlights “The internet of things (IoT) will be used in smart cities to connect various parts of the city, from the air to the street and even the ground. The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to enhance a city’s operations and efficiency by establishing robust connectivity through the use of technology, sensors, actuators, and other components. Smart connectivity solutions will rely heavily on optical fibre cables and fibre-integrated power cables.”
The core infrastructure elements of a smart city include assured electricity supply and robust IT connectivity and digitalisation. Command control centres, operations control centres, surveillance cameras, etc. require an uninterrupted power supply.Manjit Singh, Executive Director – Cables, KEC International Ltd., briefly mentions their business with their client saying, “At Asian Cables (formerly RPG Cables), we manufacture state-of-the-art power cables, control cables and telecom cables to contribute to the varied requirements of smart cities.
Latest innovations
Concerning KEC’s constant innovation and R&D, Singh says that the emphasis on producing new goods is strongly engrained in KEC’s character. We have successfully commercialised numerous novel products, including 107 sq. mm copper-silver contact wire used in high-speed railway projects; cathodic protection cables for oil and gas projects; CCTV and co-axial cables for communication reasons; hybrid cables, which are composite cables that merge EHV, HV, and LV power cables with optical fibre cables, and many more. Identifying and creating need-based cable solutions for our customers is a constant effort at Asian Cables.

Since India is a developing country and lots of infrastructure plans are on way viz. JNNURM, AMRUT, IPDS, RAPDRP etc, upgradation of existing and new airports in class b & c class cities, high-speed road and rail connectivity, renovations and upgradations of ports, housing for all and many more smart cities projects. Keeping all the facts, there is huge potentials for the electricals manufacturing sectors.Coextruded Duct Cables, Fibre Integrated Power Cables, Covered Conductors, FA & FS cables with improved fire-retardant quality are the areas where innovations had taken place.
Safety requirement
Singh mentions that “Real-time monitoring and condition-based maintenance are key to underground installation safety across commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. To prevent failures, power distribution network equipment needs to be intelligent to monitor and diagnose networks in real time.” Online condition monitoring for detection of properties like mechanical stress, hot spots, temperature and moisture level along the entire length of the cable can be done by installing Hybrid cables developed by KEC, which can be integrated with DAS / DTS equipment for continuous monitoring of cable systems. We have already type-tested and supplied such cables to reputed utilities.
Rathi emphasises on the fundamental components of a safe workplace such as it is crucial to have all of the location’s cable records on hand and to retain them on site at all times in order to properly use plans (to find power cables). Before digging begins and during the entire project, make sure they are current, cover all local cable voltages, that you understand what they imply, and that they are being used to their fullest capacity. Use of Cable Locating Equipment – To locate underground cables as precisely as feasible within or adjacent to the proposed work area, the cable designs should be utilised in conjunction with the proper cable locating tools. Use of safe digging techniques. When working near buried cable network these three crucial areas, care should be exercised.
Fire safety requirement
Singh states that we produce high quality fire survival cables that continue to supply power to critical loads during fire hazards. Expertise of raw material selection, proper testing mechanism and understanding the requirement of end user, along with proper study of installation conditions come to play while designing and producing cables to be used in critical loads. Asian Cables has supplied cables with higher degree of fire protection to various metros, data centres, tunnelling projects, etc . Our new product development team is continuously developing and formulating raw materials of superior quality with high degree of temperature and fire endurance. We have also received CPR approval for Classification Cca-s1a, d2, a1 for 7 family from SGS, Belgium. Construction Products Regulation (CPR) are rules implemented by the European Commission for safety requirements. CPR rules call for products, including cables, to be tested and certified based on certain criteria before they are used in European buildings.
Rathi, adds “Gloster manufactures a variety of fire-resistant cables with limited integrity in accordance with various international construction and testing standards. We provide these types of cables with Copper and Aluminium conductors, but according to existing standards, only Copper conductors are intended.” We have accumulated some experience in the use of Aluminium conductor, so we can provide a flame temperature higher than the melting point of Aluminium. These cables are very important when extinguishing fires because they can ensure that the power supply is maintained for a long enough time.
Plans for sustainable solar cable
Singh sates that solar photovoltaic is a green energy technology and is proving to be pivotal for solving energy problems. The growth of solar photovoltaic industry is the prime reason for the growth of solar cables, both for residential and non-residential applications. The market is growing at a CAGR of 13.9 percent and it is projected to reach USD 1502.5 million by 2026. With the Government’s focus to achieve 500 GW of renewable power capacity by 2030, we expect the demand for solar cables to increase substantially in the coming few years. At Asian Cables, we have produced and supplied Solar DC Cables for prestigious projects executed by our customers. We are also observing an increase in demand for E-Beam Solar DC cables.
Rathi further concludes stating that in near future innovations will guarantee that solar power turns out to be much less expensive. It’s possible that solar energy will be the most important source of energy for the production of electricity in a significant portion of the world by the year 2030. The India Solar Cables Market is anticipated to reach USD 1000 million by 2028, expanding at a CAGR of 12 percent from 2021 to 2028. This will also have a positive effect on climate change.