Digitalisation in electrical equipment is key to sustainability

Indian technology will be far superior to foreign technologies, but at this juncture, we should adopt the technologies that are already in place abroad, says Anil Saboo, Chairman & Managing Director, Elektrolites Power Pvt. Ltd. 

How do you evaluate the demand and impact of the green energy shift on the electrical industry? 

There is no doubt that power reliability in most nations in the world has increased. Over the years, electric power has grown beyond providing utilities and has become a fundamental part of civilisation and smart products. The demand and consumption of electricity is increasing day-by-day. Even countries receiving coal power finance are witnessing substantial socio-economic and environmental risks associated with the newly commissioned carbon-intensity assets. To sustain power for the future, many renewable sources like rain, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass generation have been explored till now, so we are now exploring green hydrogen as a new source of energy. These environmentally friendly and sustainable energy sources account for more than half of global electricity generation, which is expected to rise further in the near future. 

Moving forward, we must design smart, efficient and economical products. With a growing emphasis on green energy, the Indian electrical equipment market is currently worth US $48-$50 billion. 

How do you see manufacturers approaching their manufacturing process in terms of upgrading their products to a level where energy efficiency will be their first priority? 

Today, it’s a mandate for all manufacturers to reduce their costs, and with the adoption of digitalisation and newer technologies, they will be able to reduce their production costs as well as carbon emissions. So, this pandemic has really done a lot of good for all of us, because it has manufactured everybody else’s way of reducing their costs, and they are adapting. For example, I invested a lot of money in the construction of my factory building, which is 150,000 square feet, and can you imagine that you do not even need to turn on the light for 12 hours as its built smart, which that is saving me the cost. So, like that, even on every machine, people are putting energy metres in just to see how much consumption is going on at the same time. If the consumption is more than they can take care of that motor, okay, then there must be some fault. So, both ways they are saving energy, as far as they are monitored. As a result, manufacturers are installing such systems everywhere so that they can see all the costs which ones can be passed on to customers. 

Which kind of investments is being done to attain energy efficiency and sustainability in products and equipments? 

The awareness has increased and most of the manufacturers of transformers as these are medium-voltage and high-voltage products that are being purchased by electricity boards. So, actually most of the electricity board power plants are buying their equipment, and all are aware of that now, which is the energy-efficient transformer. So, like CRGO, the right kind of raw material, they’re using CRGO and the losses. They even calculate their costs. So, we suggested for investments in people and processes as a priority, in addition to new equipment and technology under various schemes, because they will deliver efficiency and cost effectiveness in the power system. So, transformer losses are also one of the major criteria. The other thing that can be done cost effectively is the standardisation of production systems. This needs to be implemented in the design specifications and related to the distribution of power. They should really optimise the costs and performance. There should be one design, one quality, one specification and one standard for the entire mission, so, that will really give that effective quality as well as cost reductions there.

What do we understand what the existing challenges are when we talk about implementing these advanced technologies in critical conditions? 

The challenges are specifications. You see, there has to be one mechanism for the entire mission to adopt one specification, and they will provide the specification. They will say, “No, you should not buy this equipment. If you buy this equipment, then there has to be one provision which can be added later.” Like in the lighting aspect, surges are there, but the monitoring system has to be there, otherwise, it is of no use. Because otherwise, if you don’t know when it is going to fail, then you will have to replace it and that is a huge cost. So, in my opinion, for all the products, there has to be one standard specification. And every manufacturer should follow that in which they can build in their provisions. 

How do you see the availability of technology for energy-efficient products in India? Do we have an indigenous moment here? 

You see, the first revival addresses that research and development aspect which there is. For R&D, we should be ready to fail. Failure is the prelude to success. We should not be afraid of failure. So, there they are in these charts. We should be ready to fail 90 times before there will be success. So, regarding energyefficient products in India, there are a lot of activities going on by ESL, TERI, and some of the departments. Even nowadays, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has come up with many educational institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, and the students are coming forward with start-ups to enter this issue. I’m sure that in one year or two years, Indian technology will be far superior to foreign technologies, but at this juncture, we should adopt the technologies that are already in place abroad, because that is the fastest route where we can adopt them and it will save a lot of money for us. So, it is there that we should go for some new technology abroad and adopt it quickly, and then we can deny that.

Digitalisation of electric equipment is key to sustainability. Digitisation can enable switchgear or power transformers, for example, with sensors and communication capabilities. Sensors can continuously send a wealth of status information and operational data to the asset management system through their cloud. So, we need to provide training to people for effective use of this technology, or adopt this technique. Industries need to collaborate and take consultancy, collaborate with other developed countries for R&D, and adopt this new technology. Now, hydrogen is the next era for electricity. We have to make India a green hydrogen hub, and this will also lead to a clean energy transition. The national hydrogen mission and the green hydrogen sector will give us a quantum jump in meeting our climate targets. I would like to suggest that new energy or electrical information and skills should be taught to students from the beginning, and even for colleges, that will really help them when they grow to adopt these systems right from the beginning.