IEEMA: Shaping the Indian power sector

The Indian government has created special Ministry of Skill Development, where we are working closely with the Ministry of Power for developing skills for the power sector.

-Sanjeev Sardana, President, IEEMA

IEEMAis the first ISO certified industry association in India with more than 800 member organisations encompassing the complete value chain in power generation, transmission and distribution equipment. IEEMA members have contributed to more than 90 per cent of the power equipment installed in India. It is recognised as the representative organisation of the Indian electrical and electronics industry. Sanjeev Sardana, President, IEEMA briefs about IEEMA’s contribution in developing the power sector and he exclusively shares about India’s interest in boosting Africa’s power sector.

What kind of activities does IEEMA undertakes for its members?
IEEMA, as the voice of the industry, undertakes various activities and a number of cross sectoral initiatives for its members, maintains a dialogue with the government, utilities, other users, standardisation bodies, educational, research, development and testing institutions.
In addition, IEEMA also organises divisional meetings and training programs for its member at regular intervals to keep them updated on the latest technology and best practices in the industry.

IEEMA holds product specific conferences, seminars and large exhibitions like INTELECT, DistribuELEC and ELECRAMA, which is world’s largest event for electrical equipment industry.

How Indian utilities are boosting the power sector?
POWERGRID, the ‘Central Transmission Utility (CTU)’ of the country and a Navratna Company operating under Ministry of Power, is engaged in power transmission business with the responsibility for planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) and operation of national andregional power grids. POWERGRID, owns and operates around 1,28,201 ckm of Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission lines spread over the length and breadth of the country and 206 EHV AC and HVDC sub-stations with transformation capacity of more than 2,49,579 MVA. Its vast transmission network wheels about 46 per cent of the total power generated in the country. The availability of this huge transmission network is consistently maintained over 99 per cent through deployment of state-of-the-art operation and maintenance techniques at par with global standards.

Another Navratna Company, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), which is also India’s largest energy utility, with presence in the entire value chain of the power generation business. NTPC provides growth momentum to the sector creates benchmarks of operational excellence and promotes sustainable energy development. With the total installed capacity of 46,653 MW, the company has set a target to have an installed power generating capacity of 1,28,000 MW by the year 2032.

Brief about India’s contribution in renewable energy?
India has now taken a lead position in promoting renewable energy in the world and is helping to set up an International Solar Alliance (ISA), an alliance of 121 solar resources rich countries located fully or partially between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. This alliance was jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30th November 2015 at Paris, France on the side-lines of the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Indian industry is investing a lot in Africa. How India is helping build Africa’s power sector?
To state the relevance of the service industry, the largest power transmission company of India, Power Grid Corporation of India ltd (POWERGRID) is consultant to Government of Kenya and Ethiopia and has successfully implemented and modernised their transmission network. Another largest Indian Government manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has already installed 20,000 MW power equipment in various African countries which is working satisfactorily and giving consistent power supply.

Since, African continent comprising of 1.75 billion populations with only 9 per cent of the total population having access to electricity, Indian manufacturers and service providers in electrical sector would like to be partners in progress in this sector by bringing quality products and services. Indian exhibitors are also interested in transfer of technology required for making various electrical equipment for Small and Medium Enterprises in Africa. This will help them in reducing import dependence and eradicating poverty by creating job opportunities for engineers and workers. As we understand from various multilateral funding agencies, billions of dollars have to be spent in the next two decades for creating power infrastructure in Africa which is a basic necessity for the growth of the continent. We are committed to energise Africa.

What opportunities do you see out of Africa?
Since we are an organisation comprising more than 800 companies manufacturing 90 per cent of power equipment required for power generation, transmission and distribution having turnover of US$25 billion and exporting US$5 billion worth of equipment, out of which more than 50 per cent is sold in African subcontinent. The Indian government has created special Ministry of Skill Development, where we are working closely with the Ministry of Power for developing skills for the power sector.

With the government’s ambitious plan of investing US $ 250 billion in next 5 years for developing and enhancing the installed capacity in generation, India would need at least 3,00,000 engineers.

We have an installed capacity of 2,90,000 MW and are going to add additional 100 GW in next few years. So opportunities are in abundance and at the same time challenges as well to achieve it in time. African continent is of great importance to us as there are plenty of opportunities to be part of development.

IEEMA also organises Elecrama. How has the event changed over the years?
Elecrama is an ideal platform for World Electricity Forum, where all stakeholders of the global electrical sector come together to shape the contours of the future of global electricity landscape. Today the industry stands at a point where it is leading the race and has achieved global reputation.

Elecrama 2016, in particular, was a paradigm shift where we had top utilities of the world that came and chose relevant topics with regard to what the world is facing in terms of power generation, transmission and distribution.