25 percent Smart Meters in India run on our Communication network

Anil Daulani, President – Global Sales, CYANCONNODE. In an interview with EPR Magazine

At DistribuElec Expo, CyanConnode exhibited Omnimesh RF mesh technology with five different smart meters working in real-time on a single network. CyanConnode India is looking forward to interacting with more DISCOMs for the installation of smart meters and to make them understand the benefit of this device backed by strong communication. Smart Meters, amongst many other things, will also help DISCOMs reduce their losses. We have made massive investments in the last decade for this business, says Anil Daulani, President – Global Sales, CyanConnode.

DISCOMs are adopting smart meters

CyanConnode has been operating in India for over a decade now. We analysed the Indian ecosystem, we learned from our projects, we developed India-friendly technology and localised our manufacturing. We soon had the opportunity to work on some remarkable projects that benefited the utilities for which the smart metering was intended.

CyanConnode provides the RF mesh network that acquires data from a smart meter to a headend system and the MDM system, which is then processed for billing. We take great responsibility for high consistent Service Level Agreements (SLAs) of >99 per cent, which is now a base requirement for Smart Prepaid metering which the Government has been pushing for. Our smart metering project in Indore became a model that was later adopted by many other DISCOMs across the country. The project was a triumph for Indore DISCOM. They achieved a return on investment in only two and a half years.

Deployment of smart meters in difficult terrain areas

Apart from those in the cities, we have been installing smart meters in hilly terrains like Himachal Pradesh. We have achieved a range of 4.2Kms through regular RF nodes in Shimla, reemphasizing that Omnimesh architecture is the best solution for Smart Metering in India with the best possible coverage of dense, hilly, agricultural & semi-urban areas. We have deployed more than one lakh smart meters in collaboration with Schneider Electric in Himachal Pradesh. Overall, we have deployed over 10 lakh smart meters across nine states in the country.

DISCOMs are learning from each other.

Indian Utilities have realised the need for automated and smart metering systems. Today, DISCOMs are learning from each other. Moreover, the DISCOMs can remain connected with each meter in real-time through operations and monitoring.

India’s to be self-reliant on technology and devices for T&D

Becoming self-reliant is a key for sizeable nationwide project rollouts; otherwise, we will remain dependent on other countries. It impacts the freight timeline and production due to shipment delays. Although we have built manufacturing capacities in India, we still depend on imports for components like Silicon and semiconductors from other countries. But with the Government’s policies and the industries increasing manufacturing capacities, I believe we will have availability of these components in India.

We can produce modules in millions

CyanConnode is one of the market leaders, and our manufacturing capacity will always keep us on our toes and ensure supply at bulk numbers as per the demand. We can also assist a large manufacturer who is interested in our hardware. I believe digitalisation and technology have already proved their excellence, and we need to increase the deployment of smart meters.

We work with the contract equipment manufacturers, where they invest as far as manufacturing is concerned. And then we give our test equipment, quality controls, security process, everything on the manufacturing processes are defined by us.

How is the current geopolitical situation impacting the supply chain and availability of smart meters?

Many companies are facing supply chain challenges due to the geopolitical situation globally. We feel that by the end of 2022 this year, we should be in a much better position. We keep close track of our robust supply chain management within our company. With the help of this data, we have worked with all the component manufacturers for over a decade. Furthermore, we can do an advanced forecast based on various parameters to avoid any possible supply chain breakdown.

CyanConnode has developed a highly innovative and futuristic smart metering solution “Omnimesh” narrowband RF mesh technology. The sheer value addition Omnimesh brings to the smart metering market is simply astounding. It empowers the utilities on multiple fronts to achieve aspects that were previously considered unfeasible and impractical. With this solution, utilities are now able to significantly enhance customer experience and billing, while having a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions through a reduction of physical visits for manual reads and an increase in consumers adopting energy-efficient lifestyles. CyanConnode will continue to work towards building an efficient ecosystem for Smart Metering in India while aligning with the ‘Make in India’ initiative.