Green cables reinforce sustainable power distribution

Abhilash Kamani, Executive Director of Gupta Power Infrastructure Limited in an interview with EPR Magazine,

discussed the importance of green cables and sustainable technologies. Highlights the emergence of LSOH wires and new-age storage technologies in the electrical and power sector.

What are the significant changes happening in the wires and cable business?

 With market share and profits under pressure, several cable manufacturers add complexity to the supply chain by expanding their customer base or product portfolio to deliver growth or acceptable capacity utilisation levels. Robust IT solutions are now available to support these growth strategies and provide companies with the necessary control and scalability. Cable manufacturers can rebuild their power in the value chain by reaching out to the end customers of their products and, through an intimate understanding of end customer needs, developing products and services that create real value. This gives them a competitive advantage and a better negotiating position in the value chain. However, innovative and agile IT solutions are required to support and respond to ever changing customer demands and bring these demands deep into the company’s supply chain. As a conversion industry, the cable industry employs a lot of capital to generate reasonable margins. Moreover, this capital is primarily captured in commodities with highly volatile prices, like copper. Cable manufacturers must use IT to manage the risks of price changes; the right IT solutions for cable manufacturers give insight into the risks and provide tools to manage these risks.

 How does a green or sustainable cable contribute to smart power distribution? 

Green wires can reduce their impact on the environment. By 2032, residential structures will consume electricity at a rate five times greater than commercial buildings, according to the current growth rates in residential and commercial electricity consumption. To further advance sustainability and efficiency, the nation must aggressively pursue plans and invest in building green and intelligent structures. Throughout their lifetimes, energy consumption can be reduced by 20–40 per cent in smart and environmentally friendly buildings. Smart buildings using green cables can reduce energy consumption by 20–40 per cent compared to current levels, which is substantial as energy costs are equivalent to 48 AUGUST 2022 Electrical & Power Review POWER TALK 30 per cent of a building’s operating cost. Moreover, according to some researchers, these upgrades pay back via efficiency gains and cost savings in energy costs over five to seven years of deployment. The payback period depends on the extent of the upgrade, level of consumption, cost of the upgrade, method of financing, provision of subsidies, etc. 

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What are the challenges to increasing the adoption of sustainable and smart quality power cables and wires?

 The traditional electrical power grid is unidirectional, where the electricity flows from power generation facilities to end users. This system has served well for the last hundred years. It has recently been subjected to government deregulation and has suffered from several technical, economic, and environmental issues. Modern society demands this system to be more reliable, scalable, and manageable while being cost-effective, secure, and interoperable. So, smart governmental policy is a big factor in the adoption of smart cables in our infrastructure. In addition, the infusion of IT and the latest technology like AR and automation will be essential to large-scale production and application of sustainable cables and wires in a country like India. Which sustainable and smart features are being added to the power cables? LSOH wires are taking over the global market and are becoming a new phenomenon in the cable market. In our country, however, there is resistance to adopting the LSOH wires, mainly due to the costs involved and an acute lack of public awareness. Adoption of new-age storage technologies at optimal costs will further boost renewable usage for smart cities because renewable energy continues to be an intermittent energy source and needs augmentation through thermal or fossil fuel-based generation sources. Other technologies such as digital substations, smart meters, and anti-theft cables will ensure seamless power distribution with minimal AT& C losses to further support smart city infrastructure. The HTLS conductors are a breakthrough innovation in the transmission of electricity. Through smart grid implementation, monitoring, control, and realtime measurement of generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy have become possible, and hence the reliability of electric supply has improved. Gupta Power’s cutting-edge optical fibre is not only advancing smart fibre-optic internet connections but doing a lot more. Fibre-optic cable is ideal for accommodating today’s smart city applications and future technologies. The existence of fibre optic cables opened the opportunity to have ultra-broadband and low-latency communication in cities as opposed to traditional copper cable networks, which had their limitations. We are trying to integrate all of the above features to make power distribution sustainable in the long run.

 How do you foresee the innovations in power cables for smart electricity? 

For me, the objective of a smart city is to use digital communication and technology to optimise the usage of resources such as energy, water, roads and infrastructure and improve governance, transportation, health care, and waste management. From an energy perspective, a smart city will be able to optimise the electricity consumption of the city by being able to record real-time data about different residential, commercial, and industrial spaces. A smart city is equipped with smart grids that facilitate this collection and transfer of electricity-related data throughout the city, free from all hassles and wouldn’t even require manual labour. Gupta Power aims to empower smart city residents to have excellent control over their electricity consumption essentially and ultimately be able to optimise their expenses. Electrical safety is of the utmost priority, along with product quality. These innovations are crucial to the overall growth of the sustainable power sector, and I see them happening in the coming years. “After all, sustainable smart electrical solutions power a smart city.”