Curbing challenges in transformer industry

Distribution transformer is one of the most critical equipment deployed in the power distribution network, used to step down voltage to its application value. The growth drivers for distribution transformer market have been the growing urbanisation, industrialisation and consumerism, the boost in the renewable and infrastructure projects and the upgradation and augmentation of existing distribution network, facilitated by the government schemes.

India has been witnessing an ever-increasing demand in power. To meet its target for reduced aggregate technical and commercial loses as well as provide hassle-free energy, there is a need for sustainable and smart power distribution infrastructure. Energy-efficient transformers become an integral part of such a system. With BIS mandatory certification for distribution transformers, there has been a much-needed design standardisation of the product across India. This standard has resulted in lowering the overall losses (both the load and no-load losses) of the transformer which could be made possible by selection of superior quality raw material.

There are basically three major challenges faced in the distribution transformer trade. First being the Covidinduced lockdowns. There is an overall observed contracted demand in the market due to projects being delayed or cancelled, especially in the retail sector, leading to an underutilisation of plant capacities and further delaying return on investments in the business. As the lockdowns got relaxed, the markets are slowly rebounding and with an expected rise in the consumerism to pre-Covid levels, the transformer industry shall also be recovering. 

Secondly, there has been observed deviation from manufactures to adhere to the BIS standards in lieu of the following reason, the L1 tendering culture to procure the material is somewhat giving weightage to price factor much above the product quality. As a result, certain manufacturers who either want to establish new markets or the others aiming to choke the competition order supply tend to adopt malpractices and compromise on the quality standards. The L1 tendering culture should be replaced by culture wherein the performance of a manufacturer, measured in terms of product supplied- its warranty and service life- should be given importance. The increase in the commodity prices is also denting the industry since many projects booked at firm prices are to be executed at a loss but such trends are generally short lived and the market correction will follow.

Thirdly, in the transformer industry there is a lack of uniformity as far as guidelines for installation and maintenance of transformers are concerned. For instances such as overloading of transformers, theft of transformer oil during transport or from the site leading to transformer failure, inadequate installed transformer protection equipment, inadequate transformer earthing, power theft leading to overloading of transformers. All these result in the transformer failure of which cost many a times have to be borne by the manufacturer within warranty periods. 

All in all, I think many problems addressed could be solved by the technological upgradation of the transformer products. This could be brought about by the digitisation of the distribution networks. Technological breakthroughs such as the solid-state transformers or the real time data monitoring of transformers installed for parameters such as running losses of the transformer, oil leakage indication alert and temperature rise indication alert of many can curb the challenges within the highly competitive transformer industry and bring about the much-needed revolution to the power distribution network in India.

Expertise shared by: Ravijyot Singh, Business Head, GTB Transformers