The impact of the three D’s essential for sustainable transformation of our energy systems has been talked about since some time. These three D’s are Decarbonization, Decentralization and Digitalization. Let us look how India is faring on these trends.

Decarbonization

This trend refers to the following :-

a) Shift our sources of energy from fossil fuels to renewable resources like wind and solar.

This is accelerated by the ambitious plans of the Government of India to increase our installed capacity of renewable generation to 450GW by 2030. Indian developers have built the renewable generation infrastructure at a rapid rate in last few years and now the Indian grid receives approximately 10% of the total electricity from renewable resources (which have crossed 100 GW installed capacity). This scorching pace is likely to continue in the coming years and the percentage will go up significantly. But this higher share of renewable electricity requires several changes in the power sector. Some of them being: –

· Better forecasting tools: With fossil fuel generation or large hydro generation the availability of the source of energy, i.e. fuel or water is known in advance, making it easier to make accurate predictions on availability of the generated electricity. For example, the coal-fired thermal power plants know in advance how many days will the available stock of coal last and this helps them to predict the despatch of electricity from the plant to the grid, and also plan replenishment of coal. The prediction of renewables especially Wind is a bigger challenge. If the meteorological department predicts ‘generally cloudy’ – it becomes a challenge to predict the dip in generation both in quantum and at the time for the solar power plants. AI/ML based tools help to improve the prediction of the available energy. These tools are connected to Operator control stations like Renewable Energy Management Centers which manage the renewable generation in the Grid.

· Increasing use of energy storage equipment: By its nature the renewable is highly variable over time and despite the best of forecasting tools there will be a gap between the planned and generated electricity. To ensure that electricity supply is maintained without any break at the consumer end, energy storage is required to manage the arbitrage of available renewable energy. Further to create high capacity transmission lines connecting the Renewable parks to the Load centers will be uneconomical if they are used to transport only for 8 -10 hours. If large scale storage is installed at the generation source these can provide the power when there is no generation especially to meet the evening peaks and also improve the utilisation factor for the transmission lines. There are various storage options like Electro-chemical (Li-ion) which is more prevalent than other like mechanical (e.g. gravity, flywheel, etc). Green Hydrogen is a very interesting proposition as it brings the advantages of converting off-peak electrical energy into hydrogen molecules which may be transported/ used later.

· Increasing flexibility of the conventional fossil fuel powered generating units: The large coal-based power generators were designed to be most efficient at the highest technical possible generation levels. The large generators function 24×7 for months together delivering close to constant load and need time to ramp up or down their generation without damaging the equipment. This will change as the generators not only need to ramp up and down more frequently but also the variation will be more than before, to allow higher renewable electricity in the grid. They will rarely operate at the high Plant Load Factors their design was optimized for. The manufacturers have taken up this challenge and are making the units ready for the new conditions of ‘flexible generation’.

· More compensation equipment for transmission lines: As India has large grid connected renewable generation connected to the transmission grid and these interconnecting lines are under loaded at times. This leads to situations of dangerous high voltages which can damage the assets. Thus, compensation equipment like SVC and STATCOMs provide the solution and enable stable operation of the grid.

b) Shift large consumption sectors from fossil fuel powered to electric powered

· Transport – Transport of people and goods constitutes a significant share of the total global energy consumption ( as per US EIA it was 26% for US in 2020).

India’s rail network is one of the largest in the world carrying over 23 million passengers per day and over 1 Billion Tonnes of Freight per year. Indian Railways has been electrifying their traction at a rapid pace and plans to cover 100% of the broad-gauge network by 2023.

For road transport, nearly all the manufacturers have announced plans to offer electric powered vehicles. Government has introduced incentives to manufacturers and to the buyers to expedite this transition. Modern vehicles have successfully overcome the initial inhibitions of range anxiety and speed. EV chargers are also being installed by the various players. Online shopping companies have popularized delivery through electric two and three wheelers and battery powered buses are also now becoming visible.

Battery powered water transport ferries have also been introduced in some places like Kerala.

Fuel Cells powered by Hydrogen is another exciting possibility and has been in news recently with many announcements. Hydrogen can be Grey, Blue or eventually Green depending on the process of its production being fossil based, natural gas based or electrolyzed using renewable sources. The concept of Green Hydrogen is particularly appealing, and the coming years should see lot of investments in this field.

· Cooking on electric stoves: While electric powered ovens, hot plates, kettles have been around for a long time, new devices like induction stoves & air fryers are gaining popularity especially where LPG gas is not readily available. Electric stoves come with the advantages of obviating the need to refill the cylinders (and their associated transport costs) and at the same time healthier due to no emissions as compared to firewood and coal stoves.

Decentralization

Fossil fuel generation plants are located either near the source (coal mines or ports) or the load centers. Renewables must be at the source, which may not be collocated with the Load centers. Fossil fuel generation plants had to follow ‘larger the better’ principle to minimize the cost per unit of electricity. Renewable sources are geographically more dispersed and generally smaller in comparison. Use of adequately sized renewable generators which match the local loads can also be economical if one considers the cost and losses associated with the transmission & distribution lines connecting to the grid, especially for extremely remote locations. Grid connection will still be needed for – a) supplying surplus renewable to the grid, b) drawing from the grid during non-availability of renewables/storage.

In India, the renewable capacity has been predominantly added as Large Grid connected systems and not much is in the decentralized (e.g. solar roof top) mode. However, the Government of India plans to significantly increase the roof top solar generation and this will be connected to the grid either on Low Voltage or at 11kV. Incidentally this is part of the grid which has a large number of outages (due to various reasons) and till now the least visibility. Accordingly, strengthening of the network and increased visibility & control of power flows will be built up. Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) will be essential to get the visibility of the Distribution network and manage the power flows. Smart Meters coupled with tools like Meter Data Management Systems will also play a significant role in helping the decentralization of the resources.

Not only is the decentralization of the generation happening but also of the availability of the source of fuel for transport. Vehicles need to visit the diesel/petrol/CNG pump to refill, while the EV can be charged at home, office or for that matter any location where there is an electricity outlet.

Newer business models will come up with the Decentralization. Players such as small renewable energy generators and prosumers (producers and generators) as well as aggregators of generation will offer their services to meet the grid requirements to ensure balance and stability. This can be further developed to aggregate the switchable loads to meet the requirements of short-term load reduction for peak shaving/ system stability requirements. Financial players will help to arrange these transactions, and this can be part of trading in the energy markets. Of course, to see this happen will require changes not only at the generators, supply companies and grid managers end but also in the current regulatory framework.

Digitalization

There has been a flood of connected devices in our lives and as per a study on Statista the number of connected devices is likely to jump from 22 billion in 2018 to 50 billion by 2030. This acceleration has been primed by mass production of the electronic hardware and the rapid expansion of internet availability both as wifi and data services on mobile which has made it possible to build a connected ecosystem at attractive price levels. While many of the intelligent devices in the power sector are connected through private networks newer devices are economically connected over public networks.

At the Generation level with the number of generators increasing by the order of thousands due to smaller size of the renewable generators as compared to the fossil powered ones, it would be impossible to monitor and control this injection of power flow into the grid without high degree of digitalization. Siemens has Digital tools such as Virtual Power Plants that help plan the smooth integration of the renewables with the grid. Siemens also have advanced solutions for SCADA for the Renewable stations. It can be said that Digitalization has facilitated the large-scale influx of renewables.

The Transmission Grid in India is highly complex, and it has been possible to manage this with the large network of Control Centers at States (SLDC), Regions (RLDC) and National(NLDC) level. REMCs or Renewable Energy Management Centers are one of the unique systems in the Indian Grid to manage the flow of renewable energy in our grid. Siemens has unmatchable experience in this space with the first systems supplied in the 1980s for Maharashtra, Eastern and Northern Region. Currently, the Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre (which is incidentally one of the largest in the world) and the SLDCS in the states under its control, REMC for Western Region and SLDC for a very large state in Western India are implemented by Siemens. Digital Sub-station with Process Bus has been a new development in the Sub-station automation area with the accompanying benefits in optimized costs for the civil works and reduction in copper cables. Siemens has also supplied Phasor Measure Units which help in maintaining the stability in the Grid for several EHV sub-stations.

The management of the Distribution system has numerous challenges whether it is the larger number of faults, time to locate and rectify them or the consumer engagement through billing and customer care systems etc. It is said that outages are happening more often due to climate related issues like cyclones and flooding. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding with increase in their consumption and standard of living and less tolerant to long outages as it effects every aspect of their life whether it is business, education, medical care or even entertainment. Together these factors make the task of the Utility Engineers more challenging. This situation will be compounded with the entry in the network of loads that are mobile (Electric vehicles) and the decentralized generation in the distribution network. Thankfully Operating Technology solutions such as ADMS (Advanced Distribution Management Systems), Self-Healing networks with fault sensing and indication equipment help in improving the reliability and reduce the outage times by quicker detection of the faulty segment of the feeder. Data collected from the Smart Meters is used through the Meter Data Management system and other tools bring transparency at the consumption side that help improve engagement with the customer. Newer insights can be obtained of the state of the Low Voltage network when the MDMS and ADMS exchange data in real time, making the work of the utility engineers easier. All these tools when properly implemented can help the Utility meet its goal of satisfied consumers. Siemens has implemented these advanced systems in many cities in India.

In short Digitalization is the ‘secret sauce’ that helps to manage the trends of Decarbonization and Decentralization in our energy networks.

Finally, I would add the fourth D – lets Do-it-Now; the process of adding more digital tools must be taken up enthusiastically by the Energy community of Utility management and staff, the technology providers and of course needs to be supported by the Regulators and Policy Makers.