Posted by Heidi Schwartz
Honeywell and Tata Power Delhi Distribution (TPDDL) have announced that they have successfully implemented the first ever automated demand response (ADR) project for commercial and industrial facilities in India. ADR gives the grid operator a new, domestic resource to help alleviate stress on transmission and distribution lines and improve supply efficiency.
With nearly 50% of the country’s peak load tied to commercial and industrial sites, the ability to adjust related energy use is critical. Grid operators like TPDDL can use ADR to help reduce peak load in a facility by 15% on average, creating a “virtual power plant” that generates “negawatts” or reduced demand.
TPDDL is using Honeywell technology and services to link more than 160 buildings in its distribution network; the smart grid strategy will trigger temporary reductions in energy use when demand threatens to outpace supply. Techniques include power management during periods of peak consumption as well as other grid emergency situations.
Given the gap between the power required for homes and businesses in India and what utilities can produce, many cities across the country face severe brownouts and blackouts. The demand for electricity in Delhi, for example, has almost doubled over the past decade.
The project will give TPDDL the ability to reduce approximately 11.5 megawatts of peak demand. However, if the same technology were deployed in all buildings in India, electricity consumption could drop an estimated 10.5 gigawatts, or close to 7% of the peak energy currently required nationwide.
“This is a significant initiative—one that supports our mission to build a resource-efficient, environmentally friendly electrical grid,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO & ED of TPDDL. “We are committed to making this deployment a success; thus we are finding new opportunities to extend ADR to other customers in order to play a role in helping to meet Delhi’s energy needs. We believe our steps in this direction will also encourage other Indian utilities to adopt smart grid technology for efficient operations.”
High-end commercial and industrial consumers in the TPDDL territory with individual connected load of more than 100 kilovolt-amps (kVA) volunteered for the project. As they signed up, Honeywell and TPDDL conducted site audits and worked with the building owners and operators to identify and implement changes to help temporarily trim consumption. Conservation measures include turning off commercial and industrial loads like banks of motors, pumps, fans, and condensers for a short period.
TPDDL is using Honeywell’s Akuacom software as a service (SaaS) and smart meters to communicate with the building systems at the participating sites. These approaches will automatically apply the load-shed measures when the grid is overburdened.
By participating, commercial and industrial customers can cut their energy use and costs without compromising operations. The collective decrease in consumption gives the grid operator more tools to balance supply and demand and help avoid power disruptions. In addition, ADR helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the need to run expensive peaking plants, which typically sit idle until customers require more electricity than the utility is able to provide using its primary, base-load generators.
“TPDDL is steering the country toward a smarter, more dynamic electrical grid where utilities and their customers collaborate to solve broad challenges,” said Anant Maheshwari, president of Honeywell India. “This project will help support the development and expansion of smart grid solutions in India.”
