Indian experience in implementation of SCADA/EMS systems

There is a tremendous growth in Indian power system since independence in 1947. An indicator of the growth is the Installed generating capacity which has increased from 1362 MW in December´1947 to - 1,15,000 MW by end of 2004. Indian power system has a hierarchical system. It consists of distribution Utilities i.e. State Electricity Boards (SEB)/Private companies, Central transmission utilities, Central Generation utility and Independent Power Producers; all combined together form the Regional Power System. Seeing the vast geographical stretch of India, there are five such regions. They are namely Northern Region, Southern Region, Eastern, Western Region and North Eastern Region. These Regional Grids have problems primarily due to insufficient installed generating and transmission capacity and is further aggravated because of inadequate reactive power compensation resulting in prolonged low/high voltage operations. High complexity of power system under resource deficit condition makes the interconnected Grid Operation a great challenge. POWERGRID, in the capacity of Central Transmission Utility (CTU) is entrusted the responsibility of Regional Grid Operation and has taken up this challenging task of maintaining the quality of bulk supply in the Region with inadequate margins in generation and transmission. POWERGRID has implemented the concept of Unified Load Despatch and Communication (ULDC) Schemes for reliable and integrated operation of regional grids. This scheme has already been implemented in Northern, Southern and North-Eastern Regional grids while it is under implementation in other Regions.