“All Power Grid substations will be unmanned and remotely managed by 2013”

December 17, 2012 10:47 am

“All Power Grid substations will be unmanned and remotely managed by 2013”RN Nayak, CMD, POWERGRID & Prof. Volker Hinrichsen, Chairman of the Surge Arresters Technical Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva, inaugurating IEEMA conference on SURGEPROTECH while JG Kulkarni, President, IEEMA looks on.
Central transmission utility Power Grid said all its substations will be unmanned and would be managed remotely by next year.
“By 2013 all substations of Power Grid will be unmanned. There will be cameras observing the functioning of the devices and equipment and the stations will be totally virtually managed remotely by the National Transmission Asset Management Centre at Manesar,” informed RN Nayak, CMD, Power Grid while speaking at IEEMA’s Surgeprotech – an international conference on HV surge arresters technology and applications. He added that having 8 persons per substation was a waste of human resources.
Mr. Nayak assured all help to the industry for indigenous manufacture of new products and technology; and advised the industry to manufacture line arresters and MOV devices domestically in the coming years. Mr. Nayak further said, ‘’Line arresters are the future. We are ready to give our full support to the industry, but they should focus on manufacturing line arresters as these are urgently needed in the transmission lines in North Bengal, evacuating power from the North Eastern States.’’
Appreciating the manufactures for developing the 1,200 kV system in India, he said, “India needs more technologies to be indigenously manufactured.”
Surge arrester is one of the most critical equipment for safe and reliable operation of electrical power system. Surge arrester plays an important role in limiting switching and lightning surges on main equipment like transformers, reactors and circuit breakers, etc., by diverting these surges to ground. The Indian Surge Arrester Industry has come of age and has been able to design, test and supply surge arresters up to 1,200 kV operating level. Surge arresters required for the 1,200 kV National Test Station at Bina have been developed indigenously which are in operation since February, 2012. The Indian industry has also developed the polymer housed surge arrester technology up to 1,200 kV to meet the market requirements.
To set the ball rolling JG Kulkarni, President, IEEMA spoke about the importance of the surge arresters in the modern India. He said, “The country requires a robust and healthy domestic electrical equipment industry, encompassing the complete value chain in power generation, transmission and distribution. The electrical equipment industry is not only crucial for the economy but also of strategic importance of the nation.’’ Mr. Kulkarni further added that Indian electrical industry has developed a good global image over the years.  “The Indian electrical equipment industry has developed a diversified, mature and strong manufacturing base, with robust supply chain, and a rugged performance design of products. There is also an emerging global reputation of Indian electrical equipment for sourcing of base products and components and also of Indian transmission and other EPC contractors.”