Energy management important as power sector matures: PTC India CMD

As the Indian power sector matures further with electricity prices increasingly being determined by an interplay of supply and demand, it becomes imperative for organisations to leverage data analytics-based energy management solutions to ensure 24x7 quality power to households.

PTC India CMD (Addl Charge) Rajib K Mishra pointed out that it is crucial to use data analytic and other tools to understand the patterns of demand and supply. With exchanges becoming an intrinsic part of the power sector, particularly for price discovery, the use of energy portfolio management (EPM) becomes even more essential.

“In Indian context, till a few years ago any time of the day one buys electricity, the prices would be uniform. But today, we are in an era of exchanges, where one has to find the current demand and supply corresponding to that demand. Electricity prices would be determined based on an interplay of supply and demand variables,” he told businessline.

For instance, in a commercial establishment, significant power demand may emerge at 9 AM and then eventually start to go down post 5:30 PM. Monitoring these demand patterns through smart devices with advanced analytics capabilities will help track trends with variations in demand patterns such as on weekdays or weekends. The requirement of demand in various time slots and how one meets it can be mapped to optimise power procurement. 

Energy portfolio management

Mishra emphasised that the importance of participating in a dynamic power market will become an essential necessity for any market participant.

“Trading itself is morphing into a form in which technology is no longer used just for delivery, but it becomes the business. Earlier we used to buy from X and sell it to Y identifying bilateral injection and procurement clients. Now, trading formats will also change in which market platforms, whether over the counter or exchange with a multitude of buyers and sellers assume prominence,” he added.

Mishra stressed that today customers do not just expect vanilla solutions for buying and selling, but they are also looking for the best solution to optimise their procurement and sales.

“EPM solutions are an essential element of our value-added services. It is our belief that market and trading will transform to a technology-driven business where customers will be commercially focused on optimising their costs and revenues and would like to base their decisions on technology rather than instincts,” he said.

Experience with Discoms

When PTC India undertook the EPM for Bihar, they were considering themselves as a buying utility and therefore the compulsion to purchase power in each time block. PTC analysed their historical data and gave recommendations contrary to their assessment and showed them that they do not require to procure power for all the 96-time blocks (15 minutes each) in a day, Mishra explained.

“Today, Bihar is a net exporter of power. How did they do it? In normal circumstances, they would buy power only when they need it and keep paying the fixed cost. We advised them that since they were already paying the fixed cost, and if variable cost was less than market rates, that power could be sold in the market netting surplus revenues This was the low hanging fruit,” he added.

In Madhya Pradesh, PTC India is deploying an even more sophisticated tool (next generation) and aims to deploy it in a few other States as well with their power utilities.

“For this, we are collaborating with an international software services provider to deliver the solution,” Mishra noted.

COMMENT NOW