Going global

By Niranjan Mudholkar,

Added 10 January 2014

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T&D opportunities

Indian transmission and distribution industry should look for opportunities globally to enhance exports from $5 billion to $25 billion in next five years in the fields of power generation, transmission and distribution, a top executive of the World Bank said at the first T&D conclave at Elecrama 2014.

"This growth potential should be seen in the perspective of the huge untapped demand for power. Globally 1.2 billion people still do not get power, and India occupies a prime place as around 200 to 300 million people not getting any power. So, one can understand the need for the resources and efforts to reach out to the deprived lot," said Subramaniam V Iyer, Director, Department of Sustainable Energy, The World Bank.

He said poverty reduction and elimination was central to the World Bank's global strategy and to this goal making power available plays a crucial role and the World bank is lending $ 8 billion globally, including India, to power producing and transmission companies.

According to the International Energy Agency (IRA) the demand for energy is going to grow exponentially but the transmission and distribution losses will also grow in a big way unless the T&D equipment makers improve their efficiency.

Iyer said there was a concern about the climate change and reduction the carbon footprint should be a major focus area for the generation and transmission equipment makers. According to Eswaran frugal engineering and innovation are the two main factors that help tide over business cycles in the global electricity sector and manufacturers should embrace upcoming technologies to usher in an exciting phase of transmission and distribution equipment manufacturing.

"I would urge our friends here to work towards a global model where free exchange of ideas, concepts and technology notes can be seeded to start a revolution in optimised product engineering," he said.

In his address, Ajay Mehta, MD, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd, said that the biggest challenge in the T&D space is incorporation of new technology, especially in the reading and billing for electricity.