Focus on innovation
Considering that innovation is the need of the hour to make T&D sector cost effective, IEEMA organised ‘Innovation Day' at Elecrama 2014. The aim was to promote the process of ‘idea into product'. "Innovation is defined as the process of converting an idea into a product or service that creates value for which people are ready to pay. So the real innovation, or an innovation to become a reality in a country like India, it must be aimed at people at the grass root level and it must also embrace the future," Eswaran in his opening remarks at the Innovation Day.
In his address Mustafa Wajid, CEO, Meher Energy Ventures said that any innovation in the power sector will have to keep in mind the need of the future which can be broadly highlighted as energy security, empowerment and engagement. "Innovation should be intelligent, optimised for economic scale and should have universal appeal," Wajid said.
G Testi, the Chief Technology Officer of ABB, in his address pointed out that ABB spends a huge amount of money on all aspects of R&D for the power sector. "One of our major focus areas is tackling society's challenges on path to low-carbon area by helping customers to do more using less." He pointed out that ABB's core R&D activities include control innovation for world class solutions, all aspects of electromagnetic, insulation systems, power electronics, sensors, software, switching etc.
To emphasise the urgent need for innovation in the power sector, D Patil, CTO of Crompton Greaves, pointed out that two billion people will be added in the next two decades in the world, electricity demand will double to 39,000 TWH, transport related energy requirement will be up by at least 60 per cent. On top of this, India has additional challenges like non availability of electric power to 400 million people, the average AT&C loss is above 30 per cent, 63 per cent of electricity comes from non-renewable coal and oil and lastly, power-hungry and mega cities are far outstripping the capacity creation. So innovation in power sector must try to address all these issues, he said.
END
