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As businesses grow, trust among participating stakeholders assumes prime importance. The transparency and efficiency in the transactions that occur in these businesses are equally valuable as the profits. Digitization of the economy helps ease-out the conduct of business; however, the increase in vulnerability to cyber-attacks is also on the rise. Blockchain technology revolutionizes the way digital transactions can occur and holds much promise in securing the flow of information that primarily drives them. Such a distributed ledger framework allows the traceability of a transaction through its immutable chain of blocks. Each block registers a time-stamped information set, verified by all the stakeholders involved in the business. These sets of features and much more make the blockchain technology an immensely powerful force to bring in transparency, efficiency, and trust in various industries. The paper’s primary focus is given the features that empower a blockchain to facilitate various tasks securely, efficiently, and smoothly in a power sector. It also gives impressions of pilot projects in India with blockchain applications in different sectors. Glimpses of a prototype developed by the authors for managing the trading of rooftop solar energy among a set of consumers have been provided as one of the applications in power distribution.

In this paper, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) based solution has been proposed to reduce the fluctuations in the output power of large solar Photovoltaic (PV) parks. This will contribute to reduction in the frequency deviations of large power systems and moderating pressure on conventional power plants with the increasing penetration of solar power. Solar PV smoothening is one such application of BESS to moderate inherent intermittencies of solar PV power plants. Different methods adopted for smoothening of solar PV output could lead to arrival of different sizes of the batteries. Thus, assessment of various methods to smoothen PV output power and scope of smoothening becomes significant. A technique has been proposed and has been evaluated against different existing methods for comparing the performance. The results from the proposed technique have been found to be encouraging in terms of determining the battery life and size.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are becoming an integral part of the transportation fleet in many countries. They have substantially progressed to become a mainstream component of the smart electricity grid and are catalyzing changes in policies and regulations relating to power distribution systems. EVs represent distributed storage units whose load depends on the driving patterns and the battery charging characteristics. Random and uncontrolled EV charging has implications on both the network loading and the charging cost since time-based pricing is in effect for many utility companies. A well-managed charging system is thus important and must consider asset loading as well as time-varying tariff. This paper presents a regulated charging scheme that takes into account the charging cost which is reflective of both the transformer loading and the utility-level Time of Day (ToD) tariff. The task of finding a charging schedule that gives the least overall charging cost for the day has been formulated as an optimization problem for an actual distribution utility in India. The driving pattern was estimated based on a survey of EV owners plying in the utility license area. The results demonstrate how such a controlled charging scheme can save on the customers’ money and help the utility manage its load curve by ensuring that the distribution transformers serving the EVs are not overloaded.

Widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) for light, medium, and heavy-duty applications has gained significant interest. Based on ownership and user preferences, light duty and local delivery medium-duty EVs are typically connected to grid distribution networks whereas larger medium duty and heavy-duty EVs are typically connected to distribution or even sub-transmission networks. Challenges with at-scale EVs and charging infrastructure supporting them include interoperability, distribution network upgrades, surge in demand charges, power quality issues, voltage stability, etc. Based on real-world data, steady-state and dynamic assessments of light-duty EV charging with a focus on DC Fast Charging (DCFC) for weak distribution grids is presented. Three main areas of contributions in this paper include - steady state and dynamic power quality measurements and assessments using real world data, transient assessments of light duty EV integration with weak distribution networks (IEEE 13 node feeder system) under grid-connected and microgrid modes, and formulation of an intelligent charging decision algorithm to enable an impact-minimal charging.

The number of Electric vehicles (EVs) in the transportation fleet of many countries is increasing rapidly to tackle rising air pollution levels. In terms of running costs and ability to support the utility power grid, electric mobility clearly standsout amongst the non-fossil fuel based transportation alternatives. Electric vehicles are distributed energy storage units that can act as energy sources to the local distribution network. Therefore, EVs can work in two modes that support bidirectional power flow: charging or discharging known as Grid to Vehicle (G2V) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) modes respectively. In the V2G mode, EVs can help the grid by providing reactive power support and also mainly by discharging during peak load times to improve efficiency & reliability, provide V/f regulation, manage renewable energy intermittency and provide load balancing with Demand Side Management (DSM) as a set of possible ancillary services. The challenges associated with V2G system include life cycles lost and battery degradation, changes required in the grid infrastructure/equipment, energy losses and the huge investment cost involved. This paper gives an account of the advantages and disadvantages of V2G system for EV owners and grid operators.

Distribution transformers are one of the critical components of a distribution network involving huge capital investments and requiring special care to be ensured during their operation. Overloading of distribution transformers must be avoided beyond a certain threshold after which the capital-intensive process of their augmentation or replacement becomes inevitable. The cumulative peak demands of many distribution transformers contribute to the feeder peak and conditions of overloading lead to costly peak power purchases. Increasing penetration levels of distributed solar photovoltaic power on distribution transformers is also adding to the stress in the form of sudden variations in the net-load. Installation of battery energy storage systems at the secondary side of distribution transformers can provide a lot of techno-economic benefits in mitigating these conditions. This paper presents a two-stage approach for sizing such a system for one of the selected distribution transformers on an actual distribution feeder operational in Delhi, India. The intended application is overload management and peak shaving. The results of the preliminary sizing stage are rigorously tested against different sensitivity scenarios in terms of the number of continuous overloading instances in a year. In the advanced stage, the charge rate and the total amount of unmet energy are used as a feedback to fine tune the size so as to optimally meet the application.

Rooftop solar photovoltaic installations have grown rapidly across India. Their integration with the local distribution networks may throw some operational challenges with increasing penetration levels. Voltage rise or unbalance and reverse power flows are some of the anticipated concerns. The current grid-connectivity regulations in India only encourage unity power factor operation of solar photovoltaic inverters although reactive power support features are available in commercial models. However, with increasing solar power into the distribution network, smart inverter functionality will assume importance. This paper analyzes the effect of Volt-VAr control mode of solar photovoltaic inverters in providing localized voltage control and reducing reverse power flow. An actual feeder of a distribution utility in Kolkata, West Bengal, India has been extensively modeled and distribution load flow studies have been performed. The preliminary results of this modeling exercise have shown encouraging results in simulation, in support of smart inverter functionality. The need for modeling distribution networks in greater detail beyond the distribution transformer secondary has also been established in order to have a realistic assessment of the impacts of integration of rooftop solar systems.

The idea behind ‘Smart Grid Vision for India’ is to transform the Indian power sector into a secure, adaptive, sustainable, and digitally enabled ecosystem that provides reliable and quality energy for all with active participation of stakeholders. Realizing the growing importance of Smart Grid technologies in the Indian power sector, very recently Ministry of Power, Government of India on the recommendation of India Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF) has shortlisted fourteen (14 Nos.) Smart Grid pilot projects that are planned to be executed in power distribution sector in India. As per the ‘Smart Grid Roadmap for India’, these pilot projects are expected to help technology section guides, develop business cases, policy and regulatory recommendations for larger projects in the next phase, while showcasing the relevance of Smart Grid on different aspects such as, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Outage Management System (OMS), Peak Load Management System (PLMS), Renewable Energy (RE) Integration etc. The average estimated cost of each pilot project would be US$ 10 million (approx.) out of which 50% is grant will be provided by Government of India through (budgeted INR 2 Lakh Crores for Smart Grid projects across India under 13th Five-Year Plan) Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (R-APDRP) and rest to be borne either fully by the utility or, shared between the utility and the technology providers, and targeted to be completed by the end of 2014. The main objective of this technical paper is to underline the present scenario of those selected Smart Grid pilots in India, including proposed state-of-the-art Technology Integration, Consumer Coverage (Base), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This study will also capture the Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Smart Grid Maturity Model (SGMM), developed by the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition (GIUNC) as a management tool, towards the Smart Grid transformation to assess the performance (including, current status) of those utilities responsible for pilot demonstrations and provide necessary recommendations to use this framework for establishing future strategies and work plans as pertain to Smart Grid implementations in the country. The purpose of this research will further emphasize on the progress of applicable Smart Grid interoperability and standards relevant to the Indian context, development of indigenous low-cost smart solutions, gap analysis and appropriate changes conducive to the deployment of Smart Grid pilot projects, and discussion on National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) in India.

With the depleting energy resources, enhancing energy-security and energy-access, particularly in emerging economies is one of the major challenges that one has to deal with. In addition to managing the existing energy resources, generating power effectively and intelligently is an equally important agenda at the national level in India. Supplementing the establishment of large power plants from conventional energy sources, there is also a need to focus on distributed small scale generation of power particularly from renewable energy sources. Although Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) need additional infrastructure and investment to connect them to the grid, these technologies obviate the need for an expensive transmission system and reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. A better way to realize the emerging potential of distributed generation is to take a system approach which views generation and associated loads as a subsystem or a `Micro-grid' [1]. During disturbances, the generation and corresponding loads can separate from the distribution system to isolate the Micro-grid's load from the disturbance without harming the transmission grid's integrity. To deal with these crucial issues of power and energy, the more appropriate solution is the Smart Mini Grid system which can optimally and intelligently manage the load and distributed generation resources so that maximum utilization of the renewable energy resources with a lower installed renewable energy capacity and smaller batteries can be ensured by coordinating the energy demands with the electricity production, fossil fuel generation can be minimized through the more efficient control of energy loads and power quality can be improved The paper presents the relevance of Smart Mini Grid as well as its existing challenges. It has also briefly pointed out the major initiatives taken by various institutions/industry in the smart mini/micro-grid sectors in India. The main purpose of this paper is to present the design of TERI's own Smart Mini Grid system which integrated various distributed energy sources such as Solar PV, small wind electric generator Biomass gassifier system, Diesel-Set (DG) and showcase how such implementation can be used in other similar applications for improving the efficiency, reliability and flexibility of the overall system.

Smart Electric Grid is an important as well as intelligent element towards the development of an energy independent and environmentally sustainable society. Although there is no universal definition for Smart Grid, it has various functionalities towards modernization of the electrical grid by using digital systems and addressing disturbances via automated prevention and various other novel ideas. But a smarter grid needs a real-time analysis of the network. Therefore to provide accurate scientific decisions, the idea of integrating enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) with Smart Electric Grid presented in this paper so as to make the grid apt in advanced decision making. It also helps in modelling the workflow of a network by understanding the relationship between network and surroundings and by controlling all parts of the grid. With the increasing demand of electricity in almost every sector, power sector utilities of India need to perform more effectively and in efficient manner. For this purpose, a Smart Electric Grid along with enterprise GIS is one of the evolutionary idea which can facilitate a cleaner environment, efficient load management and fully automated systems. GIS enabled system also helps to establish a link between the surroundings, the consumers and the grid and thus making it proficient in automation and efficient energy consumption and customer awareness by maintaining a relational database including all the required spatial information. The main objective of this study is to showcase the integration of enterprise GIS with Smart Electric Grid to provide an end-to-end solution for the utilities to improve the efficiency of the electrical system, enable intelligent demand side management and enhance energy security through sustainable business model.