ERDA to showcase its readiness for future

Exhibiting in ELECRAMA actually broadens our vision and makes us “FUTURE READY”.
H. K. Mishra, Acting Director, ERDA (Electrical Research & Development Association)

With a vision of being an internationally renowned laboratory and centre of excellence in R&D, where does ERDA stands today?
ERDA is testing electrical equipment for manufacturers from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Singapore etc. from the year 2006 through Intertek (ASTA). ERDA is one of the few INTERTEK (ASTA), UK, approved laboratories in the world and provides testing services for low voltage switchgear panels, bus trunking, energy meter, EMI-EMC etc.

ERDA is also directly approved by ADWEA (Abu Dhabi) and TNB, Malaysia. We also undertake H.V. impulse testing equipment calibration, other electrical calibration work and mechanical diagnostics & NDT works in Middle East countries.

Apart from that, manufacturers, customers and utility authorities from USA, UK, China, Taiwan, Japan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Indonesia, etc. have availed ERDA’s testing services from India.

ERDA is constantly thriving to spread its reach to other countries in the globe. What are the services offered at ERDA for the power sector?
ERDA offers end-to-end solutions for power sector. Starting from mechanical diagnostics, NDT and RLA for boilers, turbines and other pressure vessels, we undertake electrical diagnostics of generator, transformer, cables and switchyard equipment. We are having complete test facilities for busduct, cables and wires, conductors, insulators and other T&D hardware, L.V. and M.V. panels, distribution transformers, instrument transformers, energy meters (including smart meters), motors, capacitors, lamps and luminaries, electrical appliances, solar panels, solar pump and solar lighting system, solid and liquid insulating materials, CRGO steel for transformer core etc. ERDA is having BIS approval for more than 135 nos. electrical products, the highest in the country.

We also undertake onsite testing of power transformers (up to 100 MVA under NABL scope), energy audit, power system study, power quality measurement, third party inspection and project management agency services for DDUGJY and IPDS projects.

How beneficial has been your services across different verticals to the industry?
ERDA provides developmental testing services and R&D services to electrical equipment manufacturers at a very reasonable cost. Many manufacturers specially MSME sector, have been able to develop their product or improve the quality or design of their product through the above services provided by ERDA.

Electrical utilities have been able to improve the quality of the products purchased by them and provide reliable service to their customers through acceptance testing and audit testing of the product sample purchased by them. Gujarat and M.P. utilities have been able to reduce the failure rate of their products drastically thus improving the quality of 24×7 power supply by them.

Power generating industries have been able to know the health of their equipment through mechanical and electrical diagnostics of their equipment and were able to optimise shutdown and maintenance of their equipment accordingly. This improved the P.L.F and efficiency of the power plants. They were also able to optimise their internal energy consumption and performance checks though various techniques of energy audit conducted by ERDA. On a rough estimate ERDA helped the power generating industries to save 60 MW of power which gave an annual recurring savings of approximately Rs 132 crore.

Similarly process plants e.g. cement, steel, aluminium and other process plant were benefitted from the energy audit and mechanical and electrical diagnostic services provided by ERDA. ERDA also provides failure analysis, root cause analysis of their unplanned breakdowns providing an insight to avoid repetition of such instances.

Could you brief us about your participation at ELECRAMA 2018?
In consonant with the theme of ELECRAMA 2018 “#FUTUREISELECTRIC”, ERDA is showcasing its complete preparedness for future domains of electrical testing and research and development through its stall themed as “FUTURE READY”. We shall be showcasing the new testing facilities developed in the last two years and the facilities which are presently under development at ERDA e.g. partial discharge laboratory for testing of high voltage products up to 245 kV, smart meter testing, IEC 61850 communication protocol testing for IEDs (numerical relays), LED testing through Type ”C” Goniophotometer, solar pump system testing, testing of HTLS conductor and OPGW, power quality measurement for renewable energy integration into grid etc.

We will also highlight about the major innovative technologies developed by ERDA e.g. fault current limiter, anti-dust coating for PV panels, anti-corrosion paint and nano silver contacts for switchgears.
We are also demonstrating live, various digital customer support facilities deployed by ERDA for customer delight with minimum human intervention e.g. automatic testing set-up, automatic test report generation, online test date booking, test status through on-line query and SMS etc.

What you wish to accomplish from the ELECRAMA participation?
Exhibiting at ELECRAMA exhibitions always gives us a wider audience of national and international customers. It also provides us a perfect meeting point of all our customers at one place at the same time. We are also enriched by exchange of ideas among our peers and other research institutions participating in this exhibition. We also come to know about the latest technological developments in the market and the market expectations from us. Exhibiting in ELECRAMA actually broadens our vision and makes us “FUTURE READY”.

For more details, visit www.erda.org