Distributed generation with Solar to be the new trend

Mayur Karmarkar, Managing Director, International Copper Association India in a discussion with Megha Iyer of EPR, discusses the imperativeness of having quality installations to sustain a decentralized model of energy to save costs and experience uninterrupted power supply.

With states giving some minimum units of power free to the citizens, how do you see the impact in the industry?

The power is cross-subsidised, so someone is paying the consumption cost for a subsidised set of consumers. But if you compare the Levelised cost of electricity in various states with OECD countries, you may observe that the cost of electricity is very similar.

Although we have poor reliability, poor power distribution infrastructure, we are paying a penalty due to various inefficiencies. Our power distribution sector has higher AT&C losses compared to other developing ands developed countries. Besides higher AT&C loss, we pay more for poor distribution infrastructure.For example, most of the distribution assets are replaced much before the end of their technical life. The distribution transformer’s technical life is 25 years and the actual life on the field is not even 15 years. Moreover, these transformers are repaired 3 to4 times during their shorter field life. Sadly, the transformers’ failure rate is also the highest in the world. Therefore, the ‘life cycle cost’ of this poor infrastructure very high.

Thus, we, the customers of these power utilities are paying a huge cost due to poor reliability, huge AT&C losses, and poor power distribution infrastructure. In addition, business inefficiencies, cross-subsidized electricity tariffs are making our businesses and industry less competitive in the global market.

What are the initiatives being taken to promote increased use of copper for efficient power?

 We need to understand the concept of life cycle cost. The initial cost for copper products is higher than that of other materials, but copper’s inherent physical properties make a copper product a cost-efficient option on a life cycle cost basis.

Having an efficient urban infrastructure is morean imperative rather than a choice. And people like us must create an advocacy platform to make the government recognize such issues and make a decision for a better tomorrow rather than making infrastructure decisions on the initial cost basis.

Copper has to have a role in areas that require reliability and efficiency so it doesn’t need to be promoted. Considering the looming climatic and environmental concerns, we feel it is the right time to boast about copper. We are trying to develop an alliance for a sustainable power infrastructure in the urban areas. Presently, we are working towards a white paper for the same and once it is ready, we will take steps to promote a need for reliable and sustainable utility infrastructure in a rapidly changing world order.

With the incident of recent mass power failure in Mumbai, how do you look at the possible security threats in the grid management?

The grid failure in Maharashtra was a one-off incident. The biggest issue to be addressed here is the asset management practice, and structure itself. I would like to look at it from a broader perspective. In urban power infrastructure, we know how reliable it should be. Reliability is a challenge; and going forward, we as a country will be paying a huge cost from an economic and environmental perspective.

Talking about the recent grid failure in Mumbai – what about power cuts being faced by the people in almost all cities other than Mumbai island, due to various reasons! Most of the commercial and new residential high-rise buildings (outside Mumbai island) today are backed-up with Diesel Generator (DG) power sets. We talk about urban pollution due to vehicles. We have pollution control norms for every type of vehicle. But these diesel engines are huge, and they cause pollution even if they are not actively functioning for 24 hours. Hence, the increasing interruption in power supply especially in terms of yearly hours, adding to economic loss, remains a concern. So, no doubt, we have come a long way from no lights to complete electrification. While the journey is over in the urban areas, we cannot claim to have succeeded until we have uninterrupted power supply true to its literal sense.

NITI Aayog is strongly advocating to adopt a decentralized mode model of energy. How do you think this translates on-field?

Distributed generation is a new trend. Today electricity generated from solar PV installation has become cheaper and affordable. With this development, we can say that the consumer can become a power producer.Particularly, in semi-urban areas, a city’s outskirts, and in rural areas, you can afford to install a solar panel that will give you electricity.  For paying commercial and industrial customers, distributed generation can overcome two challenges – cost and availability. We know that these consumers are paying higher energy tariffs, subsidising agricultural and residential customers. For improving power availability, these customers install battery-inverter sets or DG sets as a back-up. By redeploying these batteries and by installing solar PV panels and deploying energy efficiency technologies, a customer can reduce cost and improve availability.

A net metering mechanism is also available where customers can export excess power and feed it back to the grid, and get economic benefit out of it. So, the distributed generation is the future. Moreover, this will help to reduce AT&C losses and reducing the stress on the Indian power distribution sector.

 When it comes to safety and sustainable in cables and wires, what are the possible challenges?

Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Safety and life span of materials are intrinsic elements of Sustainability Goals. Wires and cables ,unfortunately, are ‘behind a wall or inside a conduit or duct’. So cabling is generally neglected and, quality and safety, are often compromised in the interest of lowering the first cost. Selection of the right quality of material, and the right size of wire or cable is important.

Here are two examples of sustainability challenges related to wires and cables –

I spoke to you about solar powered electricity generation. ‘Solar Cable’ for dc side application is a special type of cable meant for connecting solar panels with controllers and other components in a solar installation. These are required to operate long-term outdoors at relatively higher ambient temperatures directly exposed to Solar radiations, air humidity etc, and stringent requirements are set for these cables. There are a number of additional requirements specified in the draft BIS standards to ensure that the cables are weather proof and UV resistant. Unfortunately, in order to reduce the solar PV installation cost, contractors are often tempted to usecommon purpose PVC cables. This reduces the reliability of the installation, making it vulnerable to electrical accidents, thus negating the positives of solar power generation from the sustainability perspective.

Another example is that of Fire Survival (FS) cables. With more and more electrical fire accidents being reported, electrical safety has been a major concern in both rural and urban buildings in  India. Accidents from Electrical shock and fire hazards lead to a loss of property and lives mainly caused by poor, inadequate quality of wiring products or improper electrical installations.

Building codes mandate the use of FS cables in high-rises and public buildings such as underground metro stations, hospitals, or airport terminal buildings. These FS cables are installed to power emergency services such as emergency lights, fire alarms and fire pumps, etc. Again, in the interest of lowering first cost, one may find the usage of  aluminium in FS cables used in such buildings. Aluminium has a significantly lower melting point – about 600 degrees C – as compared to Copper. An unfortunate fire would melt aluminium faster, thus defeating the purpose for which the FS cable is being installed.

“Considering the looming climatic and environmental concerns, we feel it is the right time to boast about copper in the industry.