“Power surplus appears to be a temporary phase”

The surplus of power that we hear today is due to the low purchasing power of state discoms which are in the red.
Anil Kadam, Senior Manager, Energy Business, Schneider Electric India
Power surplus a temporary phaseThere have been reports that India is likely to be power surplus in 2016, something which has not happened in the past. ”While the government has initiated various measures to improve power generation as well as transformation in the last few years, the so-called power surplus appears to be a temporary phase as of now given that India still has one of the lowest per capita consumption among developing countries,” Anil Kadam, Senior Manager, Energy Business, Schneider Electric India.  “The surplus of power that we hear today is due to the low purchasing power of state discoms which are in the red and are unable to recover costs from consumers. The power plants in India are operating at low plant load factor and there is surplus of coal. At the same time, an estimated 300 million people in India are yet to receive power, which also needs to be accounted for while talking of power surplus.”
However, he acknowledges, “The government has been proactively addressing these issues by way of power distribution reforms through UDAY as well as its ‘Power for All’ initiative. Only after the successful execution of these schemes we can really assess the power situation of the country,” he points out.
Game changer Kadam believes that the various factors are responsible for changing game. He says, “There has been a clear strategy from the government to address structural issues facing the power sector, be it fuel supply relating to coal and natural gas, removing transmission bottlenecks as well as improving financial capability of discoms through debt management. All of these have improved the power sector scenario in India. Similarly, there has been a strong push to spruce up power generation through renewable sources like solar and wind, which is going to be a game changer for power generation.”
Provide components for solar Schneider Electric is a major player in the field of energy management. It has a range of products as well as solutions to reducing energy consumption in the electrical power supply chain in India. These include low and medium voltage solutions for power distribution segment like transformers, switchgears and grid automation to name a few. “In the solar sector, we provide inverters and other critical components for solar installations. In fact, today, around 700MW of solar installations in India have equipment which is supplied by Schneider which is expected to increase to 1GW in a short time,” he informs.  Schneider Electric is poised contribute in building India power sector Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management and automation. “From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape power sector, transform operations. Schneider Electric is poised contribute in building India power sector,” Kadam concludes.