So far, it has converted five substations at Kalyan Nagar, Mufkamza, Shilparamam, Krishna Nagar and Nagole into fully automated substations
Posted Date – 11:59 PM, Sunday – 01/08/23
Hyderabad: Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL), which has been adopting advanced technology to improve efficiency, has started automation at the 33/11 KV substation Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) as part of its efforts to reduce operating costs by reducing substation manning requirements area.
So far, it has converted five substations located in Kalyan Nagar, Mufkamza, Shilparamam, Krishna Nagar and Nagole into fully automated substations.
According to G Raghuma Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of TSSPDCL, the company decided to automate the substation as it would improve reliability and optimize manpower costs.
Substation automation provides advanced disturbance management and event recording capabilities in transmission and distribution networks, allowing for detailed and faster failure analysis, he said, adding that the remaining substations will be automated in phases.
“As technology improves, there will be less and less human involvement, and there will be a corresponding increase in automation,” he said.
According to Raghuma Reddy, the company has started setting up Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems in substations and Distribution Management Systems (DMS) for 11 KV feeders restricted by GHMC.
“We have installed SCADA in 226 substations and DMS in 167 feeders. Soon, they will be installed in many more substations and feeders,” he said. There are approximately 3171 11 KV and 645 33 KV substations within the GHMC.
The implementation of SCADA and DMS enables distribution systems to monitor power flow, manage load growth, and perform operations and maintenance (O&M) of the network, he said.
They help to monitor the grid in real time and restore power faster during outages, he explained.
According to Raghuma Reddy, Infrared Data Association (IRDA) meters have been installed for a heavily metered consumer base.
To date, State Discoms have installed IRDA meters on 1,16,52,708 consumers. “By installing IRDA meters, Discoms have realized considerable gains through increased billing efficiency. This has significantly reduced instances of reading inhibition,” he said.
Apart from these, TSSPDCL has also undertaken a number of initiatives to improve its services such as the introduction of a mobile application for reliability and end-to-end outage management in the GHMC region, said Raghuma Reddy, adding that the company plans to extend this to the entire TSSPDCL distribution area.
