The Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) and the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) jointly organised a Best Practice study-tour-cum-training-programme for power sector professionals on “Grid Management, Network Monitoring & Loss Reductions” from 13 - 15 November 2019 at Puducherry.

The program included visits to the Auroville Rooftop Solar Centre, a battery storage plant and a SCADA & Smart Grid Centre. Mr. Eric, a Frenchman who had been living in Auroville for the past 20 years, introduced the delegates to the Auroville Rooftop Solar Centre. Mr. Mahesh, plant manager of the Battery Storage Plant from POWERGRID explained the same in detail. Officials from the Puducherry Electricity Department (PED) demonstrated the working of a SCADA Smart Grid at the Control Centre. 

During an international workshop, more than 60 delegates exchanged the knowledge they had acquired on various core topics during the course of the programme. The inaugural session of the workshop was addressed by Shri R.N. Nayak, Former CMD, POWERGRID; Shri Devesh Singh IAS, Secretary Power, Government of Puducherry; Ms. Karin Stoll, Consul General of Embassy of Germany, Chennai; and Shri R Kamalakannan, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Electricity, Government of Puducherry.

The Lt. Governor of Puducherry, her excellency Dr. Kiran Bedi, graced the valedictory session with her presence. She addressed the participants on the importance of administration and management, and urged them to work together. She concluded her address by applauding CBIP and IGEF for organising the study tour and urged the participants to implement the knowledge gained from the programme in their respective departments.

Please find the presentations below: 

• Operations and Challenges Related to RE Forecasting Scheduling, Integration into Grid and Way forward.

           Shri Kiran Rasane and Hamza Ehtisham, Siemens Ltd. 

• Reactive Power Management with Large Scale RE Generation 

           S.R. Vijayan, ABB Ltd

• Grid Monitoring Tools and Global Standards 

          Shri Terry Chandler, Quality power Inc.  

• KfW Development Bank

          Shri Nisheeth Srivastav, KFW

• Distributed Solar Energy

          Shri Martin Scherfler, Auroville Consulting. 

• Smart Grid and Its Implementation Challenges-Overview of Puducherry Pilot Project

          Shri J. Antony Vivekanand, Puducherry Electricity Department

• Project Management for Accelerated Loss Reductions 

          Shri Pramod Mishra, Head Dist. Planning BRPL

• Operational Challenges of Large-Scale Battery Systems for Grid Applications

           Shri Mahesh M., POWERGRID