India's power transmission system embracing modern technology to combat cyber attacks

The country will soon have a modern and smart power transmission system with features such as real-time monitoring and automated operation of the grid, better situational assessment, the capability to have an increased share of renewable capacity in the power mix, enhanced utilization of transmission capacity, greater resilience against cyber-attacks as well as natural disasters, centralised and data-driven decision-making, reduction in forced outages through self-correcting systems.

It is noteworthy that modern technology will play a key role in this whole transmission process.

The report of the committee was accepted by the government after deliberations chaired by Minister Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh recently. During the meeting, the minister emphasised that a modern transmission grid is vital to achieving the government's vision to provide 24x7 reliable and affordable power to the people and also meet sustainability goals. Singh said that a fully automated, digitally controlled, fast responsive grid which is resilient to cyber-attacks and natural disasters is the need of the hour.

He said that such a system should ensure the isolation of specific areas in case of any contingency, so as to protect the grid and prevent larger outages. Appreciating the efforts of the task force, Singh directed the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to formulate necessary standards and regulations for the adoption of identified technological solutions and set benchmark performance levels so as to build a robust and modern transmission network in the country.

The Taskforce in its report has recommended a bouquet of technological and digital solutions which can be adopted to make the state transmission grids future ready. These recommendations have been clubbed under categories of modernization of existing transmission systems; use of advanced technology in construction & supervision, operations & management; smart & future-ready transmission systems; and up-skilling of the workforce.

The Task Force has recommended Centralized Remote Monitoring, Operation of Substations including SCADA, Flexible AC Transmission devices, Dynamic Line Loading system, Wide Area Measurement System using PMUs and data analytics, Hybrid AC / HVDC system, Predictive maintenance techniques using AI/ML algorithms, HTLS Conductors, Process Bus based Protection Automation and Control GIS/Hybrid Substation, Cyber Security, Energy Storage Systems and Drones & Robots in the construction/inspection of transmission assets.

The use of robots is expected to not only minimize human intervention and minimize life risks/hazards but also save time while ensuring accuracy during construction and maintenance. The task force also recommended benchmarks for transmission network availability and voltage control based on the performance of global transmission utilities.

These and other recommendations are part of a report of a task force set up by the Power Ministry in Sep 2021 under the chairmanship of the chairman cum managing director, POWERGRID to suggest ways for the modernisation of the transmission sector and make it smart and future-ready.

While the short-term to medium-term recommendations will be implemented over one to three years, the long-term interventions are proposed to be implemented over a period of three to five years. (ANI)