Evolution of power management in India with shifting demand

Abhrasnata Das

In an interaction with Industry Outlook, Sreekumar Panicker,Vice President Engineering and Operations, Eaton India shares his views on how power management is evolving in India with the shifting pattern of consumption.

Power management is becoming a growing business strategy across all sectors. How do you see the current evolution of the Power management market in India?

With the current trend towards smart city efforts, combined with the government's entire electrification ambition and the “Make in India” initiative to promote the manufacturing segment, power management in India has become a prominent emphasis. Additionally, the shifting focus of the nation towards Electronic Vehicles and Renewable sources of energy as a greener alternative is coming up with new sets of challenges for the power management industry to innovate and upgrade the power management solutions that can fit the changing needs to “manage”.

The recent surge in demand for power and electrification along with the transition from traditional to renewable, demands a total transformation and modification of the prevalent infrastructure from power generation to distribution. In the coming days, one of the vital issues will be to amalgamate the existing national power grid system with the renewable source along with smart storage. I think one of the biggest questions for the power management firms will be regarding the role that we play in the coming days and the innovations that we bring into life.

The surge in power demand across multiple segments is calling for new initiatives to meet with the same. In this situation, what are the major challenges in front of the power management segment?

In the coming days, grid instability would be one of the most significant concerns with the arrival of various sources of energy. To be particular, once you have multiple sources of energy that are powering the grid, like coal, wind, solar, or biogas, the stability of the grid becomes a major source of concern. This is where smart grids will play an invaluable role and a surge in the demand for smart grids will also be noticed in the near future. In addition to smart grids, lots of transformations in respect to systems and components will also come into play.

I also feel storage is going to be one aspect that will be revolutionized. Today, the chemistry behind the batteries is getting evolved, and also high output batteries are coming into play. With the recent surge in the power demand across the different segments, one of the vital challenges in front of power management is to deliver batteries with high efficiency and increased storage capacity.
In addition, things like clean energy, diminishing power outages, cheap electricity matched with reliable and safe power are also some of the biggest challenges lying ahead in front of the power management segment.

How are the new technologies like IoT, robotics, and ultra-fast 5G networks helping to fill the existing gap in the power management segment for an improved system?

In my opinion, new technologies like IoT, robotics, and 5G networks are opening new paths to deliver reliable and consistent power supply and management, in addition to solving problems like resiliency and grid instability.

Faster connections backed by updated sensors are allowing us to get critical data from each point of the power infrastructure, allowing us to make faster decisions and offer a more robust solution. For example - from an industrial setup perspective, new technologies like IoT and sensors can predict the right choice of power source or a combination that the industry will require for meeting the need for reliable, safe, and consistent power with a low hourly tariff.

With the help of advanced technologies for increased connectivity like 5G, we can connect to remote places and get the data to improve the service. Today, if there is an outrage in one of the areas, we will really be able to find, what actually caused that outrage and how we can quickly recover back. I think in the coming days, the data that is coming from the sensors and other updated technologies will enable us to make decisions at the same time able to create valuable insights.

Lastly, technology is really transforming the power management solution from diagnostic to predictive phrase. For example - if we look at the current scenario, today during the event of any breakdown, we first have to diagnose the system to find out the root cause and then fix that to run the unit once again. However, with upgraded technologies like sensors, IoT, and 5G, in the future, we will be able to get real-time information about the condition of the components in the power infrastructure which will help to predict the possibility for any breakdown and ultimately solve the situation before any mishap.

With the advent of industry 4.0, how is the approach towards power management changing?

Industry 4.0 is going to be something beyond the IoT and connectivity. Concepts like “plug and play’ will be widely used across different sectors. Additionally, data exchange and data reliability will become more crucial in the coming years. In this situation, the real shift will be towards standardization and assisting industries by providing a common power management technology solution.

Further, with multiple advanced machines and sensors coming into play the demand will be for constant and reliable power output with minimum outages. Hence, the call will be for preventive maintenance and constant surveillance to ensure continuous productivity.

The other vital shift will be towards power democratizations. With Industry 4.0, there will be events like remote generation of power through solar and sending it back to the system. The challenge for us will be to conceptualize the event and enable the power transaction with minimum traction.

Where do you see the Indian Power management market in the near future?

In the future, the total ecosystem of power management will go through an overall transition. There will be a huge demand for power generation and management across different sectors like manufacturing sites, offices, malls, buildings, etc. Further, with new initiatives around electrifications and shift of the automobile sector for IC engines to fully electric vehicles the demand for power management solutions will not be limited to cities, but the demand will throughout the country covering every city, town, and village. For example - if an Electric vehicle is to cover a distance from Delhi to Chenna, the real challenge will be to provide constant and reliable power throughout the entire corridor. Thus from a broad perspective, there will an overall shift in the demand for power amidst the consumers from a traditional to a mobile mode.

I believe the future will unveil great opportunities for the power management sector. And, I hope that everything will accelerate at a great pace. We do not have to wait for 10 years to see the change happening and significantly grow this energy and the power solution. With the overall transition and the surge in the demand that India is witnessing, I feel in the coming three to four years Indian power management sector will catch up with the global leaders in terms of innovations and upgraded solutions.