Why Indian building and technology need to be aware about electric grid

India has and continues to face significant challenges in reliable supply of electricity. This was manifest in the country’s worst blackout due to the failure of power grids, affecting states where 50% of India’s 1.2 billion people live.

Of all the primary energy sources in India, electricity consumption has been increasing exponentially over the past few decades. According to Indian Central Electrical Authority (CEA) report, the projected deficit all India in 2013 is 10.6 %.

According to the Indian Ministry of Power, India's electricity demand is projected to reach 1,900 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2021–2022 and its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal combustion are projected to reach 3.3 Giga-tones (Gt) in 2030—8% of the world total (based on reference scenario in 2005).

Commercial, residential and industrial sectors account for 10%, 39%, and 24% respectively of the total 694392 GWh of electricity consumption in the country. While commercial building sector electricity use is a smaller slice of the pie today, this sector is facing the third highest Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over past 4 decades (8.29% as of 2010-11).

This sector with its increased use of air-conditioning, it is also contributing fast to the peak shortage. This is where the significant opportunity is -- to make these buildings aware of the electric grid condition and adopt technologies that will help in addressing the electricity reliability in India.

The Government of India is taking measures to address the situation of ageing grid infrastructure and integrated demand-side management. The National Action Plan on Climate Change of 2008 outlines National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency with actions for electricity sector reform. The U.S.-India Energy Dialogue of 2010 provides mechanism for joint activities to address energy issues and electric grid integration.

By establishing a sustainable buildings-to-grid (B2G) collaboration between the U.S. and India, it facilitates integration of demand-side with the supply-side systems to advance India’s electricity reliability goals. Such an initiative will motivate Indian electricity markets by disseminating U.S. experiences and technologies for the uptake of Demand Response (DR) pilots in India.

The results could benefit both short term and long-term DR and energy efficiency integrated action plans for pilots that are being conducted in India, and the transformative technologies for mitigation and adaptation of electricity reliability. The findings from the pilots and through collaboration aid Smart Grid market transformation and policy interventions through technology demonstrations.