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India-based Tata Power provides electricity to more than 350,000 households in the Mumbai area. The utility is committed to delivering reliable power to their customers by means of systematic improvements to their network. Tata Power focused on energy management solutions are critical to the company’s strategy to boost operational and business excellence. Their demand-side and supply-side quality management solutions deployed led to both enhanced customer experience and improved profitability.
Challenges in delivering efficient power
From the demand- and supply-side, a quality management solution was needed to both enhance the customer experience and
improve profitability. Tata Power identified two major challenges in delivering reliable power. First was to identify theft areas (commercial losses) and improper quantification at points of occurrence. There was no real-time data and therefore less ability to avoid technical losses. Mumbai is a very distributed area, and this makes it difficult to pinpoint losses. Secondly was to increase their operational flexibility with a rigid and evolved grid. They needed to limit the overutilization of the grid and increasing power demand through better power demand planning.
Schneider Electric’s self-healing grid
Tata Power partnered with Schneider Electric to deploy the innovative EcoStruxure architecture in their distribution network. The utility adopted a decentralized control approach to managing power outages with India’s first self-healing grid, featuring smart RMUs.
The self-healing grid technology helps automate power restoration, reducing outage duration to a minimum. Unlike a conventional solution using a centralized control approach, the self-healing grid (SHG) is fully decentralized.
In the event of a power fault, substations communicate with each other to execute the best possible instruction for rapid fault isolation and restoration of power supply. The average restoration time with SHG is reduced to under one minute, while the conventional approach can take hours.
From bold idea to real advantage
The self-healing grid solution improves the reliability and efficiency of Tata Power’s electric distribution network while decreasing the company’s carbon footprint through reduced emissions. Requiring no manual intervention, the SHG technology minimizes the number of errors and outage durations. Quick power restoration turnaround is key to essential services and critical buildings, such as hospitals, banks, or data centers, serving the community.
The solution has led to increased customer satisfaction and faster ROI with improved revenue realization thanks to a reduced ENS (Energy Not Supplied) value.
Schneider Electric helped resolve Tata Power’s immediate network and deployment issues with:
- Rapid fault isolation and quick restoration of power supply
- Reduction of average restoration time from hours to under one minute, leading to improved SAIDI and
increased revenue - Minimized errors and outage duration thanks to an automated solution
- Easy adaptation of self-healing grid to the existing centralized solution
- Easy deployment thanks to a standard offer by means of plugging in FRTU, motors, and auxiliary switches.
Looking ahead
For Tata Power, restoring service to 350,000 households within seconds was a bold idea. But by deploying the right digital grid technology they realized their ambition. Schneider Electric brought their vision to life with EcoStruxure Grid, creating a self-healing grid that restores power in under 20 seconds.
Tata Power will further work with Schneider Electric as it expands and improves its distribution network. The scope for future cooperation includes innovative technology offering seamless integration, communication, and access to energy in an increasingly complex energy landscape.
Go deeper into Tata Power’s self-healing grid story by accessing the full case study
