In a world where geopolitics is an outcome of geo-economics which in turn has energy as its single largest component, it is no rocket science to figure out that an economy can be expected to run only as long it's fuel tank is full. The only way to overcome energy risk is to conserve and optimise energy use, reduce or eliminate dependence on imports by developing domestic resources including renewable energy and invest in energy efficiency research. This is easier said than done. However, if our Government(s) lead by example, we can witness immediate results. The Central & State governments in India together have the funds,
expenses and employee population comparable to a small rich country. Between just two central ministries, Defence and Railways, there is enormous scope of energy savings by power savings alone.
An indicative potential of 1 GWh annual power savings in Government departments is a realistic and achievable target in the current plan period itself. The trick lies in adopting the microgrid approach. Additional benefit accrued is acquiring carbon credits by use of renewables, which could be monetised to enhance savings to the state. The capital investments could thus be designed to be recoverable more or less by the end of one Plan period. More importantly, the power infrastructure could acquire a high level of resilience against central failures including from cyber-attacks.
Just how would savings be generated? The characteristic of the microgrid approach is distributed generation. This way there is no all pervading effect of a failure in central generation facility and a sharp reduction in transmission losses is achieved as power is produced and consumed locally. The Government inventory includes a few million generators of various capacities. These are mostly used in standalone mode to power the loads. Since the generation capacity is rarely matched to the load, there is an inevitable wastage of fuel. The microgrid approach leads to generator-load matching by use of intelligent controllers and energy storage devices which reduce the requirement of running the generators. Use of renewables in a microgrid further enable reduction in generator use. With good practices, it is feasible to achieve recurring energy savings in the 20-30 % band consistently. When we consider the supply chain logistics involved in fuel transportation, a 20-30% drop in generator fuel requirement could lead to higher cost savings due to reduced logistic effort and expense. In case of Defence and Internal Security organisations, this is a significant potential saving. Assuming only a third of an organisational fuel budget is earmarked for purchase of generator fuel, 10% of the total fuel budget could be saved imparting user the flexibility to deal with enhanced vehicle usage demand or an unanticipated budget cut. A similar saving in power bills of grid electricity consumption could be expected.
The question which arises now is - what is required to adopt this approach? The solution to any issue commences with the acceptance that a problem exists. In this case, the Government has to legislate that a certain percentage of power in our energy mix should mandatorily be generated from renewable sources and consumed by every Government department. The microgrid approach could be adopted in organisational engineering practice and incentivised with clear targets and timelines. Once it is absorbed in the system as a practice, it could be taught in the relevant schools of instruction and be embedded in the culture of the beneficiary organisation.
Most good ideas are often lost behind impenetrable trade jargon quoted by 'experts'. Even if someone at the 'top' understands it, it is unlikely to be implemented because of perceived complexity. Microgrid approach is a method to impart some degree of power assurance and control to the user while significantly reducing losses. Hence it is important that the rationale of microgrids is understood by the layperson end user. Only then can we expect to hear the murmurs for change, Strength Five.
An indicative potential of 1 GWh annual power savings in Government departments is a realistic and achievable target in the current plan period itself. The trick lies in adopting the microgrid approach. Additional benefit accrued is acquiring carbon credits by use of renewables, which could be monetised to enhance savings to the state. The capital investments could thus be designed to be recoverable more or less by the end of one Plan period. More importantly, the power infrastructure could acquire a high level of resilience against central failures including from cyber-attacks.
Just how would savings be generated? The characteristic of the microgrid approach is distributed generation. This way there is no all pervading effect of a failure in central generation facility and a sharp reduction in transmission losses is achieved as power is produced and consumed locally. The Government inventory includes a few million generators of various capacities. These are mostly used in standalone mode to power the loads. Since the generation capacity is rarely matched to the load, there is an inevitable wastage of fuel. The microgrid approach leads to generator-load matching by use of intelligent controllers and energy storage devices which reduce the requirement of running the generators. Use of renewables in a microgrid further enable reduction in generator use. With good practices, it is feasible to achieve recurring energy savings in the 20-30 % band consistently. When we consider the supply chain logistics involved in fuel transportation, a 20-30% drop in generator fuel requirement could lead to higher cost savings due to reduced logistic effort and expense. In case of Defence and Internal Security organisations, this is a significant potential saving. Assuming only a third of an organisational fuel budget is earmarked for purchase of generator fuel, 10% of the total fuel budget could be saved imparting user the flexibility to deal with enhanced vehicle usage demand or an unanticipated budget cut. A similar saving in power bills of grid electricity consumption could be expected.
The question which arises now is - what is required to adopt this approach? The solution to any issue commences with the acceptance that a problem exists. In this case, the Government has to legislate that a certain percentage of power in our energy mix should mandatorily be generated from renewable sources and consumed by every Government department. The microgrid approach could be adopted in organisational engineering practice and incentivised with clear targets and timelines. Once it is absorbed in the system as a practice, it could be taught in the relevant schools of instruction and be embedded in the culture of the beneficiary organisation.
Most good ideas are often lost behind impenetrable trade jargon quoted by 'experts'. Even if someone at the 'top' understands it, it is unlikely to be implemented because of perceived complexity. Microgrid approach is a method to impart some degree of power assurance and control to the user while significantly reducing losses. Hence it is important that the rationale of microgrids is understood by the layperson end user. Only then can we expect to hear the murmurs for change, Strength Five.
