GE Smart Grid Technologies Selected to Address Outage Issues in India

Part of India’s growing power demands will soon be met with smart grid technologies that improve efficiency and reliability for businesses and consumers. North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) today announced it would become the first major utility in India to realize the performance advantages of an advanced outage management system (OMS).

A joint venture between Tata Power, India’s largest private power company and the government of Delhi, NDPL distributes electricity to approximately five million people in the Delhi metro area. According to the International Energy Agency, India’s energy demand will more than double by 2030, potentially increasing the frequency of power outages even in the most developed areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. These outages would have a significant impact on the economy and, as a result, the government of India is looking to smart grid technologies to improve the efficiency and the economic stability of the country’s power sector.

"With PowerOn, coupled with automatic meter infrastructure, NDPL will be able to identify the local faults more precisely, and the repair crew will be remotely instructed and dispatched even before the consumer calls. This will eventually be supplemented by a crew management system that will track the position of the crew nearest to the fault location. I am confident that our consumers will benefit immensely from the powerful outage management tool by way of short outage durations,” said Sunil Wadhwa, CEO and executive director, NDPL.

GE’s PowerOn OMS will be integrated with the previously installed GE Energy Smallworld* geospatial information system (GIS) and NDPL’s existing distribution management system to drive power reliability and quality.

"Our smart grid solutions suite will immediately help NDPL in its ongoing quest to improve the quality and reliability of service while reducing technical and commercial power losses,” said Gursharan Bhatia, general manager of GE Energy’s transmission and distribution business in India. "As a result of NDPL’s automation strategy, the utility has already reduced losses from 54% to less than 18% over the past five years.”

NDPL has implemented several distribution system enhancements over the last five years, including the addition of GE Energy’s Smallworld GIS. For that initiative, NDPL received the Edison Electric Institute’s prestigious International Edison Award, recognizing the utility’s significant improvements in operating and asset management.

Today, when an outage is detected, PowerOn and Smallworld work together to map out the location and repair needs. Repair crews are prepared with the right tools and the correct geographic information, leading to faster restoration of power.

Through industry collaborations, GE will deliver one of the broadest portfolio offerings in the industry to modernize the electrical systems from the power plant to the consumer. From smarter appliances to technologies for plug-in hybrid vehicles, to providing renewable technologies and smart meters, GE has the breadth and knowledge needed to increase energy productivity all the way up and down the lines. www.itsyoursmartgrid.com.

* trademarks of General Electric Company.

About NDPL

NDPL is a joint venture of Tata Power (51%) and Delhi Government (49%). It distributes power in North and North-West Delhi and serves 1 million consumers. NDPL is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of distribution reforms in India and has won several national and international awards for its consumer centric practices and operational excellence. NDPL is the first utility in India to have won the coveted Edison Award in the international category for its innovative projects. NDPL is also the recipient of the National Award for Meritorious Performance from the president of India and the Asian Utility of the Year Award 2008 from Asian Power, Singapore.

About GE Energy

GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2008 revenue of $29.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE’s corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.

About GE

GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.