OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2012. Tata Power has been at the forefront of propagating energy conservation and efficiency in the country. The company has once again launched various attractive demand side management (DSM) schemes for its customers and plans to launch several new schemes under its energy efficiency initiative – My Mumbai Green Mumbai, which was introduced last summer. The schemes are approved by Maharashtra Electric Regulatory Commission.

Newly launched DSM scheme for residential customers:

Tata Power has launched a ceiling fan exchange programme. Tata Power has joined hands with Havells India for BEE 5-star rated energy efficient ceiling fans. These 5-star ceiling fans are offered only at Rs924, which is a 50 percent discount from the market price, and consume only 50 watts of energy, which is 30 percent less than the conventional fan. Phase-1 of this programme has been closed successfully and phase-2 has been launched. The scheme is getting excellent response and more than 5,000 old fans have been replaced by 5-star energy efficient fans.

Ongoing schemes for commercial and industrial customers:

Energy audits are extremely useful tools to identify the wastage of energy. Tata Power offers energy audits to consumers only at 25 percent of the total cost. More than 50 large audits have been completed so far.

Tata Power has also launched thermal energy storage and demand response programmes, which support peak load shifting. Under the unique thermal energy storage scheme, 10,000 TR-hours have been enrolled in the programme. In the demand response scheme, 40 industrial and commercial customers have already participated and 12 MW of curtailable capacity has been developed. Tata Power is targeting a total of 25 MW of curtaible capacity under this programme. Both programmes have been lauded at the national level. Recently, these programmes have received a national award by CII as the Most Energy Efficient Service - 2012.

Upcoming DSM scheme for residential customers:

Refrigerators work for 24 hours and contribute 25 to 30 percent of residential energy consumption. Tata Power will launch a programme for residential consumers where the most efficient refrigerators shall be offered at a large discount so that the customers would be able to replace their old energy guzzling refrigerators.

Upcoming DSM scheme for industrial and commercial customers:

Air conditioning is the largest contributor in the electricity bill of industrial and commercial consumers. To help these consumers, Tata Power shall roll out the phase-2 of this programme by Diwali, to offer 5-star air conditioners at subsidised rates.

Speaking on this initiative, S Padmanabhan, executive director, operations, Tata Power, said, "My Mumbai, Green Mumbai initiative is a successful energy efficiency drive from Tata Power and we are happy to offer several innovative and attractive DSM schemes to all our customer segments. We are confident that our demand side efforts will not only help our customers to significantly reduce their monthly bills but enable them to make Mumbai a greener city.”

To implement the above DSM initiatives, Tata Power has carried out extensive load research which involved studying the consumer behaviour, load variation patterns and determining peak load contributors by gathering information on various high energy consuming equipments used by consumers. Based on this research, Tata Power has designed specific DSM programmes and classified them according to the various consumer segments, ie residential, commercial and industrial.

Future of DSM programmes:

DSM programmes are gaining widespread momentum, more so due to its tremendous potential to save energy costs to the consumer. DSM programmes, typically demand response, is an integral part of SMART grid solutions and thus is being adopted across the world. Tata Power is one of the earliest utilities in India to have embraced DSM programmes in a widespread manner. In addition to the programmes discussed above, Tata Power is in the process of rolling out several new initiatives for the benefit of its customers. Some of the key initiatives being promotion of green buildings, introducing the concept of negawatt power plant and carrying out SMART grid projects.