OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company, has undertaken several innovative technological advancements to service its consumers and create customer delight.

The company has implemented a number of advanced technologies that has enabled it to set benchmarks in the field of distribution. Some of these technological interventions include monitoring of power quality, special conditioning monitoring techniques, GIS and advanced distribution network reliability systems.

Speaking on these technologies, Mr Padmanabhan, executive director, operations, Tata Power, said, “Tata Power is dedicated to delivering highest quality and superior service to its consumers. The technological innovations undertaken by us reinforce our commitment to achieve customer satisfaction and delight. We shall endeavour to set highest standards of customer service in the country.”

Each of these technological advancements have been adapted to identify abnormalities in the power equipment and help take timely preventive actions and ensure uninterrupted power 24/7. The details of the technology interventions are as follows:

Distribution network reliability: The centralised monitoring and remote operation of distribution network, ie, the distribution automation system, ensures faster identification of faults and restoration of power supply from remote locations, ie, power system control centre. The company has installed fault passage indicators for faster identification of faulty sections in the distribution network. These systems enable Tata Power to ensure reliable power supply to consumers, which is reflected in the higher reliability indices in FY13.

Customer relationship management software: In order to deliver a differentiated customer experience, Tata Power replaced the old CIS system with an improved SAP CRM. The company can now engage with its consumers with root level knowledge. The new CRM module provides complete customer information in a single glance - from interaction history to every detail in the database. The results have been multi-fold, service processes have improved and consumers are delighted with the quality and speed of responses.

Conditioning monitoring techniques:

Thermo vision scanning cameras have been installed in order to detect high temperature components. The camera periodically detects hot spots on all substation equipment, ie, cable terminations, LT panels, overhead lines, etc, thereby identifying deteriorisation in time.

Line resonance analysis is carried out for real-time diagnosis and condition-based monitoring of installed electric cables. It helps monitor progressive degradation of the insulation of cables due to harsh environment conditions (high temperature, humidity, radiation, etc) and detect local degradation of the insulation material due to mechanical impacts.

Monitoring of power quality: Power quality meters and surveillance cameras have been fitted at all distribution substations in order to monitor the quality of power supply, ie, voltage fluctuations, voltage variations, power factor, harmonics, etc. This also detects voltage sags, swells and flickers in the system. This helps in addressing specific power quality issues of consumers and to ensure better power quality.

Geographical information system (GIS): Tata Power has deployed GIS to keep the network data updated, which helps in planning and providing supply to new consumers in a timely manner. Also mobile devices are being used to capture the location of new meters and map the same in GIS, which enables the company to serve its consumers in an efficient manner.

Installation of solar power pack: The company installed a 7.7 KW solar power pack in distribution substations as a sustainability initiative. The solar power pack has also reduced auxiliary consumption and will come in handy during a grid failure by catering to the auxiliary load of the DSS.