An agreement for technology collaboration between power multinational ABB and the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR) was signed in July and includes the creation of a Smart Grid Resource Center, joint R&D facilities and support for PhD students.
The smart campus development, in addition to the microgrid, would include technology solutions including smart metering, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), ring main units and the backbone of a wireless broadband communication platform.
The cooperation aims to create an operational smart grid network integrating all sources of energy, including diesel generation and renewable energy. Another objective is to create a research platform to meet requirements of the evolving grid such as bi-directional flows of electricity through localized generation, and enhanced environmental awareness to influence consumer behavior.
The collaboration will serve as one of the pilot projects for the government of India’s Smart Cities Mission. The project cost is being partially funded by ABB India under its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
ABB helps institute realize goals
IIT Roorkee has PV systems at 27 locations across campus, amounting to 1.8 MW of solar generation. When the 11 kV ABB Ability PowerStore microgrid is commissioned next year, ABB’s advanced microgrid technology will enable the institute to increase the use of renewable energy, identify the potential of demand-side control and integrate other power sources. The ABB Ability microgrid, SCADA, and smart metering will enable complete remote monitoring and maintenance, as well as visualization of the energy requirements of the campus.
“This is yet another milestone and we are privileged to work with IIT Roorkee to set-up a microgrid in the oldest engineering college campus in the country,” said Pitamber Shivnani, president of power grids at ABB India. “With green energy becoming the preferred choice, grid-edge technologies such as microgrids are becoming a viable option to harness renewable power for smarter, [more] inclusive and sustainable cities, and also to provide access to reliable power in communities [and] campuses or in remote or off-grid areas.
“This microgrid, along with the smart grid model that will be set up on campus, will demonstrate the future of power.”
IIT Roorkee has done pioneering work in recent years to build an eco-friendly campus using renewable sources. The goal is to become a self-sustaining and zero emission campus.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.