Ajay Bhagat
The energy conservation Act was enacted by Parliament on September 29, 2001 for efficient use of energy and its conservation but the same could not be extended to Jammu and Kashmir because of special status. This law became applicable to J&K after abrogation of Article 370 and subsequent extension of all central laws. Still there is lot of opportunity to act upon these Acts (Energy conservation and Building codes) for better implementation of Energy conservation in Jammu and Kashmir as I am presenting some formulation plan for Energy conservation in respect of UT Jammu and Kashmir.
Why Energy conservation is Important in J&K?
Energy needs to be conserved to cut costs and to preserve the sources for longer use, moreover, the reasons people conserve energy are to gain more control over their energy bill and reduce the demand on the earth’s natural resources. As in the rest of India Energy conservation Act was implemented for more than a decade but in Jammu Kashmir the same could not be implemented due to special status or we say Article 370. So it was more important to implement the Act in J&K as soon as possible so that energy conservation / management benefit all types of consumers in J&K.
Before going for the formation plan for energy conservation in J&K we must go through the Electricity sector in J&K with an overview that electric supply system has three main components:-
* Power generation station
* Transmission lines
* Distribution lines
From the above three components in which the utility suffers most of energy loss is distribution system which needs the energy conservation and management in proper way.
Key issues and challenges before the distribution sector
There are many challenges and issues which have emerged in the operation and management of the utilities. Some of these are: – shortage of power, poor management, high technical and commercial losses (including theft and pilferage of electricity), and non remunerative tariff structure based of irrational subsidies, lower consumer satisfaction, and poor quality power.
Most of the power utilities, particularly the state Electricity Boards are in a financial mess today. The reasons for the poor health are as:-
* high Transmission and distribution loss (T&D).
* lack of commercial approach.
* free or highly subsidized agriculture supply.
* low frequency of tariff revision.
* poor metering.
* subsidized domestic consumption in most of the cases.
* low revenue realization rate.
* rampant theft in collusion with unscrupulous elements.
What can be done?
Quite bit can be done by a distribution utility to meet these challenges and solve the problems at its own level.
* Revenue realization and reduction in AT&C losses
* Infusion of technology
* Improving metering efficiency,
* Proper energy accounting and auditing,
* Improved billing and collection efficiency, and
* Professional managerial practices
* Improving customer satisfaction.
* Adopting better management practices: – operational efficiency improvement and customer servicing also need to be addressed at various levels in the organization. Successful management services revolve around
* Tariff management;
* Meter management;
* credit and collection management;
* monitoring quantitative and qualitative benefits.
4. Application of information technology: – Now-a-days, information technology and computer aided tools for revenue realization, reduction in power cuts, monitoring and control, etc. play vital role in distribution management. Development of digital mapping of the entire assets of distribution system, computerized load flows studies, GIS (geographic information system) mapping, SCADA are the some other IT application for long term strengthening of the distribution system.
Revenue loss due to loss of opportunity to serve
The revenue loss due to “loss of opportunity to serve” is very relevant but less visible aspect of revenue loss. Guarding against technical and non technical loss is one aspect, but there is equal need to guard against loss of revenue due to lost opportunity. Reasons for loss of opportunity to serve: –
System outage ( any part or total system) leading to loss of revenue
* due to breakdown
* due to preventive maintenance
* due to load shedding.
* Overloading and unbalancing.
* High voltage drops in lines leading to low voltage at consumer premises and lesser consumption.
Voltages sag at consumer premises, leading to lower consumption.
Energy conservation: – Issues and concerns
As the population in our country grows and the pace of urbanization increases, energy use is bound to increase. Moreover as ones wealth grows, energy use per capita will also increase. Energy conservation is practice for
* Ensuring judicial usage of energy and
* Decreasing the quantity of energy consumed while achieving a similar outcome of end use.
The motivations for energy conservation could be different for individual, commercial and industrial users. Direct consumers of energy such as individuals or organization may want to conserve energy to reduce energy costs and protect the environment. Increase in efficiency and maximizing profits could be the motivation for industrial and commercial users to save energy. Energy conservation can be a result of several processes or development, such as increase in productivity technological progress resulting in more energy efficient technologies and most importantly a positive attitude towards efficient energy usage. Energy conservation is cheaper and more environmentally benign compared to increased energy production. We need to encourage it amongst all categories of consumers.
Energy Accounting
Energy accounting is a system to record, analyze and report energy consumption and cost on regular basis.
In power sector, energy accounting involves preparation of “balance sheet” of energy i.e preparation of accounts of
* the energy flow to various segments
* energy consumption by various categories of consumers,
* energy losses including both technical and commercial losses at various stages, and
* energy required for meeting the technical requirements of the system out of the total quantum of energy available over specified time period.
This helps in an accurate accounting of energy generated, energy consumed, energy lost, revenue realization and revenue loss at each level of power generation, transmission and distribution.
Need of energy Accounting
Preventing the loss would effectively serve as capacity addition, thereby reducing the demand supply gap and improving supply. Even 1% reduction in AT&C losses would provide substantial financial benefits to the utilities.
Technical losses can be reduce through system improvement e.g by reducing overloading of lines and transformer, improvement of voltage profile etc.
Energy Auditing
An energy audit is an indepth study of a facility to
* determine how and where energy is being used or converted from one form to another, and
* identify opportunities to reduce energy usage and prevent energy losses.
It is the technique to establish the current status of energy efficiency of a system.
Lets we take a case study to determine technical losses on 11kv feeder. Technical losses on the 11kv feeder are assessed by conducting load flow analysis of the individual 11kv feeder including distribution transformer and LT distribution losses.
The total technical loss on the 11kv feeder is equal to sum of
* 11kv line losses
* Distribution transformer ( no load and load) losses
* LT network losses and
* Energy losses in loose jump connections, service mains and energy meters.
Energy loss in the feeder = energy input to 11kv feeder – energy sales.
Energy conservation, accounting and auditing can help us reducing the 8-10% energy losses by implementing it in letter and spirit.
For example in financial year 2022-2023 power consumption in Jammu and Kashmir was 8416.17 MU for Jammu region and 11165.2 MU for Kashmir region that is total 19581.37 MU or 2013 crores units. If we implement Energy Conservation Act 2001, 2003 and 2010 to Jammu Kashmir from generating unit to end user we can save 600MU-800MU of power which can help in a larger way and lessen the carbon footprint which also helps in protecting the environment. So implementation of energy conservation Act is need of hour in Jammu and Kashmir by which all types of consumer can be benefitted i.e commercial, industries, power generating units, govt. and private buildings by conducting mandatory energy auditing and accounting.
(The author is Assistant Engineer in JKPDD)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
