The project aimed to provide personalised feedback to about 25,000 electricity consumers in the town of Aluva, Kerala. The goal of these personalised feedback inputs was to effect positive changes to consumer behaviour. The data from these 25,000 was compared with the consumption of a control group of another 25,000 from the same town.
Solar PV plants need to be maintained if they are to continue to work at their rated output and efficiency. But there are various failure modes observed in a PV installation. It is not practical to equip every module with sensors to detect failure modes. Therefore, the project aims to use sparsely placed, low cost sensors and a robust analytics engine to (1) Identify and localise failure modes and reduce plant downtime and repair costs, (2) Optimise plant cleaning schedules (thus reducing usage of water required to clean panels), and (3) Improve plant output and efficiency.
A microgrid is a networked group of distributed energy sources with the goal of generating, converting and storing energy. This scenario is being envisaged as an important alternative to the conventional scheme with large power stations transmitting energy over long distances. The microgrid technology is useful particularly in the Indian context where extending power supply from the main grids to remote villages is a challenge. In order to take full advantage of the modularity and flexibility of micro-grid technologies, smart control mechanisms are required to manage and coordinate these distributed energy systems so as to minimize the costs of energy production, conversion and storage, without jeopardizing grid stability.