NEW DELHI
:
With the government aiming to transform India’s power distribution sector and boost its fiscal health, IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, backed by state-run EESL and National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), plans to commercially roll out its data analytics services for power distribution companies (discom) next year.
Anil Rawal, chief executive and managing director, IntelliSmart Infrastructure, said hat the company will diversify its operations to offer billing systems to discoms, as well as gas and water metering services. It is also looking to offer aggregator services for power supplied by prosumers.
Prosumers are power consumers intending to sell a part of self-generated power often from solar power generated at homes or offices.
The firm has been a significant player in the field of smart metres for monitoring electricity consumption. “We are keen on diversification in the digitization projects of the distribution sector. Our interest areas include, data analytics applications, utility billing systems and P2P energy trading. Further, we are exploring gas metering and working with some of utilities…Going forward, we will explore opportunities in water metering as well,” said Rawal.
The company has submitted bids for gas metering projects, but they are yet to be finalized.
The company is currently running data analytics services for the discoms of Haryana and Bihar on a pilot basis. Rawal said a full-scale commercial launch of the services would enable discoms to understand consumption patterns, manage peak demand, and detect instances of power theft. “Data analytics can analyze consumption patterns, enabling discoms to effectively manage peak demand situation leading to significant savings on peak price costs by discoms and the consumers. Analytics has significant potential to create value for discoms and will lead to revenue enhancement by leveraging the smart metering solutions,” he said.
Commercial framework is required for use of data, which is owned by discoms and there is bound to be concerns about data protection, Rawal added. “For commercial framework, data protection is very important.” The commercial launch will provide an outline regarding data usage, and sharing of revenue with discoms.
The company will also look for technology partners as it expands its offerings. He said that there is ample opportunity in aggregator services with the growth in rooftop solar and the company is working on plans to become an aggregator and offer peer-to-peer trading services.
The plans for diversification comes at a time when the company is also looking to expand its primary business of smart meters. Currently, around 20 million meters have been awarded to the company. It is currently operating in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.
He expects that bids for smart meters in in all the states would come out next year, wherein IntelliSmart would take part.
IntelliSmart Infrastructure was set up as a joint venture National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) in 2019 as a digital solutions provider for power utilities.