Energy management and energy storage are the need of the hour. I already mentioned that we missed the bus planning about storage and balancing device. We need to take a call for promoting storage. Join the leading alliance focused on the development of advanced energy storage, green hydrogen, and e-Mobility technologies in India. Become a member of the India Energy Storage Alliance!

1. What went behind the scenes to make
PM’s ‘lights-out’ call a true success?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nine-minute lights-out call was met
with resounding support on April 5, 2020. PM Modi had urged Indian citizens
to switch off lights at their homes and light up candles, lamps, and mobile
phones in a display of solidarity and the country's ‘collective resolve’ to defeat
coronavirus.
While there were apprehensions about the negative impact on the grid due to
the sudden drop and spurt in demand following the event, the Indian power
utilities along with national and state load despatch centres ensured grid
operations remained smooth and uninterrupted throughout the country.
So, how did India’s grid successfully manage a load drop of 31 GW on the
night of April 5, for nine minutes? Emerging Tech Radio host Netra
Walawalkar spoke with B B Mehta, Chief Engineer, SLDC at Gujarat Energy

2. Transmission Corp Ltd (GETCO) to understand what went behind the scenes
in managing this unprecedented event successfully.
Listen to the podcast here: https://bit.ly/2Z2iUN1
Interview Transcript:
Q: Can you share how the load despatch centre prepared for the event
and coordinated it. What were some of the planning and projections
around the event?
It was a great event. Practically, grid operators are habituated to managing
such grid vulnerability on a day-to-day basis however the challenge here was
that it was a pan-India event. It was going to be held at the same time for the
same time (nine minutes) across India so it was important to have meticulous
and precise planning in that aspect.
It was a large-scale distributed operation but in one way it is integrated also.
Electricity is a concurrent subject in our country, it is not only looked after by
the states but also the central government. All the states were working in a
low-demand scenario since the lockdown was announced in the country. The
general power requirement of the country has already fallen by 40 percent to
50 percent and amid that, there was a massive event by the people where
people were going to have lights out at 21:00 hours for 9 minutes on April 5.
To cope up with that contingency we did a detailed analysis with different
stakeholders in the power sector. As you may know, electricity cannot be
stored so we need to generate just the amount we want to use and if you don't
want to use it then you have to switch off the generation or reduce it. Now, for
that we need to have a response time of the generator which is analogous
with the goal given by Hon’ble PM; so the fast ramping or fast response
devices in generation segment is hydro & Gas power plant and others so they
have been called upon a couple of hours before the announcement of the
program and they were to act as per the plan. They were informed that there
needs to less gap between the power that is being generated and the power

3. that is demanded either on the plus side or the minus side. So, we had a
detailed meeting with our generation stations, with the regional despatch
centre then we had national meetings by the POSOCO and SLDCs, all the
SLDCs connected through video conference, and lots of statistical details
were prepared and shared.
We probably went wrong in some of the places, initially with respect to Gujarat
we submitted a drop of 12,500 MW but probably our regional load and
national drop came around 700 MW to 800 MW only. By and large, there was
an idea that there will be a load drop of 12,500 MW but we all went wrong,
when it took place, we had around 31,000 MW load drop.
With respect to preparation, we identified the team which will do each
operation, we put perfect people on those teams and at power stations and
sub-stations. Our protection team was on its toes, for voltage control our
sub-SLDC was trapped on time and with that level of precise planning, we
were ready to meet the challenge on the day of April 5.
Q: How exactly was the operation managed during the nine-minute event
on April 5?
It was very precisely planned as to who will contribute to the management of
the grid variation. Say, the grid is having some baseload and there was some
delta factor which is going to vary during the nine-minute window, which plant
will play a role to control that dynamic so that hydro station was informed and
put on mark an hour before the start of the event.
They were operating at an MW-level as per what is planned by the regional
load despatch centre and as soon as the load started to fall, they promptly
responded by reducing their generation so as to have the net balance remain
as is. As soon as the load dropped, the frequency shot up to some 50-point
level but by that time the generation was drastically reduced to ensure it does
not go beyond the limit.
Further, once the event was over, instructions were passed as to who will pick
up how much generation to ensure there is no hue-and-cry over any
imbalance or mismatch. They acted very promptly and all power plants that

4. participated in the event were part of the video conference and it was a
seamless transfer of information. Overall, it was a very tightly integrated
approach and there were no more deviations beyond the standards and the
grid code and we could manage it very promptly.
Q: As we see, this event was planned and scheduled and still
unprecedented in the history of the power grid, what are some of the
learning from this event?
An important lesson is that our action plan for mitigating these contingencies
should be more precise. We should have a more detailed study of the load
and the component because, as you see, it was anticipated 12,500 MW but it
went up to a 31,000 MW drop. Further, we had a strict advisory from the
government that other states should not face any problems because of us, so
we had double back up.
We could curtail wind generation when frequency crossed about 50.2, it was
about 600 MW wind generation immediately shut off and it was planned,
advanced intimation was given to the wind generation station and on one call
they immediately operated it.
We had taken the help of agriculture load too, some of the [agriculture] load
was going to switch off just before 21:00 hours on the day of the event so as
to have more inertia on the load of the demand. For some of the agriculture
power which was scheduled to start after 21:00 hours we preponed them, we
told farmers they will get power half an hour early so that there is less load
drop from the grid point of view and overall grid management will become
easier.
Another learning is that we should take the help of these dynamics, this may
not be available to distribution companies serving only urban cities like Delhi
or Mumbai but for large state discoms this was one of the good opportunities.
Another learning is that we still need to have a more flexible generation at our
disposal to mitigate such events in case such contingency arises in the future.

5. Q: Since 2011 the Regulatory Commission has talked about tightening
the frequency band but there has been no firm step taken in this regard,
what are your comments on that.
No, they have tightened the band a little but ultimately frequency is a
benchmark that indicates the balance between the generation and load.
Today what happens is that the load is not in my control, everyone is free and
flexible to use power as per his convenience, so the requirement of power is
not in the hands of the grid control operator anymore. Generation was under
the control of the grid control operator, but it seems to have declined over the
last decade as the portfolio of renewable has increased. What has happened
is there is limited control of renewable as we do not know how much
renewable will be harnessed.
Now, there are some forecast regulations but those regulations themselves
have a lot of loopholes. Say, there is a percentage error formula that does not
match with the conventional power percentage error formula. There is already
an open band with respect to Gujarat saying there is up to 12 percent zero
penalties. So, if I have an 8000 MW portfolio of renewables to manage but I
cannot vary more than 250 MW, that is one of my boundaries, and that is also
one of the regulations.
Therefore, to me, there is a huge mismatch between the regulation being
planned. They may have the idea to give incentives and promote renewables,
but electricity follows some laws, renewable does not follow different laws and
conventional does not follow some different laws.
So, with respect to the management of the grid, our rules should be
analogous with each other, the amount of penalty can be different. One more
thing, we knew that promoting a type of generation say renewable, is going to
have a huge vulnerability, variability, or uncertainty but we are not planning
any balancing mechanism and we are asking the grid to do plus-and-minus
250 MW at SLDC-level.
Frankly speaking, we have planned 175 GW, but we never plan any gigawatts
for balancing. Now, they are planning 450 GW, but I do not see any associate

6. planning for balancing with that. If you know you are planning something
intermittent, seasonal, or variable, but we are not planning to counterbalance
that type of source, that creates a lot of problems with respect to the grid
operation. Therefore, we need to take a call.
Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, the demand has fallen but renewable or
wind remains as it is.
One other important thing was the real market operations date, it has been
delayed by two months, it was supposed to be started by April 1 and I am
surprised as to why that has happened.
So administratively, at the policymaking level, we need to take a call that we
have homogeneous synchronous planning, regulations, and policy that
supports grid operations in the true spirit.
Q: Yes, the real market operations date is now postponed to June 1, and
so discoms and generators will get one more avenue of managing their
schedule with real-time market starting and that will help to manage
charges and penalties but how do you see the role of energy storage in
grid management?
Energy management and energy storage are the need of the hour. I already
mentioned that we missed the bus planning about storage and balancing
device. We need to take a call for promoting storage.
Today what happens is, suppose someone wants to plan a 10 MW storage he
has to think about CAPEX, as soon as he is a member of the grid he has to
pay the transmission charges, who will bear that cost? These are some of the
problems that need to be addressed.
And some of the storage mechanism which is already with us like pumped
board hydro station; probably across pan-India more than 4000 MW pumped
board hydro station which is constructed, technically tested, but not in
operations due to administrative or small technical issue so people are talking

7. storage but people are not taking actions, there is still no road map that is that
being prepared.
Q: What are your thoughts on a battery energy storage system?
I think somebody has to take the call. If you remember the history of solar, in
the state of Gujarat during 2008-09 we invited and paid ₹15 tariffs for solar.
Similarly, if we want to grow towards a new technology today, somebody has
to pay the high cost then the research will take place, the industry will take
shape, and someone will come with a lower-and lower tariff. Say pan-India I
do not think we have more than 100-200 MW of storage solutions in service or
under construction. Say, we have a 3000 MW grid and we do not give a 300
MW storage solution under implementation here, so somebody should take
the call. If the required viability gap fund can be utilized, we need it.
Storage in lieu of the penalty of renewable; my point is why do we have that
‘penalty thinking’. My thinking is storage in lieu of balancing the dispatch of the
renewable, if you think and talk in that sense then there will be a huge
quantum, and the balancing requirement will be justified, and the course can
be determined later.
Today, what happens is every state regulator is first keen to know what is the
penalty of renewable and whether the storage solutions fit that or not, so the
RE developer is happy to bear the penalty and not go for storage. That is not
the system need, it is a commerce/economic requirement.
My requirement is very simple, if I have a variation of wind, a 1000 MW every
day, almost 250 days in a year then I need to have at least 300 MW of storage
then I can mitigate something. But then, people start asking how many
penalties it can raise? How much impact is on your grid? I say, if 1000 MW
variation is already there then we should at least have 1/3rd of that for
balancing, and to keep it operational wherever the support is required it
should be granted.
Large transmission projects have a huge impact on the tariff of the distribution
company, whether the project is taken up by the CTO or the STO but that is
being granted because it is essential for the transmission of power from one

8. place to another. My plea is that balancing is also an important element of the
grid to maintain the grid discipline and to operate the grid within the desirable
hygiene.
Last, but not least, I’d add the event was a great challenge for us, but it was a
large distributed operation with one integrated theme: let us all control the
grid. And, we have all been successful.
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Join the leading alliance focused on the development of advanced
energy storage, green hydrogen, and e-Mobility technologies in India.
Become a member of the India Energy Storage Alliance!