IIT Madras to put an end to load shedding in India through low power DC lines
Engineers at IIT Madras have rolled up sleeves to put an end to the load shedding problems in India. A pilot project taken up at IIT will aim at totally eliminating load-shedding in select southern states. The project involves setting up low-power DC lines from the nearest sub-station to individual houses. The state electricity boards will install these lines, capable of powering about three bulbs, two fans and a mobile charger. Depending on the data collected during the trial run, the power ministry will be able to decide on executing the project on a nationwide scale. We keep our fingers crossed.
The lower power DC (direct current) line will run from substation to house, feeding into a separate meter. The rest of the house will be metered separately for AC power usage. Except for the repairs, it's expected that these 100 watt power lines will never need a shut-down. If this approach is successful, the blackouts can be eliminated immediately. IIT-M engineers say the blackouts will be turned into 'brownouts'; meaning, a few lights will continue to operate even when regular power supply fails.
The project is a brainchild of director of IIT-M, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthy and professor of electrical engineering, Ashok Jhunjhunwala. The MoUs have already been signed with the states of TN, Karnataka, AP and Kerala. A central committee formed by the Government and headed by the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, Mr. Anil Kakodkar will oversee the project.
The project will also be very cost effective. Subscriber who opt for these low power DC lines will have to pay about Rs. 1000 to install a device at home. Of course, LED lights and Fans that run on DC power will have to be purchased separately. A team from IIT-M will visit the consumers who are willing to participate in the experiment and perform necessary inspections in the houses. The nearby transformers will then be tweaked to setup DC power lines.
Setting up short-range DC lines would be a problem to avoid complete blackouts; and is going to be incredibly useful during night-times and in areas where summer temperatures cross 40 degrees and beyond. We'd like to ask our readers their opinion on the feasibility of project and its ability to offer uninterrupted power supply all over India.
Source: <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/power/iit-madras-project-to-supply-low-power-dc-may-end-outages/articleshow/29458820.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IIT-Madras project to supply low-power DC may end outages - The Economic Times</a>
