Most Challenging-GIS Implementation-North Delhi Power Limited

Sunday, June 17, 2007

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North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) distributes power to North and North West Delhi. For any utility company, effectively  managing network  distribution requires good network maps. With the help of quality maps, one can plan and utilize resources better. That’s exactly what NDPL has done.

NDPL has used GIS (Geographic Information System) to capture ground maps. After implementing GIS, it became a communications platform for various operations of NDPL. GIS has enabled NDPL’s employess to know the details of each district, zone, grid station, and even of each consumer, at the click of a button. For instance, if a consumer faces a power cut problem and brings it to the notice of the NDPL authorities, they can trace it out sitting their desk. They can ascertain the power grid from which the consumer is connected and can also determine the exact transformer from where he/she gets power. This helps in resolving problems faster than ever before. Similarly, if a customer wants to increase the power load for their residence, GIS helps NDPL employee to determine whether it can be done from the same transformer or whether they need to get another line from a different transformer. Another interesting feature enables NDPL to determine the shortest route to plant a new electrification network.

	He has done Master’s in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi. He has been there with NDPL for about 4 and half years and prior to that he was with BSES [Bombay Suburban Electric Supply] now known as Reliance Energy for about 6 years. He has been mostly involved in engineering or power projects.
Shailesh Singh, Senior Manager and Head-GIS	A very detailed project in terms of the data it collates and processes; and probably one of its kind in the power distribution business across India.

For instance, if NDPL wants to expand their existing electricity network, they can determine the shortest route between two end points through the system, without actually going out to the field, which was the case earlier. This has improved the efficiency of NDPL and has also helped them to cater to the needs of the consumers faster. These benefits helped NDPL to save a huge amount of money, a whopping 1.26 crore in the very first year of GIS implementation.

GIS also provides a detailed list of all NDPL consumers. Hence, if there is a scheduled power cut at a specific location, they can get the data about affected consumers within that specified location and inform them in advance. All NDPL users have access to it and it can serve 200 concurrent users. They have used a software called GE SmallWorld and the data is stored in the GE small world application server.

GIS also acts as an input to other enterprise software such as SAP and SCADA. But the extensive use of information makes it a unique project in itself. For people going to the field to lay a network or to check faults in any of the transformers, the system provides invaluable help. They can download the GIS map of the area to a PDA and carry it with them, hence making their life much simpler and work much faster.

One of the key challenges for them was data creation. With no prior knowledge and lack of availability of a good consultant or agency, it was a challenge to gather such extensive data. The key benefits of this project were faster service to consumers and faster and more cost-effective new network layouts. Senior management can also monitor the development sitting right at their desks. All this has reduced costs to a great extent, which indirectly benefits consumers too.

In the next phase, NDPL plans to integrate the GPS system in their recovery van so that they can monitor it on the GIS map itself. This will help them provide faster and planned solutions to power failure problems. They also plan to integrate other applications such as remote meter reading into a single application, which will help them get more productive results.

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