October 20, 2010
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

The India-Sweden Joint Working Group on Science and Technology promotes collaborative research. Now it will support a project at Amrita to be undertaken in partnership with the KTH, Sweden.
 

This project on Energy Management on Smart Grid using Embedded Systems will commence on January 1, 2011. Funding will be provided for a period of three years.
 

Smart grids deliver electricity to consumers using digital technology in such a way so as to save energy and reduce costs. This type of modernized electricity network, wherein the electrical grid is overlaid with an information and net metering system, is being promoted as a way to address energy independence issues.
 

“The aim of our project is to develop a load management and generation control scheme for a power system network supported by a monitoring and data analysis system,” explained Dr. Sasi K. Kottayil, who will lead the Amrita team.
 

The project will see the creation of a smart metering and data collection system at KTH, Sweden. In the final phase of the project, after testing on a power system simulator in the laboratory, the system will be implemented at Amrita on power distribution feeders using wireless communication.
 

“The collaboration brings together the capabilities of KTH in the fields of smart meters and real-time testing with embedded firmware,” stated Dr. Sasi. “Amrita will contribute with its power system management skills.”
 

“We hope that this project will contribute to the modernization of current power grids,” he underlined.
 

Dr. Sasi, will be joined by his colleagues Dr. T. B. Isha, Dr. T. N. P. Nambiar, Prof. A. T. Devarajan and Prof. P. Supriya, in carrying out the project.
 

The KTH team led by Dr. Pontus Johnson will also include Dr. Robert Lagerström and Dr. Rajeev Thottappilli.
 

“There is the potential to start graduate programs at Amrita to impart training on Smart Grid and Power System Management to students as well as utility operators. Also, the knowledge developed can be applied in utility systems.”