The Government has approved National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) – an institutional mechanism for planning, monitoring and implementation of policies and programmes related to smart grid activities, says Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy.
The total outlay for NSGM activities in the 12th Plan is Rs.980 crore with a budgetary support of Rs. 338 crore.
NSGM has got a three-tier structure:
- At the apex level, it has a Governing Council headed by the Minister of Power, whose members are Secretary-level officers of the ministries and departments concerned. The role of Governing Council is to approve all policies and programmes for smart grid implementation.
- At the secondary level, NSGM comprises an Empowered Committee headed by the Secretary (Power). Its members include Joint Secretary-level officers of the ministries and departments concerned. The role of this Committee is to provide policy input to the Governing Council and approve, monitor, review specific smart grid projects, guidelines / procedures etc.
- In a supportive role, NSGM has a Technical Committee headed by Chairperson, Central Electrical Authority (CEA). The members in this Committee are Director-level officers of the ministries and departments concerned, and representatives from industries and academia. The job of this Technical Committee is to support the Empowered Committee on technical aspect, standards development, technology selection guidelines etc.
- For day-to-day operations, NSGM has an NSGM Project Management Unit (NPMU) headed by the Director, NPMU, who is a Member of the Governing Council and Empowered Committee, and Member Secretary of Technical Committee. NPMU is the implementing agency for operationalising the smart grid activities in the country under the guidance of the Governing Council and the Empowered Committee.
- Grant up to 30 per cent of the project cost is available from the NSGM budget. For selected components, such as training and capacity building, consumer engagement, etc, 100 per cent grant is available.
Corresponding to NSGM, a state-level mission chaired by the Power Secretary of the state concerned, has also been proposed. Support for training and capacity building to State-Level Project Monitoring Units (SLPMUs) for smart grid activities is also provided by NSGM.
The minister further stated that the major activities envisaged under NSGM are development of smart grid, development of micro grids, consumer engagements and training & capacity building etc. NSGM entails implementation of a smart electrical grid based on state-of-the art technology in the fields of automation, communication and IT systems that can monitor and control power flows from points of generation to points of consumption, the minister added.
