Centre plans on developing a smart power system that can withstand cyberattacks and is digitally controlled

In the past, India’s power supply systems have been targeted by RedEcho, a cyberhacker group with links to China. According to a NYT report, groups associated with China are to held responsible for the Mumbai outage that occurred in October 2021. Power grids and other power installations have frequently been targeted by hackers on a global scale.

In the past ten years, hackers have targeted California’s power grid a number of times. The Indian government is developing a cutting-edge, smart transmission system that is resilient to cyberattacks and natural disasters because it is aware of the harm that hackers and natural disasters can do to power supply installations.

Also, the technology will enable a larger integration of renewable energy. The new transmission system will make use of AI and machine learning, and it will be built with the aid of robots and drones. It’s anticipated that using robots and drones will reduce human intervention and safety hazards. Also, it will speed up the building and maintenance process and ensure greater accuracy.

“A modern transmission grid is necessary to achieve the government’s vision of 24X7 reliable and affordable power, and meet the sustainability goals,” says RK Singh, the Union Minister for Power and NRE. The Power Ministry’s task force, led by CMD of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, produced a report that served as the foundation for the decision to build a new transmission system. The taskforce was asked to make recommendations on how to modernise, smarten up, and prepare the transmission sector for the future.

The task force included members from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), state transmission utilities, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), central transmission utilities, IIT Kanpur, NSGPMU, and EPTA. In order to deploy selected technology solutions and establish benchmark performance levels, CEA will develop the appropriate standards and regulations.

The taskforce’s report was approved by the government last week following discussions presided over by RK Singh, the Union Power and NRE Minister. “A fully automated, digitally controlled, fast responsive grid which is resilient to cyber-attacks and natural disasters is the need of the hour,” Singh said during the meeting.