SCIENCENVIRO

Smart Grid is the ‘energy Internet' of the future

In India, the demand for power is surging with shortage peaking over 15 per cent. Many of the households are still not connected to the country's electricity grid.
According to the Ministry of Power, India's transmission and distribution losses are among the highest in the world, averaging 24 per cent of total electricity production, in some states as high as 62 per cent.
Indian utilities need to address challenges of high AT&C losses, payment default by consumers, encroachments on electrical network creating unsafe situations, theft of electricity and electrical equipment, distribution transformer failure and rising power purchase costs.
India needs to invest in building a modern, intelligent grid. Let us first define a grid.
A grid is a collective name for all the wires, transformers and infrastructure that transport electricity from power plants to end users.
Solutions such as capability of remote disconnection on non-payment by consumers, automatic alarms when network is being encroached or when people engage in theft will enable utilities stop pilferage and avoid unsafe situations or accidents. In addition, optimal asset utilisation can be planned with online data of overloading of transformers and network, which can help reduce or prevent failures.
Smart Grid is the convergence of Information Technology (IT), communication technology and electrical infrastructure.
It is a network for electricity transmission and distribution systems that uses two way state-of-the-art communications, advanced sensors and specialized technology to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of electricity delivery and use.
It impacts all components of the power system like generation, transmission and distribution.
Smart Grids through demand response and load management reduce the per unit production cost. By reducing the peak demand, a Smart Grid can reduce the need for additional transmission lines.
Smart Grids are undoubtedly the “energy internet” of the future.
The technology can help us reduce electricity transmission and distribution losses to 5-10 per cent annually.

Half of HIV patients in Asia live in India

India houses half of Asia's HIV patients and is way ahead of China in disease burden. It also finds a place in the list of 22 countries prioritised for preventing mother to child transmission infection
About 48 lakh people were living with HIV in Asia in 2010 and nearly half of them – 49 per cent to be precise – are in India
The percentage of pregnant women who tested positive for HIV infection in India also rose from 2 per cent in 2005 t0 23 per cent in 2010.
India tops the list followed by China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, though the highest prevalence rate, one per cent, was observed only in Thailand.
Notwithstanding regional variations, the HIV epidemic is being stabilised among female sex workers and traditional risk groups in the six high-prevalence States including Karnataka.
But epidemics among men who have sex with men are growing across the region including India.
35 per cent of children with HIV infection were receiving anti-retroviral therapy treatment.
There is also evidence that prevention programmes are working in India. One such programme in Karnataka was associated with a drop in HIV prevalence from 25 per cent to 13 per cent among female sex workers
intervention programme in Mumbai and Thane led to a decline from 45 per cent HIV prevalence in 2004 to 13 per cent in 2010 among brothel-based sex workers.