Enel Group, through its affiliate company Gridspertise, has signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL), to help speed the digital transformation of power distribution grids in India. The signing of the MoUs was announced by Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel Grids, at the India Italy Business Roundtable, chaired by Italy’s Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.
The Business Roundtable was held today in New Delhi, on the sidelines of the official visit of the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the bilateral meeting held with Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
The Enel Group’s international leadership in the deployment of digital and smart grids extends for more than two decades and has made Italy’s grid one of the first in the world to successfully roll out smart meters country-wide. Since 2021, the Enel Group’s expertise in the field of power grids digitalization has been incorporated into a dedicated company with the creation of Gridspertise, which is currently operated under a joint control regime with CVC Capital Partners.
Gridspertise entered two agreements with Tata Power-DDL, a joint venture between Tata Power and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. One of the agreements aims to accelerate digitalization and automation of secondary substations and sees Tata Power-DDL joining the international co-creation program of Gridspertise’s proprietary QEd – Quantum Edge® Device. This collaborative program aims to develop new applications and use cases for the innovative all-in-one-device and Tata Power-DDL will be involved in tailoring it to the Indian context. The QEd allows distribution grid operators to run key functionalities directly on the edge, virtualizing an increasing number of business services in a simple way, reducing the amount of equipment needed in the substation, thus contributing to more sustainable grid operations.
The second agreement is aimed at deploying Gridspertise’s latest metering technology on a pilot project in the Tata Power-DDL network, testing and evaluating the new hybrid smart meter technology that features double communication channel (via hybrid Power Line Communication and Radio Frequency) in real field conditions.
“The agreements announced during the India Italy Business Roundtable result from years of close collaboration between the Enel Group and leading Indian power sector organizations. Today, thanks to the collaboration between Tata Power-DDL and our affiliate company Gridspertise, we reaffirm our commitment to support India’s energy transition pathway and in particular the country’s ambitious smart metering and digitalization plans, with the aim to modernize existing distribution grids, increase performance and quality, in a country where demographic and economic growth are driving electrification,” said Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel Grids.
“After opening Gridspertise’s offices in India, we are very proud to step up our collaboration with Tata Power-DDL on crucial areas such as smart metering and substation automation with our state-of-the-art proprietary edge computing technology. In addition, through our unique portfolio of proven digitalization solutions, we are ready to work with the Indian distribution sector to improve grid performance, reduce technical and commercial losses, as well as frequent power interruptions caused by adverse climate events or by lack of real-time communication,” added Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise.
The agreements announced today add to the already significant presence of Enel Green Power in India. In the country since 2015, the company employs approximately 150 people and owns wind farms operating in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, for a total capacity of 340 MW as well as a solar photovoltaic power plant in the state of Rajasthan with a capacity of 420 MW. In addition, Enel Green Power has been awarded – through national tenders, a 190 MW wind project to be developed in the state of Karnataka.