POSOCO – HRED IIT ROORKEE execute an MoU on Hydro and Renewable Energy for Power System Operations across India

Roorkee : Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (HRED, IIT Roorkee) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), a CPSE under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is responsible to monitor and ensure round the clock integrated operation of Indian Power System in a reliable, efficient and secure manner thus serving a mission critical activity. Under the MoU both the parties have agreed upon the services provided by HRED, IIT Roorkee and associated departments on Hydro and Renewable Energy shall be used by Power System Operators across India for better management of Indian Power System and for purposes of analysis. The MoU was concluded online at IIT Roorkee.

The MoU will focus on:

· Studying the Challenges and Benefits of Synchronous Condenser Mode of Operation under High Variable Renewable Energy Integration

· Hydro-Thermal-Renewable Scheduling and Coordination under High Variable Renewable Energy Integration

· Advance Alert System for Silt Monitoring in Himalayan Rivers

· Optimization Studies for Hydropower Stations in Cascade

· To encourage research in the area of Wide area measurement systems (WAMS) and Cyber security, among others.

On the partnership, M K Singhal, Head, HRED, IIT Roorkee, said, “To improve hydro-thermal-renewable scheduling and coordination, and fully exploit the benefits of hydro power in improving grid integration of renewable energy and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, HRED, IIT Roorkee will present a roadmap for modeling and simulation of power systems under high variable renewable generation.”

Shri Rajiv Porwal, Chief General Manager (I/C), Head NRLDC, POSOCO, mentioned, “POSOCO will collaborate with HRED and other Departments of IIT Roorkee to conduct studies such as optimization for Hydropower Stations in Cascade. Synergy of both the organisations would be used for finding solutions to the issues of Indian Power Systems including the above areas. POSOCO would also be sharing actual data for realistic studies. In case required, POSOCO shall coordinate with hydro stations to provide the data/support required by HRED and other departments, of IIT Roorkee . The benefits achieved from this collaboration shall be shared by POSOCO with HRED and other departments, of IIT Roorkee as specifically achieved. Further, POSOCO and IIT Roorkee shall jointly work towards knowledge sharing and information dissemination.”

While addressing the event, Prof. Manish Shrikhande, Dean SRIC IIT Roorkee, said, “To enable more accurate modeling of the water aspects in hydro power plants during hydro-thermal-renewable scheduling and coordination studies the partnership between HRED IIT Roorkee and POSOCO is critical. The future Indian power system with high levels of inverter-based distributed energy resources, power electronics loads, and battery storage is dependent upon improving the modeling of system operations.”

Taking about the background of the partnership, Prof. Arun Kumar, Faculty HRED, IIT Roorkee, highlighted, “The focus for HRED, IIT Roorkee and the cognate departments, will be to locate regions in India where synchronous condensers are likely to be most beneficial. Thus, the collaboration will facilitate the study that will help identify the renewable penetration levels at which synchronous condenser mode of operation will become critical to ensuring grid stability and the challenges posed by synchronous condensers to grid stability.”