IBM signs research collaboration agreement with IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur to develop systems to improve power grid efficiency

IBM has signed a research collaboration agreement with IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur to develop systems that will help power grids become more efficient and resilient.The systems will analyse power grid data for predictive insights. They will also improve grids to enhance productivity and reduce inefficiencies in power consumption, said the company.

system designs

IBM Research-India will work with these two institutes to develop open system designs that can boost the potential of Phasor Measurement Units, a new type of sensor on power grids. IBM researchers and the students will develop network architectures to collect and process data to provide information to grid operators.The knowledge and insights gained from this collaborative research work will be made publicly available, to allow governments and businesses around the world take advantage of the technology, a company statement said.

According to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly during 2006 to 2030 — 1.1 per cent per year on average in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. In comparison, increases are 7.6 per cent in China and about 6 per cent in India per year.

This rising demand increases stress on grids, thereby growing the chances of power outages. To prevent such outages and their impact on productivity, it is important to make the grid more intelligent by adding sensing, control and communication components, the release added.

“With exploding world population and the increased demand for clean and cheap energy there is a pressing need for making the power grids efficient, intelligent, and secure. The collaboration among IBM Research-India, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur aims at reducing inherent inefficiencies of power grid technologies and make them optimally productive,” said Dr Manish Gupta, Director, IBM Research-India, and Chief Technologist, IBM India/South Asia. “By helping power grids become more efficient, the project will also contribute to the efforts of creating sustainable energy generation systems.”

IIT-Kharagpur will be primarily involved in developing the new power system applications and software systems for the project and IIT-Madras will focus on the networking architecture to ensure that the data collected from various locations is appropriately transmitted to one location. A test bed will be developed to connect IBM Research labs and both the institutes to emulate a smart grid network.

Collaborative research

The project is part of IBM's Open Collaborative Research programme, an initiative to foster innovation through university-industry research collaboration.The partnerships with the institutes are the fourth engagement of its kind in India. IBM recently announced its collaboration with IIT-Bombay. This year IBM also announced a project with National Institute of Design.