NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Feb 12 – North Lakhimpur will become the second town in the country after Bihar’s Sasaram to have a unique electric power supply dc microgrid system to beat the load shedding and reduce energy consumption. This is due to an innovative mission called Project UDC which aims at providing DC power supply to households in smaller towns and villages across the country. Developed by IIT-Madras and supported by the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India, Project UDC is being implemented in North Lakhimpur by the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd.
This innovative dc microgrid solution aims to provide an additional DC power line with every home in the town in which the consumer can directly connect more energy efficient DC appliances compared to AC appliances. This DC line continues to operate even during load shedding. This means during load shedding, AC line will be cut-off but DC line will be on. This new DC power line can support 2-3 DC lights, 1-2 DC fans, TV, mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers etc. The existing AC line of the consumers will continue to function as it does currently. However, from the meter, two power lines will emerge – one existing AC line and second a new DC line. The project also aims at a reduced power tariff for the customers as DC lines reduce 50% of the energy than the AC lines.
Project UDC will also make the use of solar rooftop panels effective as this dc microgrid system uses DC lines. The project will be completed by March this year in North Lakhimpur and it is carried out by Cygni Energy, Hyderabad. It will cover 10,000 consumers in North Lakhimpur in which an LED bulb, one LED tube light, one fan and one charger for mobile phones and computer laptops will be provided freely at the time of installation of DC lines with a separate meter. Initially, the project will cover consumers under the load of 4 KW of the civil feeder and No. 2 feeder of the town.
Full Story: The Assam Tribune
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