Gridspertise signs Memorandums to support the digitalization of India's power distribution sector

Enel Group informs that 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 on March 2^{nd i}n 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. 

Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel Grids and Director of Gridspertise's Board, said: “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”. 

Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise, commented: “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”.

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.

Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets. At global level, it is the largest renewable private player, the foremost network operator by number of end users and the biggest retail operator by customer base. The Group is the worldwide demand response leader and the largest European utility by ordinary EBITDA.  Enel is present in 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with around 90 GW of total capacity. 

Enel Grids, the Group’s global business line dedicated to the management of the electricity distribution service worldwide, delivers electricity through a network of around 2 million kilometers to approximately 73 million end users. Enel Grids’ ambition is to offer the best quality of service to its customers through operational excellence and a global industrial vision, Grid Futurability: a customer-oriented industrial approach that anticipates stakeholder requirements, by leveraging innovative technological developments and promoting clean electrification through resilient, interactive, and sustainable distribution grids.

Gridspertise was set up in 2021 as a carve-out of Enel’s over 20 years of experience in developing, testing, and scaling up the best technologies to operate smart grids all over the world. The Company has inherited a significant intellectual property portfolio of over 430 patents and combines its expertise in grid digitalization with cutting-edge solutions from leading technology partners to tackle the evolving digitalization needs of the energy market. Gridspertise is today jointly controlled by the Enel Group and the leading global alternative investment manager CVC Capital Partners. Gridspertise works with more than 50 Distribution System Operators of different sizes across different geographies.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL) is a joint venture between Tata Power Company and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi with the majority stake being held by Tata Power Company (51%), the largest private-owned electricity integrated player in India, servicing 10 million customers through distribution networks in Delhi, Mumbai and in the Odisha state. Tata Power-DDL serves 1.9 million customers over an area of 510 Sq. Km.