“Creating technical competitive edge over global players is a must for a win…”

Raychem RPG (P) Ltd., incorporated in 1989, is a 50:50 Joint Venture between TE Connectivity, USA and RPG Enterprises, India. The company is involved in technologies strengthening the infrastructure segments of economy under four Strategic Business Units (SBUs), namely: Energy Products, Transformer, Oil & Gas and International (exports). In an exclusive interview with Electrical India, Himanshu Sharma, Head of Sales & Marketing – India & Exports from the company is explaining their business environment and strategy to P K Chatterjee. Excerpts…

What kind of transformation do you observe in the Indian power sector in the last one year and going forward?

Indian power sector is transforming at a respectable pace especially in last one year. The industry is growing at a CAGR of 15% as a result of growth in power and infrastructure segment. Further to meet the objective of meeting power for all, the government has announced an investment worth $ 250 billion over next five years. Railways, Solar, Mining, Smart- cities and Defence have all given us a reason to step forward and unleash our capabilities to the fullest.

The recent biddings in solar parks have witnessed unprecedented enthusiasm from players. In utilities, we have also seen a downward trend in financial losses from Rs 769 bn in FY12 to Rs 600 bn in FY15, though encouraging, but still a lot is desired to be done further.

This throws some amazing opportunities at players like us. This augurs well with recent UDAY (UjwalDiscom Assurance Yojna) scheme which aims at reducing stressed utilities their interest costs, improving operational efficiencies, reduction of cost of power and enforcing financial discipline through state finances. This gives utilities an opportunity to breakeven in next 2-3 years.

Further the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) is an ambitious feeder separation programme that aims to provide 24×7 power supply to rural households.

The Integrated Power Development Scheme is aimed at improving the quality and reliability of power supply for urban and semi-urban consumers. Average AT&C losses stands at 23.6% in FY15 with 13 utilities reporting an increase.
Reduction in coal prices internationally and allocation of coal mines in India on aggressive bidding rates will ensure low cost of power. All this throws up ample opportunities in Indian power distribution sector. In recent times utilities have started focusing on improving performance by enhancing customer service and increasing customer satisfaction, though some of the old age challenges still prevail at large.

The key focus area going forward shall be renewable energy integration and efficiency improvement through effective load management, data capturing and analytics. Another interesting field of supplementing renewable power generation with storage technology to mitigate both variability and system imbalance is throwing immense opportunities.

What are the priority areas that must be addressed to achieve the development agenda in the power sector?

First challenge that must be addressed is to upgrade its existing rudimentary T&D equipment. Not only we have to improve the last mile distribution connectivity, we also need to make sure that the quality of connectivity is top notch. For plants to run much above the sub-optimal level of 65% in FY 15, we need to decongest our T&D network. Long term PPAs need to be discussed again to accommodate variations in power demand. A move towards single-window project clearance approval, though complex considering wide Indian scenario and diverse stakeholders, will improve private participation.

Tweaking open access policy can help in establishing a true competitive playing field and will bring out the best in the sector. There is a definitive need of political will and urgency from DISCOMs to reduce various commercial and technical losses.

We need to address power evacuation and intermittency for renewable industry growth. Inefficient tariff schemes must be addressed with fair political will. As a result government must try to create an environment where private participation in transmission and distribution is encouraged and smooth functioning is guaranteed via reasonable independence.

How are you gearing up to grab the emerging opportunities?

We have identified smart cities, railways, solar and loss reduction in utilities as key focus segments. There is a lot of impetus within our product development programs to bring upefficient product innovations in various connector technologies. Our study of existing connector installations have thrown us the possibility of reducing I2R losses by over 80%.

Our range of connectors encompass all voltage levels from 1.1 kV till 1200 kV and provide maintenance free operations throughout its lifetime with impeccable reliability. We are also looking at much improved designs of feeder pillar boxes for both over-ground and underground applications. The main philosophy behind our contemporary designs is to have a theft free operations, an easy maintenance, compactness, safety and exceptional reliability.

We have recently acquired one of the best international technology in the field of feeder pillars and are launching our range of feeder pillars under the brand name of ‘Rayfeed.’

Our world class Raychem Innovation Center (RIC) at Halolwill soon launch product range to address the requirements of an intelligent distribution network. The well trained sales team and diverse dealer network will provide us the required tailwinds.

What are your latest innovations as far as reliable joints and terminations are concerned?

We have come out with some exclusive designs to improve the reliability of a cable joint system. Our ‘Rayfit’ type of joints come equipped with specially designed mechanical connectors with shear head bolt technology. These connectors provide best in class electrical connections and ensure error free & tool free installation. These joints also have an innovative hybrid coextruded 3-layered tubing, which combines the functionality of insulation and screen into one. This results in significant reduction in partial discharges and improves the life of a joint by several years.

In terminations, we have come up with ‘uniterm’ which combines the functionality of stress control with non-tracking tubing – thereby significantly reducing the installation time and providing trouble free operation. In low voltage, we have come up with ‘Rayvolve’ range of joints where we are using the combination of rollover-tube technology and mechanical connectors to ensure long life of joints under demanding conditions.

What are your contributions for enhancing safety in the power industry?

Our ‘Raysulate’ brand of insulation enhancement products are well known and are being used by the industry since long. We were encouraged by the industry to further extend the range to provide PPE for personal safety. We recently launched ‘elecsafe’ range of PPEs, which are specific to electric safety. We provide electrical safety shoes, electrical safety gloves, helmets, arc-suits, electrical mats and electrical insulation tools which ensure personnel safety.

What are the various types of service that you provide to the power industry?

In addition to the installation services of our products, we also look at safety audits and loss reduction audits for our customers. We run world class call centers where we provide excellent data management along with restoration of faulty feeders. Additionally we provide services for survey, diagnostics, consultancy and annual maintenance contracts. Our service segment is growing at a brisk pace of 30% YOY basis and some of our major clients include DMRC, BRPL, BYPL, TPDDL, HVPNL and various other industries , EPC contractors and DISCOM’s.

How are you serving the emerging renewable energy players?

The target of achieving 175 GW (100 GW in solar, 60 GW in wind, 10 GW in small hydro and 5 GW in biomass) has been advanced now by 2 years to 2020 and would require an investment above $150 billion. This humongous task will put pressure on our research and development capabilities to improve reliability of the products and improve efficiency of PV cells to 30-40% levels. Accordingly, we have aligned our product offerings and strategy for the sector. We are focusing on products which will help customers improve the reliability of solar parks or wind parks which are normally located far away and any breakdown would cause huge financial implication. We offer joints and terminations, polymeric insulators, trouble free connectors, protection against wildlife overhead line accidental flashovers, composite lightning arrestors etc., which are key to providing reliability in power evacuation.

What would you like to communicate to the Indian power engineers?

Let’s innovate, change and strive for better tomorrow. We have one group of the best talents in the power sector, but somehow we have contained ourselves within our systemic boundaries. We have a distance to go and lot of innovative thinking is required to achieve the desired results. Creating technical competitive edge over global players is a must for a win.

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