Business of ERDA FY 2018-19
In the year 2018-19, Electrical Research and Development Association (ERDA) focused more on the expansion of its international market and achieving new accolades. During the year, we have received approval from Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) and Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA) as world-wide independent testing laboratory.
ERDA has renewed its mutual co-operation and collaboration agreement with GIPCL for working in specialised energy audit sector related areas. ERDA has also signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PVVNL, Meerut to work together for the achievement of common goals and objectives related to testing and improving quality of the product used under DISCOMs.
During the year 2018-19, ERDA handled approximately 58,000 nos. samples. Apart from inhouse testing, ERDA also catered to more than 4,000 inspection calls for third party inspection and 700 nos. of field or site testing jobs.
With these services ERDA has been able to reaffirm its service commitment to its customers and spread its business and brand image all over India as well as abroad. ERDA is having a well-known brand image today in the field of R&D, electrical testing and evaluation, field services and expert services across India.
ERDA’s future roadmap
Vision of ERDA is to become “An Internationally Renowned Laboratory and Center of Excellence in R&D for Electrical Industries and Utilities”.
ERDA is presently accredited with DEWA, Dubai; SEWA, Sharjah; ADWEA, Abu Dhabi; DCRP, Oman; TNB, Malaysia etc. We are working for approvals from SAARC countries e.g. Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. and far-eastern countries e.g. Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia etc.
In the R&D sector, ERDA wants to grow much bigger. ERDA is looking for partnership opportunities with global and national manufacturing companies and government sector e.g. MNRE, NETRA etc.
In the field of testing and evaluation, ERDA is in an advanced stage of setting up a state-of-the-art High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) conductor testing facility at Vadodara. Presently India is having no HTLS conductor testing facility and manufacturers have to go abroad for testing of such conductors. This facility is expected to be commissioned by April 2020.
ERDA is also setting up complete type testing facility of solar PV panels as per IS 14286 and IS / IEC 61730 at Vadodara in the near future.
However, the dream project of ERDA is to set up Centre of Excellence for Medium Voltage Short Circuit Laboratory for testing of medium voltage switchgear equipment and power transformers upto 50 MVA, 132 kV. This project is having an outlay of around Rs 600 crore. Financial closure of this project is still awaited from Government of India and Government of Gujarat.
How ERDA is different
ERDA has continuously improved and upgraded its testing equipment and facilities over the last decade. Every year ERDA spends on an average Rs. 30-40 crore to upgrade and augment its facility and infrastructure for various R&D activities. Over the last few years ERDA has added many world class testing facilities e.g. Type “C” Goniophotometer for LED and luminaries testing, best-in-class 600 kV, 3 Amp. High Voltage Partial Discharge Laboratory, IEC – 61850 protocol testing facility, smart energy meter testing facility, flame proof testing facility etc. Many new ambitious projects e.g. HTLS Conductor testing facility, solar PV panel testing facilities are under construction. Many more projects are in the pipeline. ERDA continuously upgrades itself to remain aligned with global laboratories.
On the accreditation front, ERDA is one of the first movers to new ISO 17025:2017 standard and got itself NABL accredited under this new version of standard. Similarly, for most of the upgraded version of IS or IEC standards, ERDA has kept itself upgraded with time. In the third-party inspection services, ERDA has obtained accreditation as Type “A” Inspection Body as per ISO / IEC 17020:2012.
Customer satisfaction is the key to success of any organisation and ERDA strictly follows this maxim. ERDA through its customer relationship management team provides excellent service to its customers without compromising its integrity and impartiality. ERDA provides on-line test date booking facility, status of ongoing testing through its website. ERDA also keeps its customers informed at every stage of testing of its samples through emails and SMS.
ERDA never compromises on integrity and impartiality on its pursuance to excellence. ERDA has introduced code of conduct and ethics, and whistle blower policy for all of its employees and other stakeholders. All the employees of ERDA are committed to follow this policy.
In view of the above, customers repose immense trust and confidence on the results and services provided by ERDA. This customer confidence is the key differentiator between ERDA and other laboratories in India.
ERDA at ELECRAMA 2020
Like earlier years, ERDA is participating in ELECRAMA 2020 also in a big way. We have a 42 sq. mtr. 3 sides open stall H3A1 in Hall no. 3 of the exhibition centre. The theme of our stall is “Supporting Energy Transition to 2030”. In this exhibition, we shall be focusing on our futuristic developments to support transition of the electrical industry to the new decade 2030. We shall be highlighting our newly developing HTLS testing facility and solar PV panel type testing facility. We shall also be showcasing our various new technology developments e.g. robotic arm solar PV panel cleaning system, IoT based hot spot temperature measurement in switchgear panels and transformers. We shall also be presenting our existing future generation testing facilities e.g. LED lamp and luminaire testing facility, IEC – 61850 protocol testing facility, smart meter testing facilities, our power system analysis facilities using latest software tools etc.
