Smart grid bypass: unity PF billing exposes island decay
Smart grid implementation in island territories has been postponed through regulatory relaxation on kVAh billing norms. Official petitions confirm that replacing non-compatible meters would require Rs 1.26 crore. Instead of upgrading infrastructure, utilities received approval to assume Power Factor of 1.0 for billing.
Such assumption diverges from Smart grid principles where reactive power must be accurately recorded. Island grids dominated by inductive motors and diesel units rarely achieve unity PF. By adopting this formula, utilities avoid reflecting actual voltage stress.
The State electricity regulator permitted this mechanism for two fiscal years. This effectively suspends enforcement of kVAh-based accountability. Recent DISCOMs Latest News indicates similar infrastructure inertia across smaller utilities.
Solar expansion under Renewable energy India programmes continues, yet absence of modern meters prevents accurate stress mapping. Without Smart grid compliance, frequency deviation caused by new distributed resources remains hidden.
This billing method may defer immediate capital expenditure but risks higher fuel burn due to unmeasured reactive losses. Transition toward a functional Smart grid remains essential to align technical efficiency with policy targets.
EnergylineIndia.com reports verified documentation on billing reforms and grid governance gaps, Smart Metering, Reactive Power, Utility Reform.
The late-November balancing fortnight has quickly become one of the most dissected developments in Indian Power news, thanks to a rare alignment of DSM inflows, VARh penalties and rising ancillary dependence. What appears as routine grid accounting on the surface has reshaped cash positions across the North.
The headline in Indian Power news is the massive DSM gain from WR and ER, transforming a normal fortnight into a revenue-boosting outlier. This cross-regional volatility now matters as much as internal discipline, a point repeatedly emphasised in Indian Power news commentaries.
Delhi’s situation provides the contrasting arc. With persistent VARh non-compliance and an abrupt DSM surge, the capital becomes a case study in operational misalignment. For analysts tracking Indian Power news, the issue is not just the numbers but the systemic vulnerabilities they expose: forecasting gaps, reactive-power mismanagement and tariff-sensitive commercial pressures.
Jammu & Kashmir’s deterioration across both DSM and VARh deepens the narrative. It reflects structural fragility in a terrain where outages and local constraints escalate quickly. This dual-stress pattern has been flagged often in Indian Power news as a precursor to reliability trouble.Meanwhile, DADRI’s coal units emerge as the grid’s top ancillary responders, absorbing imbalance after imbalance. Large RE fleets, however, show rising DSM bleed under TRAS-Emergency — a tension highlighted widely in Indian Power news as thermal-flexibility economics collide with solar variability penalties, Indian Power News, DSM, Grid Operations, Ancillary Services, Reactive Power, Delhi Power.
The Power That Does No Work — Yet Keeps the Grid Working
Reactive power is the invisible force holding India’s renewable grid together. It doesn’t produce electricity, but it keeps voltages stable so that real power can flow. As solar and wind replace spinning turbines, this “phantom energy” has become the grid’s new lifeline — and the hardest compliance gap for developers to close.
1. The Grid’s Silent Worker
Reactive power doesn’t light homes, drive machines, or charge batteries. Yet it is what keeps the entire electrical ecosystem from falling apart.
Every second, India’s alternating-current grid depends on this “phantom power” to maintain the balance between voltage and current. Without it, voltages sag, transformers trip, and transmission lines lose their rhythm.
Think of it as the invisible spring in a clock — storing no energy permanently, but keeping everything in motion.
2. When Renewables Arrived, the Spring Went Missing
In the age of coal, gas, and hydro, reactive power came naturally. Turbine rotors produced both active power (megawatts) and reactive power (megavars).
But as India’s grid fills with inverters from solar and wind farms, that cushion disappears.
Inverters don’t spin; they switch — and switching doesn’t produce reactive power unless carefully programmed. The result: renewable corridors generating clean megawatts, but not enough voltage support to carry them efficiently.
3. The MVAr Crisis in Slow Motion
Across Western India, the Western Regional Power Committee (WRPC) has been chasing this shortfall for over a year. Developers have been instructed to install Static VAR Generators (SVGs) or STATCOMs — electronic devices that mimic old turbine behaviour.
But progress has been uneven:
Rewa Ultra Mega Solar (Madhya Pradesh): still awaiting earthing and commissioning.
Adani’s Dayapar complex: under capacity until certification.
Deadlines first set for April 2025 are now extended to December — the “final extension,” per WRPC minutes.
4. Why Compliance Is So Difficult
Reactive power is not a one-time fix — it’s a dynamic control function. SVGs must sync with plant controllers, grid codes, and changing weather conditions.
A fault in a single algorithm can make a 250 MW solar block behave unpredictably.
And the economics don’t help. Developers earn revenue from megawatts, not megavars. Reactive-power systems, costing ₹10–15 crore per site, bring no direct commercial return — only compliance.
5. The Next Frontier: Dynamic Control
Regulators now want dynamic reactive capability — plants able to modulate MVAr output in real time, even during zero generation.
This means solar plants must provide reactive support at night, and wind farms during calm hours.
As WRLDC recently stated:
“Reactive power is not optional. It is the backbone of voltage stability in the renewable era.”
6. The Bottom Line
India’s energy transition has conquered the megawatt challenge. The next one is megavar discipline.
Every delayed SVG, unsynced controller, or missing power-factor chip adds instability.
The power that does no work, it turns out, may decide how long the rest of the grid keeps working.
For more visit:
•An award has been given out•Click on Details for more
What is a Reactive Power and Reactive Power Compensation?
Reactive power's function is to help in regulating the overall voltage. It works to keep the voltage's power in its intended state so that the active power can perform some productive tasks—reactive powers are generally called the alternating current systems by product. Typically, motor loads, including the other types of loads, use the reactive power for directing the electrons flow into something helpful. Reactive power compensation generally helps in providing the complete supervision and management of the reactive power. It is intended to enhance the execution process and smoothly implement alternating current power-based systems. Voltages are generally regulated by anticipating and amending the exact need of the reactive power from the loads. It fulfills these needs via the shunt capacitor & reactor compensations, dynamic compensation, and scheduling the adequate generation voltage.
Reactive power compensation Methods
Various methods used in the relative power compensation are mentioned below -
1.Series Compensation
As the name states, the tools here are connected in a series manner aligned to the transmission line. Thus, it holds the liberty of getting hitched at any point of the line.
2.Shunt Compensation
Shunt-connected reactors consume the reactive power and provide the constriction of the line-over voltages. In contrast to this, the shunt-connected capacitors are used to maintain the overall voltage levels.
3.Static VAR Compensators
It is an electronic device whose work is to provide reactive power over the transmission networks. Here, the term static mainly refers to the fact that there are no moving parts under the SVC.
4.Static Compensators
The static compensators use the synchronous voltage sources to activate the reactive powers. It is generated with the help of a VSC - voltage source converter.
5.Synchronous Condensers
The synchronous condenser's main task is to enhance the pf of the electrical system. Thus, it generally gets installed over the front-end part of the transmission line.
What is the use of Reactive Power Compensation?
The reactive power compensation struggles with assisting and backing up the voltage & load. Therefore it is used in supporting the two significant things mentioned below -
The reactive power compensation assists the load support. It works in a way that leads to improving the system power factor's overall value. Moreover, it also helps in enriching the regulation of the voltage and stabilizes the substantial power extracted via ac supply. It works the best by eradicating current harmonic components. These components are generally elicited by jagged & volumed nonlinear industrial freights.
Reactive power compensation is generally used in transmission systems. It helps in bringing forth complete stability to the ac system. It does so by intensifying the transmittable active power. It requires the support of voltage, which helps diminish the unnecessary fluctuations of voltages present in the transmission line at a specific terminal.
What is the need for Reactive Power and Reactive Power Compensation?
The Reactive power needs to be compensated for two main reasons stated below -
Compensating the Reactive power helps in the overall regulation of the system's power factor.
Reactive power compensation helps in strengthening the overall stability of voltage.
Reactive power generally undergoes the oscillation process between the capacitor and the ac source. The frequency to which it oscillates is equivalent to twice the rated value. It is somewhere between 50 Hz to 60 Hz. In such a scenario, the Reactive power compensation helps you resist the circulation between the load and source.
Power matrix is one of the most prominent companies having the solution for all of your power-related hardships. What sets them apart is our last 15 years of expertise in the field of dealing with power-associated problems. All the antidotes are unique and highly rated among their customers. For more Reactive power compensation-related questions, you can call today and get to know each other well.
