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DVC Launches ₹1,500 Crore Project to Modernize Power Distribution Network

Automation

Business Honor
17 March, 2025

DVC advances E-houses, automation, and smart control centers to enhance power reliability.

Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has implemented a ₹1,500 crore project to upgrade its power distribution system so that there is consistent quality power and Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses are minimized. The project will upgrade DVC's traditional distribution system into a high-tech, technology-based network in its 24,235 sq. km command area spread across West Bengal and Jharkhand.

"The capex for the project is almost ₹1,500 crore and to be likely completed in 18 months," stated Arup Sarkar, Member (Finance), DVC. The new system combines the latest technologies, such as a distribution management system, an outage management system, customer relation management, GIS mapping, fiber optic-based metering communication, and automated consumer services.

"This is a major step in DVC's path of modernization," Sarkar exclaimed. Project leaders such as Tata Consulting Engineers, Siemens Columbia, Siemens India, Transafe, and Techno Electric are coming together for the project to advance power reliability, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

The major highlight here is the use of unmanned container-based substations (E-houses) with GIS-based 33 KV panels, modular battery chargers, and Substation Automation Systems (SAS). DVC will install 12 E-houses, 8 conventional indoor-based 33/11 KV substations, and 4 GIS-based prefab substations in the first phase. The first E-house was inaugurated in Dhanbad on January 3, 2025, and others in Deoli, Giridih, Hazaribagh, and Sindri are due by March 2025.

The whole distribution system will be controlled by two state-of-the-art control centers in Kalyaneshwari, West Bengal, and Koderama, Jharkhand, providing hot redundancy and 24x7 customer care. The new infrastructure will facilitate automated consumer connection and disconnection as per billing and enable users to control services using a mobile app.