Case Study on Power divide in India

01 Case Study on Power divide in India During my last semester at National Institute of Design in 2014, I along with my two team mates worked on a project called ‘Power Divide in India’ – the project looked at the problems related to generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. This project was done as a part of our Systems Design Module. As a part of this course we were supposed to identify a wicked problem and try solving it through systemic design approach. The emphasis was on understanding of interrelationships within a system that make it a coherent whole and make overall systemic connections. The project was done within a period of 8 weeks.

On the first day we all sat together and brainstormed to come up with as many wicked problems as we could. (The term “wicked” is used to denote resistance to resolution, rather than evil. Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems… Source: Wikipedia) India being a huge country in itself has interlinks that are so deep that these links create problems in themselves, being a nation of 1.2 billion, definitely has its fair share of issues and crisis.

After completing the Initial phase of the project we came up with a lot of wicked problems. Following this we categorized them and tried to see if there were any parallels within these wicked problems. In the end we came up with problem areas and situations that were worthy of design project.

Out of these multiple ideas we zeroed down to 4 problems – (1) Water Crises, (2) Population aging & problems of the elderly, (3) Electricity crises & (4) Loss of Biodiversity and Environmental Issues.

Images (L to R) Brainstorming on the board, Idea Maps & Deep dive sheets for an Idea

We selected Electricity/Energy crises as a topic based on an election matrix that looked at the: 1.Wickedness of the Problem 2.Empathy (Most Important factor) 3.Access of information, 4.Time Constraint (so that we could to do justice to the topic) 5.Deliverables We started off with thorough secondary research looking at all forms of available data in newspapers, Internet and books. We came up with insightful data that gave us a strong context.

Problem scenario: India needs additional 100,000 MW of power generation by 2017 to meet the growing demand of the economy. The planning commission accepts it but environmental ministry rejects this because this target is ecologically unstable. The problem becomes further complex as power generation by law is supposed to be completely state owned. To add to the sorry state of affairs, people steal electricity, tamper the electricity meter readings and in general lack the attitude for energy conservation. Sustainable and renewable energy generation like solar and hydroelectricity is hugely expensive, so it cannot be deployed at a large scale. Adding to this, 300 million people in India still do not have access to electricity. Most of the power plants are really old and need infrastructural upgradation and there is lack of funds.

Overall it’s a complex cycle where 29 State/Provincial Government blame the Central main government for not allocating enough energy to them and the government blames the predecessors and citizens, and moreover do not adopt any power conservation practises and some even steal electricity through direct hooking and tampering electromechanical meters.

02 After 1.5 weeks of secondary research, we started on with our Primary research doing Online/Offline Surveys, Site visits, Interviews etc.

We started off with a survey to get a general perspective of people of what they understood by electricity as a service and how did it impacted them.

The respondents were divided in 2 groups: 1.Students (soon to be the working force & consumers) (63 students) 2.Working individuals (current working force & consumers) (60 adults) Most of them stated that electricity is a necessity. The also felt that the electricity bill was expensive. The process of paying was less of an issue for most of the people as they are used to it.

After this our objective was to collect multiple case studies around our topic 1.Went around buildings to observe the visual appeal, accessibility and the interface of electricity supply system (as captured in the first 10 seconds). We saw Low Tension and High Tension Supply systems around residential and commercial spaces.

2.We understood how the illegal electricity sharing system works between authorized infrastructure and unauthorized shops on mutual tariff.

3.We tried to map how electricity system works in Co-operative commercial spaces with multiple stake holders 4.A charged battery service for street cart vendors was studied, where worn out batteries are bought from scrap yard for Rs.700 and used till they are discarded for Rs.400, fetching an extra 50 bucks for charging them at an average. We also fetched some information about functioning of hawker community. It was a true example of a circular economy business model.

5.Visited national trade fair with an intention to map the electricity provisions for open grounds and to understand the set up.

6.Undertook small focus group discussions with 3-4 users. The topic was around Load shedding and power-cuts which are common throughout India. It gave us an insight that all the household chores are done in accordance with electricity timing. The most common means of entertainment was Television, which is also powered through electricity. So in all everything from household chores to entertainment is fully dependent on power supply.

7.Saw the working of unorganized retail setup: Small scale unorganized retail setups, do not get electricity connection, because they do not have a wall or a fixed location, so their only way to get electricity is from the nearest metered connection, who is usually their neighbour. Another way to get power was from a battery, as many mandies or vegetable markets who do not have fixed location and function along the road, operate via battery to lightup their arrangements.

8.We visited the country side and got to know that al lot of remote villages do not have an electricity bill paying centre, the residents generally have to travel a large distance to pay their bills. These people generally do not have smart phones and internet access to make payments online. So bill payment is an issue in such cases.

People living in such locations generally have to cycle or walk around 5-15 Kms to pay their bills.

9.We visited the electricity supply company to get a better insight on the power sector and understand how an electricity companies functions. We visited Torrent’s Naranpura Zonal Office on Sola Road, Ahmedabad,on 19th February 2014 and had a meeting with Mr. BM Bhatt, Assistant General Manager, Torrent Power, Ahmedabad.

10.Public opinion gathering: To get some unbiased views form the public, we had pinned 2 posters with 2 question in the corridor outside the library in the college for a period of 3 days. The questions were: (a) What does Power (electricity) mean to you? (b) What problems do you face when it comes to electricity?

As a result we got some information from various students, without asking them directly 11.As a part of our field visits we travelled approximately 500 Kilometers to Bhikangaon village in Madhya Pradesh, India from Ahmedabad city, to experience living in a rural village without electricity. This gave us an insight on our dependence and need for electricity for our modern day lifestyle and how do people function without it.

12.We also visited a primary school called Education Park Society that runs completely on its own electricity generated by its own solar power system.

Along with the above mentioned case studies, multiple other case studies were studied. In end we started making individual system model relating to each of these case studies and our secondary research. Multiple iterations were made on paper for each model and then they were digitized.

Related case study images are on the next page...

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Public opinion gathering Case Study no.10

Visit to the electricity supply company Case Study no. 09

Solar Power genartion system Case study no. 12

High Tension Supply systems for commercial spaces.

Case Study no. 01

Unorganized retail setup elctricity system Case study no. 07

National trade fair power system Case study no.05

Charged battery service for street vendors Case study no.04

Illegal electricity sharing system Case study no.02

Primary school : Education Park Society Case Study no.12

04 After this we connected our models together in order to make sense of the whole system and see the interconnections and dependencies.

The important question then was that: ‘WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO FOR/IN THE SYSTEM’ .It was something that was clear in our mind in a broad perspective but after making these connections it became clear to us that we had to make micro level interventions to a create difference in the whole system.

After multiple iterations and literally charted out the whole system into a huge Giga Map. Images showing the data connections and charts with system models

05 Post this we tried intervening via design and made speculative design solutions relating to product design, service design and Policies.

1. Service design solution was to allow people to generate electricity via solar panels taking care of their own needs and contributing to the national power grid in parallel making money for their contributions.

At a micro level, off-grid generation of energy can be converted to currency or virtual money that can enable barter system between the generator and the government and help develop Indian power sector further. This will also make the nation less dependent on coal/fuel imports, so that it can get micro-financed by the masses to truly become a closed sustainable system as far as energy dependency is concerned.

Scenario : Consider that the government gives freedom to the citizens to generate electricity, instead to having license requirements or long chain of authorizations and paper work, it will lead to a India with energy entrepreneurs, who will contribute to the power grids to deliver ‘faster, better and more’ even at peak power demands.

2.Product Design Solution: We came up with a product concept called ‘NIBU’. It lets you control and monitor the amount of electricity you want to spend per usage session for an appliance. It can be done via a mobile application and NIBU plug/socket units.

The device can help you control the consumption of electricity in terms of the currency value. This automated device can function on a micro level in every household, to control the consumption of electricity by heavy electrical appliances.

NIBU: Image on the right 3 Policy level solutions were made: 1.Roof top solar policy for every household that can give the electricity generator discounts and green points for their grid based consumption based on solar energy they generated 2.Mini grid and small local power generation systems to reduce transmission and distribution losses during long distance electricity transfer.

3.Geothermal power development along the Indian coast line.

06 The main outcome of the project was the big Giga Map with all the system level connections This project and issue is still close to my heat and it needs intervention for India to grow. Me being a part of this society I think we all need to worry about our future because development is dependent of electricity. Overall, I enjoyed working in team with group mates Ankan and Mrinal. I couldn’t have done this project without them.

I still believe (electricity) power crunch is one of the wickedest problems plaguing our country. It is complex social challenge because it involves various stakeholders like the government, Generation and transmission agency and people who finally consume electricity.

Giga Map: 148 x 40 Inches For More Information please refer the : Project Blog- http://systemdesignnid.blogspot.in/?view=sidebar Portfolio link- https://www.behance.net/gallery/21368339/Power-Divide-in-India