“The energy industry is undergoing a huge digital transformation and is brimming with digital innovations”

Vinay Sharma

Leveraging NETSCOUT solutions, energy companies can ensure the efficient operation of business-critical applications, such as SCADA, OMS, Crew Management, CRM, and more. They can reduce operational costs through proactive management and reduced MTTR, as well as enable successful deployments of smart grid elements, shares Vinay Sharma, Regional Director, India and SAARC, NETSCOUT in an exclusive interview with Garima Pant of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts.

Please detail the contribution of your organisation through your various initiatives towards the energy sector?

With NETSCOUT, energy companies can roll out AMI and smart grid with confidence by investing a small portion of the cost in service assurance to ensure the performance and availability of the application services and infrastructure for business success. They can reduce operational costs through proactive management and reduced MTTR, as well as enable successful deployments of smart grid elements. Energy companies can ensure the efficient operation of business-critical applications, such as SCADA, OMS, Crew Management, CRM, and more, whether used locally or distributed across the infrastructure.
Companies can maintain a high- performance customer communications infrastructure and limit the impact of power outages to generate high customer satisfaction. Energy sector organisations can proactively triage and reduce MTTR for issues contained to a single site or across many sites, including substations. They can maintain high levels of safety by helping to assure critical services in generation and transmission. Companies are helped to maintain compliance through proactive management and historical data to avoid costly penalties.

What are the innovations in the energy sector that are driving it towards a sustainable future?

The energy industry is undergoing a huge digital transformation and is brimming with digital innovations. Drivers such as smart grids, hybrid cloud, next-generation contact centers and web-based services are all improving business processes, customer service, and costs for energy companies.

In addition to the smart grid, utilities must continue to provide service assurance for a host of other IT services, such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Outage Management Software (OMS), Crew Management applications, Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C), and other business applications. Here, end-to-end visibility for service assurance and security becomes vital to help drive innovation toward a sustainable future.

Your thoughts on Energy Outlook 2030 and how Public Private Partnership can be successfully initiated & implemented towards attaining this goal?

According to IEA World Energy Outlook 2022, India’s coal generation and oil imports are going to peak in 2030 while gas imports will double around the same time. India is expected to become the world’s most populous country by 2025. Along with urbanisation and industrialisation there will be a large increase in demand for energy. Designing, financing and implementing the partnership for a sustainable future is complicated to build and has implementation challenges. For guiding the governments, private sector, and civil society, it is crucial to establish on how to measure the PPPs. The PPP solutions should be developed based on past experience and various resourcing plans. Transparency should be ensured across the solutions while they remain inclusive.

There is a renewed global focus in driving mission sustainability, clean energy targets, and the shift towards the adoption of Electronic Vehicles and renewable energy. How do you see India’s role and contribution towards this global focus?

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) India will overtake the European Union as the world’s third- largest energy consumer by 2030. With government programs such as the Gati Shakti National Master Plan and the Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme and the growing economy, India is expected to witness strong growth in renewables and electric mobility for two and three-wheelers. Renewable energy is expected to meet a significant percentage of the power demand, with solar power leading the sector. The country is working towards deploying low-emissions alternatives in power and other sectors as well.

Your thoughts on how sustainability can be embedded in the energy segment and what are the reforms at the central and state level needed to take this mission forward?

Sustainability is dependent on transformation and new-age technologies are helping shape it leading to higher efficiency and productivity. Cloud computing is reducing the carbon footprint substantially. The usage of LED lights and reducing waste through efficient designs are some of the ways to achieve sustainability. Green data, green computing, and sustainability coding are some of the aspects that can be leveraged. For the smooth functioning of the IT infrastructure and network, end-to-end visibility for service assurance and security is also very critical.

Also Read | “Brands are taking leads in energy conservation mission”

Central and State government initiatives should focus on increasing R & D capabilities in technology. Sustainable Development Goals should be integrated into central and state- level policies and programs along with regional and global participation on the technology front. Government should look at improving taxation capacity and compliance. More PPP programs should be rolled out while addressing the related challenges.

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