TCS enters into partnership with IIT Bombay for Power Systems Lab
June 27, 2007

Collaborative R&D to help operators analyse efficiency of power grids

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered into a partnership with the department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, for establishing a new initiative called PowerAnser Labs (PAL) that will focus on using technology to deliver online network analysis and decision support tools to help power utilities and grid operators access in-depth analysis at all times.

The new lab will create and maintain the network data in such a way that the end user has to only logon online from anywhere and run various scenarios on the grid data. The initiative leverages intellectual capital of the India's largest IT services provider, TCS, and the prestigious academic institution, IIT Bombay, to deliver all new standards of innovation in the power sector.

"This is a pioneering initiative to harness the power of IT into technical network operations" says Dr SA Soman, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay.

Commenting on the potential of this initiative, Ajoyendra Mukherjee, vice president and head (energy and utilities industry practice), TCS, said, "We are confident that PowerAnser Labs will enhance our offering to the power utilities resulting in quantum benefits for the power sector at large."

"The Indian power sector is suffering due to the imbalance between supply and demand coupled with the paucity of tools to analyse the interconnected power system grid. Even the available tools lack usability both in terms of absence of data or capability of the personnel. Besides, these tools require network operators (electric power utilities) to install and maintain expensive IT infrastructure. PowerAnser Labs (PAL) is a contribution from the TCS Innovation Labs for leveraging and applying technology to enhance the capabilities of the IT infrastructure in the power sector," said K Ananth Krishnan, vice president and chief technology officer.

This partnership has been developed under the TCS Co-Innovation Network (COIN), launched by president Abdul Kalam in Pune earlier this year. The partnership leverages intellectual capital across the two entities to deliver all new standards of innovation for the end user. TCS' decision to invest in this new initiative is based on its understanding that there is a need to integrate both technical and non-technical operations in the power sector to realize the enterprise efficiencies and effectiveness of IT tools.