Archana Sharma – New Delhi
Schneider Electric India, a global specialist in energy management, recently launched smart panels, an energy management solution for sustainable energy savings in buildings, across 11 cities in India. “Based upon Schneider Electric’s energy management principle of ‘measure, connect and save’, the smart panels are simple-to-deploy plug and play solution contributing towards addressing the urgent need to curb energy costs and meet norms for green buildings,” stated Kshitij Batra, director, marketing, partner projects business, Schneider Electric India. This energy management solution was launched in Italy, Russia, Mexico, China, UK and Australia apart from India. “This technology will help in network management, asset management and energy management across all establishments as it is an extremely customised and innovative offering,” he added. Presently, this application can be operated from smart phones and tablets, though mobile applications for enhanced usage are also being developed for Android and IOS.
Elaborating on the need for this technology in India, Batra stated, “In recent months, power blackouts have occurred frequently in many parts of this country and with buildings accounting for almost 40 per cent of energy use in most countries, there is immense potential for improvement in their energy efficiency. Apart from assisting to meet regulatory compliance, the owners and occupants of buildings will benefit from long-term energy and financial savings through these smart panels.”
Batra believes that smart panels will revolutionise the earlier low-voltage switchboards technology as they are embedded with metering, control, and communication capabilities. “Smart panel will give an advantage by giving a clear understanding of the building’s energy consumption by zone,” he stated.