India’s IntelliSmart partners on head-end system for smart meter rollout

Indian AMI provider IntelliSmart has announced a partnership with California-headquartered Trilliant for a head-end system as it continues with the smart meter rollout under the government’s Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).

Trilliant, also an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) provider, was selected for its head-end system (HES), UnitySuite.

A joint venture of India’s National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), IntelliSmart has to date won several smart metering projects tendered by state distribution companies (DISCOMs) as part of the RDSS, introduced by the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

RDSS introduces policy measures to assist the discoms in India to improve operational efficiencies by providing them with results-linked financial assistance to strengthen supply infrastructure.

However, state the partners in a release, delivering the data needed for a smart grid under the RDSS requires a scalable HES, which is where the partnership with Trilliant comes in.

The UnitySuite manages field devices including meters, cellular network interface controllers (NICs) and more; acquires meter data automatically to avoid human intervention; and channels data to where it’s needed for real-time decision making.

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“India’s smart metering programme is one of the significant steps taken by the government to modernise the power distribution sector with increased private participation,” said Anil Rawal, managing director and CEO of IntelliSmart.

“For our projects, we are relying on important partnerships to design and deploy a robust AMI solution that will enable discoms to improve financial efficiency and digitalise the power infrastructure.

“Our partnership with Trilliant will go a long way in delivering this and help us realise our vision to become the most preferred digital partner of the utilities, and create a digitalised and resilient power sector through innovative technological solutions.”

Specifically, Trilliant will support IntelliSmart by:

• Supplying and integrating its HES application software along with annual technical services and provisioning the HES with a prepayment system;
• Providing implementation services including designing, building, testing and deploying the HES application, as well as being responsible for configuration, customisation, business process/systems integration and commissioning;
• Developing analytics reports and dashboards; and,
• Providing operation, maintenance and support services, as well as annual maintenance services for the deployed system along with customisations and upgrades for the entire project.

Eugene Loke, managing director of APAC at Trilliant, commented on the partnership, stating “we’re honoured to be one of (IntelliSmart’s) partners to roll out smart meters across India.

“Trilliant’s UnitySuite software is an integral part of the AMI integrated system. It is device-independent and highly scalable, enabling organisations to maximise the value of their network data, making it ideal for IntelliSmart’s requirements.”

IntelliSmart smart meter rollout

A week prior to the partnership announcement, IntelliSmart announced a contract with South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL) for 3.5 million smart prepaid meters across 13 districts of South Bihar.

Stated the company over X: “IntelliSmart is delighted to have been entrusted with the responsibility of this project by SBPDCL. We are wholeheartedly dedicated to investing our time, expertise and resources to ensure the resounding success of this project.

“With each successful project acquisition, we are making steady progress towards our vision of becoming the most preferred digital partner of the utilities and creating a digitalised and resilient power sector through innovative technological solutions.”

Earlier this year in April, the company also bagged a 6.7 million smart meter order, at the time calling it the largest of the time, from electric utility Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), for the districts of Amroha, Baghpat, Bijnor, Bulandshahar, GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Hapur, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal and Shamli.

This was the second smart metering project for the company, following a 2021 announcement of 600,000 smart prepaid meters for Assam Power Distribution Company in the northeastern state of Assam.