News

IEEE Forum to Advance LVDC Microgrids, Commercial Buildings and Homes in India

April 02, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

IEEE today announced that the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) has formed the Indian Low-Voltage DC (LVDC) Forum under the auspices of the IEEE-SA Industry Connections (IC) program. At one level, the LVDC Forum will be a thought leadership platform to effectively engage with policymakers and regulators. At another level, it will facilitate technology application and demonstration projects to gain techno-economic information needed to evolve LVDC standards and catalyze the technology's commercialization. The LVDC Forum focuses on products, systems and solutions up to 1100Vdc.

The activities of the LVDC Forum shall aim to drive the reduction of electricity demand by a combination of DC-based domestic appliances, minimizing ac-dc conversions, and judicious application of LVDC power distribution. Consequent reduction of electricity consumption is important globally, but is particularly critical in emerging economies and more so in India.

“LVDC as a technique has the potential to dramatically reduce demand for electricity and thereby its consumption,” said Mustafa Wajid, chair of the LVDC Forum. “The resurgence of DC is driven by a multifaceted technology evolution that combines electrical engineering with power electronics, control systems, IT and emerging technologies like advanced LEDs, Brushless DC (BLDC) motors, DC-powered data centers, Power over Ethernet (PoE) and 100W USB connectors.”

“LVDC has the potential to transform lives by helping millions of people gain access to electricity,” said Wajid. “The environmental and sustainability impact of LVDC looms large, as its application could help significantly accelerate the use of renewable energy. Clearly, the future of electricity distribution and usage will see a fast-growing presence of DC working individually or together with AC in multiple ways.”

The LVDC Forum is established as an IEEE-SA IC activity and facilitates the collaborative work of like-minded organizations and individuals who come together quickly, effectively and economically in an open and neutral environment to build consensus at strategic points in a technology’s lifecycle. IC activities have the unique opportunity to leverage IEEE resources in a customized format to produce a variety of shared results.

In addition, the forum is currently establishing multiple activity tracks and associated working groups to evaluate key applications for LVDC. The activities will address DC in Microgrids, DC in Buildings, DC in homes and guidelines for indoor LVDC power distribution. As part of this initiative, the LVDC Forum has partnered with the India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF)—a public private partnership of the Ministry of Power (MoP), Government of India for accelerated development of smart grid technologies in the Indian power sector. Together, the two organizations will collaborate to help advance these programs, and share information.

Already, more than 30 global technology manufacturers and suppliers, research organizations, academic institutions, industry consortia and government agencies have joined the LVDC Forum. The forum plans to host its first meeting soon and welcomes involvement from interested organizations.

“We encourage all LVDC stakeholders to join the forum to support the initiative and participate in its working groups,” said Sri Chandra, senior standards manager for IEEE-SA. “We expect that LVDC can play an essential role in helping governments, industry and societies meet the rapidly increasing needs for energy, but with more efficient ‘green attributes.’ By joining the LVDC Forum, organizations and individuals can help guide the development of this exciting new industry and influence the early introduction of LVDC technologies.”

The LVDC Forum complements the efforts of two additional IEEE-SA IC activities that are addressing the growing need for LVDC. These activities include the “DC in the Home” activity, which is investigating wiring-related standards needed to facilitate distribution of LVDC to homes. It also includes the “Systems & Components for Energy Routers” activity, which is evaluating the practicality and costs of new interface technologies to connect LVDC-capable homes to the utility distribution system.