Impact of Time Zoning on the Indian Electricity Grid - A Critical Analysis

Electricity is an essential fuel to fire the economic engine of a country. It is also an important factor for improvement in quality of life of its citizens. To reliably power-up the economic ecosystem, significant capital investment is required for building a stable electric grid infrastructure which is capable of handling the peak electricity demand and still have marginal reserve capacity to take care of abrupt grid variations outside its normal operating ranges. This paper tries to analyze possible impact of implementing two time zones in India and its role in mitigating peak demand by flattening the daily load profile curve of the Indian Electricity Grid. This paper also explores the possibility of reduction in capital investment, line losses and grid stability with two time zones.