Continuous power supply is crucial requirement
of any industry. Modern day world would come to
a stand-still without power. This makes switchgear
and controlgear indispensable not only in transmission
and distribution of power, but anywhere where
there is need to access and control electricity.
Switchgear and Control gear industry in India
is a fully developed and mature industry, producing
and supplying a wide variety of switchgear and
control gear items needed by the industrial and
power sector. This industry sector in fact manufactures
the entire voltage range from 240 V to 800 KV.
It is estimated that the present size of the switchgear
market, not including domestic switches, is around
Rs 3100 crores.
Switchgear and controlgear are necessary at every
switching point in power system. The switchgear
product can be categorised into three groups.
Low
voltage switchgear (upto 1100 V)
- The low voltage switchgear product range is
classified into domestic, power distribution system
and industrial control system. In case of low
voltage switchgear, MCBs are fast replacing rewireable
switch fuses. The LV switchgear industry has shown
excellent growth (almost 50%) primarily due to
sustained demand from the vibrant housing sector,
IT industry, services and infrastructure sectors.
The demand is expected to sustain for some time
to come. MCB exports are improving while imports
of ELCBs are on the rise.
Medium
voltage switchgear (upto 36KV)
- Medium voltage switchgear (up to 36KV) - The
medium voltage switchgear include products below
36 kV such as various types of circuit breakers
viz. ACB, OCB, MOCB, VCB etc. Initiatives by Ministry
of power, in strengthening the transmission and
distribution network through APDRP programme have
benefited the medium voltage switchgear industry
the most. At the same time, exports of MV products
have declined probably due to high domestic demand.
The demand for MV switchgear is expected to sustain
for three to five years.
High
voltage switchgear
- The high voltage switchgear group includes products
above 36kV such as SF6 breaker, GIS, lighting
arresters and composite insulators etc. The high
& extra high voltage switchgear industry too is
now following the success of the MV segment. Exports
by the EHV segment have shown a growth during
this year of about 15 % while the domestic demand
has increased by about 6%-8%.
The low voltage switchgear product range is classified
into domestic, power distribution system and industrial
control system. In case of low voltage switchgear,
MCBs are fast replacing rewireable switch fuses.
Low voltage switchgear is showing high growth
rate; partly due to high demand for MCBs in housing
sector and MCCB in Rural Electrification. The
medium voltage switchgear include products below
36 kV such as various types of circuit breakers
viz. ACB, OCB, MOCB, VCB etc. The high voltage
switchgear group includes products above 36kV
such as SF6 breaker, GIS, lighting arresters and
composite insulators etc. Initiatives taken by
Govt. for improving the Transmission and Distribution
network has benefited medium as well as high voltage
switchgear industry. Secondary equipment such
as relays used for various types of fault protection,
known as controlgear, have made significant advances
due to major development in the field of electronics.
The digital relays are fast replacing the conventional
relays due to technology advancement, compact
size & its reliability.As per recent trend in
addition to protection and control of power, monitoring
and signalling are becoming integral part of switchgears.
With monitoring, the fault conditions can be predicted
whereas signaling helps to know the status of
switchgears at various locations.Further trend
demands compact, small, low weight equipment with
high quality, high reliability, less maintenance
and easy accessibility. Though Indian manufacturers
meet all these expectations of the user industry,
the switchgear industry should make sufficient
investment in R&D. Increasing raw material prices
globally is also one of the concerns faced by
the industry.
