Ms Athira Madhusudhana Panicker will present her PhD viva-voce examination as per the details below:-
Date : Friday, 10th April 2026
Time : 14:00 – 16:00 hrs.
Venue : C-TARA Conference Room No.1
Topic : Agricultural Electricity Distribution System Design: Optimizing Distribution Transformer Loading considering Seasonality in Loading and Farmer Irrigation Practices
Guide : Prof. Priya Jadhav, C-TARA
Chairperson : Prof. Anil Kulkarni, EE
External Examiner : Prof. Abhijit. R. Abhyankar, EE, IIT Delhi
Internal Examiner : Prof. Parmeshwar D. Udmale, C-TARA
RPC Members : Prof. Parmeshwar D. Udmale, C-TARA; Prof. Narendra S Shiradkar, EE
Abstract:
Agricultural electricity supply in India is characterized by poor quality, unreliable electricity supply and high infrastructure costs, particularly in semi-arid regions like Maharashtra, where irrigation demand is seasonal, and energy consumption is low. While existing literature often frames these challenges as a political economy problem, this study identifies a critical yet underexplored technical dimension: the lack of systematic planning in the design of the agricultural electricity distribution system.
Through extensive field work in Marathwada and Vidharbha regions of Maharashtra, and analysis of energy meter data from DT and farmers and power flow modelling, this research investigates the root causes of supply quality issues like low voltage problems, supply interruptions and equipment failure. Overloading is one of the main reasons, and unsanctioned operation of loads leads to overloading. DT emerges as a technical bottleneck and a planning blind spot. It is the most frequent and devastating point of failure. Mostly, the limiting factor for quicker addition of connections is capacity constraints at the DT. Also, DT absorbs the unsanctioned load. DT capacity planning is essential for improving supply quality, and it also aids in rationalizing infrastructure utilization and reducing delays.
The study integrates seasonality in irrigation demand and loading, farmer practices and agro-climatic conditions into DT capacity planning. Diversity Factor and Load Factor characterizing peak demand fortnight are used to find the optimal loading and DT capacity for a region. Farmer practices, daytime and nighttime loading, and usage of drip and sprinkler, area irrigated per pump, and crop-specific irrigation practices, are some of the factors that interact to affect infrastructure requirements. The study also investigates the pilot project of Load Management conducted under the PoCRA project, managing peak loading on overloaded DTs by irrigation scheduling among farmers. The research contributes a novel perspective to agricultural electricity distribution infrastructure planning by linking farmer behaviour, utility processes and Agro-Climatic Conditions.
Keywords: Distribution System Planning, Demand Response, Transformer Loading, Energized Irrigation, Load Management, DT Sizing