Indian Power Sphere: 05/01/12

May 1, 2012

Indian Power Sector needs Rs. 13.72 lakh Crs during 12th Five Year plan…

Power India found that as said by Government today the country’s power sector requires Rs 13.72 lakh crore in funding for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

“The Working Group on Power for formulation of the 12th Five-Year Plan has estimated total fund requirement of Rs 13,72,580 crore for the power sector,” Minister of State for Power K C Venugopal said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Of the total, power generation would require about Rs 6,38,600 crore while requirement for electricity distribution would be Rs 3,06,235 crore.

During the 2012-17 period, the capacity addition is expected to be around 76,000 MW. The target is yet to be finalised.

“During the 12th Five-Year Plan, the main sources of financing are commercial banks, public financial institutions, dedicated infrastructure/power finance institutions, insurance companies, overseas markets, bilateral/multilateral credit, bond markets and equity markets,” Venugopal said.

According to him, the government has also taken steps to make funds available through credit enhancement schemes and infrastructure debt fund.

In a separate reply, Venugopal said that super critical capacity is likely to constitute about 50 per cent of the total coal-fired capacity addition in the 12th Plan.

Units having 660 MW capacity and above are referred to as super critical.

“52 super critical units totalling to 35,290 MW are presently under construction in the country for commissioning during the 12th Plan and one unit of 660 MW has been commissioned in the 12th Plan,” the Minister noted.

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India developed 98.05 MW rooftop solar projects; nearing to 100 MW…

Power India found that India has 98.05 MW of rooftop solar capacity coming up.

Jharkhand tops the list of States with rooftop solar capacity with 16 MW under its belt. Rajasthan follows it with 12 MW and Andhra Pradesh has 10.5 MW.

Of the 98.05-MW spread across 78 projects, 58.05 MW has been commissioned, while the rest are under way. This was disclosed in Parliament by the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr Farooq Abdullah, last week. Eleven more projects would be completed by June, he said.

Many experts are of the view that the real solar story in India is not so much the MW-scale plants, but the rooftops and micro-grids. Such projects lighten the load on the grid and also avoid transmission and distribution losses.

The Minister also disclosed that under the National Solar Mission programme, 125 MW of solar PV capacity has been commissioned, apart from 46 MW of ‘migration project’, or projects that were conceived prior to the announcement of the Mission under various other schemes, but were allowed to ‘migrate’ into the scheme later.

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Orient Green sells 21,000 Renewable Energy Certificates…

Power Found that the renewables industry received a pleasant surprise last week when 71,326 ‘renewable energy certificates’ were traded on the two exchanges, IEX (62,277) and PXIL (8,949).

That volume in the very first month of the financial year was encouraging. But a major seller was only one company, Orient Green Power Ltd, which sold 20,939 REC in the market, worth about Rs 4.5 crore.

Orient Green Power of the Chennai-based Shriram Group, has substantial wind and biomass capacities in Tamil Nadu and is (consequently) suffering from delayed payments from the state distribution company, TANGEDCO.

The REC mechanism has come in handy for the company.

In the current year, the company is expected to generate over 6 lakh RECs, worth about Rs 100 crore.

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Tamil Nadu hiked transmission charges; may have impact on REC market…

Power India found that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has recently permitted the state transmission utility to hike transmission charges, practically tripling them. This is likely to have a big effect on REC market, and consequently, on the investments into the State, experts say.

The state has hiked long term open access transmission charges from Rs 2,781 per MW a day to Rs 6,483; and short-term open access transmission charges from Rs 28.96 per MWh to Rs 270.11— nearly ten times. Alongside, the State has also increased the ‘scheduling charges’ for wind power units by 20 paise a unit.

This will impact very heavily on the REC market.

Tamil Nadu is one of the states that permits a renewable energy generator to sell the power to a ‘captive consumer’. Such sales are usually at a negotiated price that is much higher than what the generator would have got, had he sold it to the state distribution company.

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Azure Power to develop 2.5 MW solar power rooftop project in Gujarat…

Power India found that two days after the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, mooted a rooftop solar power generation policy, Azure Power, an independent power producer in the solar energy sector, has announced plans to develop India’s first megawatt (MW) scale rooftop project in the Gujarat capital. The company would set up a 2.5 MW plant at an investment of Rs 25 crore.

To be set up under the Gandhinagar Photovoltaic Rooftop Program (GPRP), this would be the first project of its kind in India wherein the energy from an aggregated rooftop portfolio would be sold to one off-taker. The project will also be attractive for rooftop owners through a revenue sharing arrangement for 25 years. Power companies having PPAs with the State Government will off-take solar power at Rs 11 per unit and pay Rs 3 per unit to rooftop owners who install solar equipment.

This way cities can become energy generators and power companies selling in cities can meet their renewable purchase obligations (RPOs), Mr Inderpreet Wadhwa, CEO, and Mr D. J. Pandian, Principal Secretary (Energy), Gujarat Government, said here on Saturday.

The model would demonstrate aggregation of 60-plus rooftops under a single project. The concept has the potential to tap into 1,000 MW of rooftop solar power across Tier-I and II cities, they said.

Azure Power was selected for this project through a competitive bidding process conducted by the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI). The projects will include a mix of Government and private rooftops. This programme is expected to encourage public participation and increase solar power generation awareness.

Mr Pandian said the GPRP is expected to revolutionise solar power generation on rooftops in Gandhinagar and then in the State. Rooftop solar installations have a huge market potential in India.

Azure Power is targeting to achieve 100 MW of solar power generation capacity by 2014 across India.

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IFC to support rooftop solar projects in Gujarat…

Power India found that IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting the Indian state of Gujarat to replicate in five cities a rooftop solar project first completed in Gandhinagar, improving access to power and reducing air pollution from the burning of wood and fossil fuels.

The two pilot projects of 2.5 megawatt each demonstrated the viability of generating solar power through a grid-interactive system on rooftops, and will serve as a model for roll-out across the cities of Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara. IFC is also developing a policy framework for the replication of rooftop solar concept in Gujarat based on the experience gained in Gandhinagar.

This program is the first of its kind in India and aims to be a benchmark for green energy generation at the household level. The two pilot projects will produce approximately nine million units of clean energy and help to avoid 6,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. The project will also help to mobilize private sector investment of approximately $12-14 million.

“We want to fully exploit the potential of solar power generation,” said D. Jagatheesa Pandian, Principal Secretary in the state Energy and Petrochemicals Department. “IFC’s support will help us implement the rooftop solar power generation project in other cities of Gujarat and make the state the preferred destination for solar projects in India.”

The project aims to help the government introduce public-private participation in generating a green energy source. The solar installations will convert sunlight into electricity and directly feed into the electrical grid. The Public Private Partnership and Sustainable Business Advisory team of IFC structured the project and advised the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute and Gujarat Power Corporation Limited, the two state supported agencies for implementing solar power, on the global competitive bid process.

“Gujarat is pioneering the adoption and promotion of clean energy by installing rooftop solar plants in the state,” said Anita M. George, IFC Director for Infrastructure in Asia. “The project will provide economic opportunities to the local residents, whose rooftops will be used for the installation of solar panels.”

Successful implementation of the business model for the rooftop solar project in a leading state like Gujarat will encourage similar models to be adopted in India and elsewhere in the region.

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IFC to part fund Abengoa’s Indian arm Inabensa…

Power India found that International Finance Corp (IFC) is part funding a steel fabrication plant being built in India by Spanish infrastructure conglomerate Abengoa S.A. Abengoa’s Indian arm Inabensa Bharat Pvt Ltd is setting up the plant which is expected to cost around Rs 100.2 crore (~$20 million).

IFC will lend around $14 million for the project.

The greenfield project is to construct a steel fabrication plant near Vadodara in the state of Gujarat, with an annual capacity of 25,000 tons. The plant will manufacture steel structures for transmission & distribution (T&D) projects and metallic support structures for the cylindrical parabolic solar collectors (CPC) and heliostats in concentrated solar power (CSP) projects that will be developed globally, including in India and neighbouring countries.

Commenced in 1941, Abengoa provides technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, generating energy from the sun, producing bio-fuels, desalinating sea water and recycling industrial waste. The group is involved in five core businesses including solar, Bio-energy, environmental, IT and Engineering & construction.

IFC, the private investment arm of the World Bank, is one of the more prolific institutional investors in the country through a mix of equity and debt finance transactions. In another debt deal, it may lend around $26 million in to three new solar projects being developed by Mahindra Solar One, a 26:74 joint venture between the Mahindra Group and Kiran Energy, a private equity backed firm.

Over the last one week it has also committed over $200 million in three debt cum equity deals. These include debt funding of up to $65 million to Warburg Pincus-backed off-highway tyre manufacturer Alliance Tire Group, $130 million ($40 million in equity and $90 million in debt) in INOX Renewables Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd that runs its wind power generation business, besides $9 million (debt + equity) in Bangalore-based RenewGen Enviro Ventures India Pvt Ltd.

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Power Grid completes transmission lines to Nepal having capacity of 40 MW…

Power India found that wth three key projects aimed at beefing up the power transmission capacity between India and Nepal achieving completion, an additional 40 MW of electricity transfer from India to the Himalyan nation is expected to commence over the next couple of months.

The wrapping up of the projects by the Indian side — executed on the ground by state-owned transmission major Power Grid Corporation — comes at a time when the country is working hard to set the ball rolling on its strategic initiative of putting in place a multilateral SAARC Market for Electricity (SAME) on the lines of the Nord Pool in the Scandinavian countries and the West African Power Pool.

Power-starved Nepal, which is facing an electricity deficit of around 300 MW, currently draws around 50 MW from Bihar currently under a bilateral pact, along with some additional transfers from NHPC’s Tanakpur hydro station in Uttarakhand.

Extra power transfers from India would help Nepal in a big way to bridge the continuing electricity shortages back home.

Nepal has already, in pinciple, agreed to substantially ramp up power buys from India, with plans already underway to increase the power exchange volume to 200 MW by ramping up capacity between the two countries.

For the additional purchases, the Himalayan nation plans to tap the short-term electricity market window existing in India, including the two operational power exchanges, accroding to the decision taken at the Tenth meeting of the Indo-Nepal Power Exchange Committee held here in December 2011.

On the larger SAARC grid plan, while a transmission link with Bhutan is already in place, there are plans to augment the existing line to enable up to 5,000 MW of electricity imports into India by 2020. With Sri Lanka, plans are under way for setting up a $450-million undersea power transmission link.

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Sinha to head Atomic Energy Commission…

Power India found that Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Ratan Kumar Sinha on Monday took charge as Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy from incumbent Srikumar Banerjee.

Sinha, a topper in mechanical engineering from Patna University who headed the reactor design group at BARC for several years, will guide the Indian nuclear sector in its next phase in which large indigenous as well as foreign reactors would be installed to rapidly ramp up India’s nuclear power generation capacity.

“My priority will be removing irrational fear about radiation from people’s mind as
nuclear energy will have a larger role in our growth,” Sinha told Deccan Herald over phone from Mumbai.

“In many of our rules, we do not factor well established scientific facts based on studies conducted at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have restrictive and conservative rules. I want to have a look at all these rules with new scientific findings,” he said.

Sinha, who would be at the helm of affairs in the nuclear sector for the next three and half years said development of large commercial light water reactor and providing drinking water solution in villages using nuclear technology would be his other priority areas.

Asked about operationalisation of Kudankulam nuclear power plant, the new AEC chief said that the first unit might be operational within the next two months as work was progressing at a fast pace. But it will ultimately depend on the speed of regulatory approval from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

Sinha joined BARC in 1973 and over the years was actively involved in designing new reactors. He guided research programmes for new advanced reactors for thorium utilisation and the futuristic Indian high temperature reactor intended for hydrogen generation.

As a part of his research work on reactor design, he led the project to design the compact high temperature reactor, which serves as a technology demonstrator for future high temperature reactors.

While Banerjee is likely to return to Kolkata after 45 years in the nuclear sector, the government may nominate Anil Kakodkar – Banerjee’s predecessor – in the Rajya Sabha. The official announcement, however, has not been made.

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Haryana to face power shortage of 1200 MW during the summer…

Power India found that Haryana is expected to face longer power cuts this summer as three thermal units of 1200 Mega Watt (MW) capacity are under forced outage for the next two months.

Two units of 300 MW each at Yamuna Nagar thermal are under major breakdown after vibrations were noticed in the turbines .The Chinese Shanghai make. units were installed by Reliance Infra under EPC contract from Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) in 2008.

The turbine rotor of unit no. 2 was bent on 25th September last year after water entered the turbine .The rotor has been sent to Baroda for straightening the rotor and the cost involved touching Rs 5 crore. The unit no. 1 has also faced turbine vibration and is on forced outage since March 31.The turbine blades were found broken.

Now 600 MW unit no. 1 of Khedar (Hissar) thermal plant has been closed on 28th April after vibration in turbine. The thermal authorities have sought a 40 days’ work permit to set right the defect. The new units of Chinese make are developing faults in the turbine at Khedar as well as Yamunanagar while the much older units of BHEL at Panipat are performing well.

All the three units under breakdown are not likely to be revived before end June and will force authorities to impose long power cuts in coming summer months. The state will be facing minimum shortage of 288 lakh units daily on account of forced outage of three units.

All India Power Engineers Federation in a letter to Power Ministry has claimed that there is widespread perception amongst engineers is that in order to win the EPC bids for Yamunanagar and Khedar projects Reliance quoted lowest rates for the worst quality of Chinese equipment which is now getting exposed. The repeated breakdown of newly constructed Chinese units in Haryana is raising question marks on quality.

To make things worse the newly constructed units of China Light and Power at Jhajjar with capacity 660 MW each are not running due to inadequate coal allocation. Coal India has reportedly refused to sign coal agreements with units commissioned after December31.

In addition to forced outages the normal boiler leakages will make the power position worse.

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Around 89 projects are pending for Environment & Forest Clearance…

Power India found that as informed by the Lok Sabha today around 89 power projects are pending with MoEF for Environment & Forest Clearance.

While 41 power projects are awaiting environment clearance, 48 power projects require diversion of forest land, the Environment Minister, Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, said during Question Hour.

She said a total of 165 power projects were granted environment clearance and 143 power projects given forest clearance during the last three years.

Two projects were rejected for environment clearance and three power projects did not get forest clearance during the last three years.

The main reasons for pendency were delay in submission of environmental impact assessment report and environmental management plan including public hearing report and non-submission of complete information by the project proponents, Ms Natarajan said.

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Coal Ministry issued show-cause notices to 10 power companies for delay in coal block development…

Power India found that Coal Ministry issued show-cause notices to 10 firms, including Reliance Power's Sasan, Tata Power, Hindalco and Grasim Industries asking reasons for delay in developing coal blocks and warned that the same may be cancelled if explanation is not given in 20 days.

As stated under the notice to Reliance Power’s Sasan Project by Coal Ministry:

"You are called upon to show cause...as to why the delay in the development of the coal block(s) should not be held as violation of the terms and conditions of the allotment ... failing which...action as appropriate would be taken against your company(ies) for de-allocation...,"

Similar notices have been issued to other companies as well.

These firms were allocated blocks between 1999 and 2008 for development of captive mines for power generation. The projects for which the coal blocks were given, included 4,000 MW Sasan ultra mega plant in Madhya Pradesh. “

The show cause notices have also been sent to public sector Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation and Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation. Besides MP, the blocks are located in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Notices would be sent to about 58 coal block holders, sources said. Of 218 blocks allocated 25 have been taken back by the government.

While the coal-mining for commercial sale is a monopoly of the PSU Coal India, firms in power, steel and cement were given the coal blocks for captive use on the first-come-first-serve (FCFS) basis.

But most of them could not develop the blocks for various reasons ranging from problems in environment clearances and difficulties in land acquisition.

Meanwhile, the FCFS policy has come in for a severe criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which has reportedly estimated 'windfall gains' to private and public sector companies at Rs 10.67 lakh crore

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33 thermal plants is having coals stocks which may last for only 7 days…

Power India found that according to the data published on Central Electricity Authority, at least 33 power plants of the total 89 have coal stocks which may be barely enough to generated power for 7 days.

Further out these 33 thermal plants some 18 power plants will have coal stocks enough for only 4 days.

Although Coal India, the monopoly supplier of coal, is located in Eastern India, this region has the highest number of stations with super critical stock position.

Eastern India 9 stations with super critical stock position as of April 26, the latest data available with Central Electricity Authority.

Super critical stock position refers to coal stocks enough to generate power for four days and critical stock position refers to stock position

The highest number of critical stock position was from North India at 14 stations. This region had only 7 stations with super critical stock position.

According to CEA, most of the plants that have super critical or critical stock positions are because of less receipt of coal from Coal India. These includes plants like Badarpur Thermal Power Stations (TPS), Unchahar TPS, Ukai TPS, Bhusawal TPS and Talcher TPS. About 17 power stations are suffering from near depleted stock due to less imports.

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MP Solar Tender – 430 MW bids against tender of 200 MW…

Power India found that MP received bids for 430 MW Solar PV Plant against 200 MW Tender.

Developer wise break up is as follows:

SN	Developer	No of Projects	Total Capacity Bidded (MW)
1	Acme Telepower	3	75.0
2	GMR	1	45.0
3	Azure	1	5.0
4	BGR	1	10
5	Simplex Infrastructure	1	10
6	Sai Sudheer	2	50
7	Arjun Green Power	1	5
8	Sapec Enviro	1	5
9	Alpha Infra Prop	1	20
10	Essel Infra Properties	1	30
11	IL&FS	1	50
12	Welspun	2	200
13	Solar MP Pvt Ltd	1	25
	Total Capacity Bidded		430

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Power Ministry issued directives to CERC to grant open access…

Power India found that the Power Ministry has issued directives to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on open access, yet another push for granting open access to all electricity consumers with power requirement of 1 MW and above.

The ministry has taken the decision after observing that the regulators had not taken seriously its letter of November 30,2011, in this regard, and instead have either determined the energy charges or are in the process of determining the charges.

This comes at a time when there has been a growing resistance from distribution companies to the open access system, as they fear they might lose consumers who cross-subsidise the agriculture and low-income power consumers.

Mr. Parmod Deo, Chariman, CERC said

“CERC has already complied with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003. It has put in place regulations whereby any consumer is free to purchase power from any source – which may be for short term, medium term or long term”

CERC had powers to regulate inter-state connectivity while under section 42 of the Electricity Act, 2003, the state electricity regulatory commissions(SERCs) had powers over open access. Therefore, state governments could issue policy directives to SERCs to implement the law ministry’s interpretation on open access.

Currently, of the 1,86,000 MW power the country produces, 38% was consumed by industries, and after adding consumers like the Railways and defence, the figure was around 45%, said the power ministry. So, such consumers should be allowed source power according to their choice.

About 40,000 MW of power were in private hands, and the number of private players had not entered into any power sale agreement.

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33 km long coal transportation corridor of Mahanadi Coalfields in West Bengal is not progressing as per the schedule…

Power India found that Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd’s (MCL) proposal of coal corridor between Basundhara to Bhedabahal is not progressing as per the scheduled timelines.

The proposed project of coal transportation corridors will be constructed between Basundhara to Bhedabahal and will be having around 33 km four lane stretch exclusively for transportation of coal from mines and will be connected with the State Highway 10. The proposed investment of Rs. 385 Crs has been approved by the company board.

The proposal for the corridor came after accidents and dust pollution made life miserable for hundreds of villagers. About 5,000 heavy coal-laden vehicles that ply through Ujjalpur, Tangarpali, Chhatenpali, Duduka, Balinga, Bandhapali and Mahulpali during peak hours kick off clouds of dust leading to health problems and polluting water sources in the villages.

The villagers, who had pinned hopes on the corridor would have to wait for a long time. The proposal has not moved beyond the drawing board stage as neither the Sundargarh district administration nor MCL authorities are in a position to predict its time of completion.

Sources said that the Public Works Department (PWD), Sundargarh, has been entrusted with execution of the project and MCL would bear the entire cost. Sambalpur-based MCL spokesperson Dikken Mehera claimed that MCL had sanctioned Rs 385 crore for the project and it’s up to the district administration to do the rest.

Sundargarh Collector Rupa Roshan Sahu said the PWD had submitted estimates to MCL for land acquisition and project costs but a communication from MCL is awaited.

Administrative sources said after final approval from MCL, the land acquisition task would be taken up. It would be a couple of years before the harassed villagers could hope to get some relief.

The proposed project of coal transportation through these corridors will be easy and was expected to reduce dust pollution.

MCL has two high-yielding functional coalmines - Basundhara and Kulda - in Hemgir block of Sundargarh district, about 145 km from Rourkela.

In view of the projected dispatch of coal by MCL, the company had planned to construct four coal corridors in its coal producing areas comprising Talcher, Ib valley and Basundhara mines.

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According to secretary, DAE, India can build cheaper nuclear reactors…

Power India found that according to Dr Srikumar Banerjee, secretary in the DAE, India can build cheaper nuclear reactors than even South Korea.

Dr Srikumar Banerjee, secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said India can now manufacture nuclear reactors at $1,700 per unit.

As said by Dr Banerjee

"We are now the world's most economical manufacturer of nuclear reactors. Our cost per unit, of $1,700 (for a 700mw reactor) is substantially less than our nearest competitors. The average international cost is now between $2,500 and $3,000 (for a 1,000mw reactor). South Korea demonstrated its ability to build nuclear reactors for less when it wrested a massive reactor deal for the UAE from French giant, Areva, a couple of years ago.

With the protests in Kudankulam piping down, Banerjee said DAE was waiting for a couple of clearances from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to start Kudankulam-1. The AERB will have to conduct a robotic inspection of the pressure vessel in the Kudankulam plant. This is done after what they call the "hot run", which is a kind of a rehearsal but without nuclear fuel. "After this, they open the cap of the pressure vessel to do a robotic inspection. Only after clearing this inspection are we allowed to put in nuclear fuel."

The DAE chief said he was looking at Kudankulam going "critical" by mid-June. "The approach to criticality should happen around that time," he said. "That will be exciting." Six months down the line, Banerjee said the DAE hopes to commission the second Kudankulam plant as well.

Indian companies manufacturing components and systems for nuclear reactors, Banerjee said, can now do the same work for much less cost. For instance, he said, L&T, which supplies many critical components for the Indian nuclear and defence sectors, can make the large reactor vessel in their new Hazira plant. This is something of an achievement because it's traditionally been the preserve of Japanese engineering expertise.

Banerjee was clear that the despite Fukushima, countries like India will have a high demand for nuclear energy. "In the months after Fukushima, we have received expressions of interest from Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to set up nuclear power plants. We will do all of them," asserted a confident DAE chief.

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Rajkot Municipality to set up a 50 kW solar grid connect system…

Power India found that in a significant move towards developing Rajkot as a ‘solar city,’ the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has set up a 50-kilowatt-peak (kW) solar grid connect system.

Finance minister Vajubhai Vala will inaugurate the newly set up solar power system at RMC’s east zone office on Monday evening.

“Once the 10-kW solar power grid connecting the system becomes operational, RMC will be able to save 40 to 45 units daily. As of now, RMC’s east zone office consumes around 150 to 200 units daily,” said an RMC official.

According to senior RMC officials, the central government in 2010, selected Rajkot to be developed as a ‘solar city.’

RMC officials said earlier that the civic body has set up a 10-kW solar power grid connecting system at its west zone office. “We will soon add 60-kW solar power grid connecting system with the existing 10-kW plant. We plan to reduce electricity bills of all RMC offices in phased manner by harvesting solar energy as alternate source of power,” said B H Rupani, town-planning officer, RMC.

Officials said, Union ministry of new and renewable energy has sanctioned Rs 46 lakh as subsidy to RMC to carry out various solar power projects in the city for promoting ecologically sustainable growth, while addressing India’s energy security challenge.

“RMC has carried out various programmes for promotion of solar energy and making people aware about the use of this clean, alternate source of energy. As part of the solar city project, we expect to generate at least 10% of city’s energy consumption via solar power,” an official said.

Once the total 120-kW solar power grid connect systems are operational at RMC’s both zonal offices, the civic body will be able to save at least Rs 10 lakh annually.

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Wind Strong Winds bring power to Tamil Nadu…

wind power

wind power (Photo credit: twicepix)

Power India found that with wind-power generation in the state picking up in the last 3-4 days, parts of Chennai, including Kolathur, Villivakkam and OMR, were spared load-shedding Sunday.

The districts have been reeling from over 10 hours of daily power cut, while Chennai and suburbs face a two-hour load-shedding.

About 2.24 million units of wind power was generated on April 27 and 11.78 MU the next day. On Saturday, high-velocity winds made sure the generation shot up to 21.6 MU.

“Whenever there is supply in the grid, we are not enforcing load-shedding,” a senior Tangedco official said.

He attributed the sudden surge in power generation to rains accompanied by strong winds in the southern and western parts of the state.

“The peak season for wind-power generation begins in the first or second week of May and lasts till October,” the official said, adding, “Usually, power generation by windmills will be between 5 lakh and 1 million units in this period.”

The winds have brought much-needed relief to the corporation which has not been able to purchase power from northern states due to clogging of transmission lines and delay in commissioning of thermal plants in the state.

Tamil Nadu has an installed wind energy capacity of 6,696 MW, which is 41 per cent that of the country.
“Once the wind season begins, we will get 2,000 MW to 2500 MW a day from the windmills,” the official said.

The state is facing a deficit of 3,000-4,000 MW.

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DOE signed $125 million partnership with India to boost solar technology and energy efficiency….

Power India found that United States Department of Energy (DOE) moved toward $125 million partnership with India.

The partnership could boost international biofuels production and further development of solar technology and energy efficiency.

Earlier, DOE announced a partnership with the U.K. on offshore wind.

Researchers from the University of Florida will focus on biofuels derived from non-food source plants.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will work on solar technology and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will tackle energy efficiency.

Indian institutions include the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology-Hyderabad and CEPT University-Ahmedabad.

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IFC to invest $ 9 Million in Bangalore based RenewGen Enviro….

Power India found that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning to invest around $ 9 Million in the RenewGen Enviro Ventures India Pvt. Ltd (Banglore based company) which is currently developing a waste to energy (WTE) project in Sri Lanka.

The deal would include a mix of debt and equity both at the project level and the holding company level.

After the financial closure of the Sri Lanka project, RenewGen Enviro will initiate discussions with other investors for a larger investment round at the holding company level.

RenewGen Enviro Ventures India has been promoted by Vishnu Vasanth and B Senthil Kumar. The company also includes TTK Group chairman T.T. Jagannathan as a primary investor. Both promoters Vasanth and Kumar are Indian School of Business (ISB) passouts who set up the company in 2008.

RenewGen is executing 10MW waste to energy project in the western province of Sri Lanka. The project is expected to cost $29 million, and is one of the largest FDI in Sri Lanka in the sector. RenewGenEnviro Ventures India will own over 51 per cent stake in the project while a local government body will own 5 per cent. Remaining stake will be held IFC and other investors.

The project will process up to 580MT/day of municipal solid waste (MSW) and will generate up to 10MW of electricity which will be sold to the grid. The concession will be undertaken by Renewgen Environment Protection Kotte Pvt Ltd, a company incorporated in Sri Lanka. The Ceylon Electricity Board will off-take the power generated from the plant.

RenewGen Enviro Ventures is planning to develop a portfolio of waste to energy projects in South Asia. The company is looking to build 100 MW portfolio of renewable energy assets using municipal solid waste (MSW) as the fuel. Besides Sri Lanka, the company is also bidding for projects in India and Bangladesh.

IFC also planning to invest USD 130 Million in the form of debt and equity into INOX for 400 MW of wind projects…

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Power India – A popular blog on Indian Power Sector

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West Bengal Govt prepared final draft for policy on development of renewable sources of energy…

Power India found that finally West Bengal Government has prepared a final draft after 10 months.

At a time when the entire world is focusing on non-conventional or renewable sources of energy, it took the eco-friendly Bengal government 10 months to prepare a final draft. Now after years of neglect, the Mamata Banerjee Government has now finally prepared a draft policy on renewable energy policy. The draft was submitted that was sent to the state power minister Manish Gupta last week.

Power India found that the draft was prepared by an expert committee that included S P Gon Chaudhuri, the former advisor to the state government’s power department. While PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as a consultant, it was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and PricewaterhouseCoopers was the consultant for it. An expert committee was formed that included S.P Gon Chaudhuri, the former advisor to the state government’s power department. However, the state government made a delay of more than 10 months to finalize the draft.

Bengal, which could have flourished as a renewable energy hub in the past few years, suffered a setback due to the nonchalance on part of both the Left Front government and the present one. The dilly-dallying tactics by the previous and the present state government have driven out many prospective companies who had evinced interest in setting up solar power plants in the state.

The Bengal government had earlier lost quite a few projects with an investment of over Rs 500 crore as the state did not have any renewable energy policy in place. The list of companies, which could not do project in the state are – a US-based company Astonfield Renewable Resources, Videocon, Reliance Power and a Germany-based company. All these firms had approached the state government back in 2009 but as the government did not have a proper policy in place, it lost quite a few projects worth about Rs 500 crore. The investments would had crossed Rs 500 crore.

Astonfield had planned to taken up a 10-acre plot in Bankura to for set up a 5 MW solar power project on a 10-acre plot in Bankura, while Videocon had planned a 10 MW solar power plant spreading over some 100 acres at Raghunathpur in Purulia which had a capital outlay of about Rs 200 crore at that time.

Though the price of MW renewable energy per unit has come down now, the now. The Videocon project had now could hav e attracted an investment of about Rs 100 crore.

As said by Mr. SP Gon Chaudhuri:

“More than Rs 500 crore of investments were lost only because the state did not have any policy on renewable energy and no separate tariff for developing solar energy. At present, one megawatt of solar power plant costs around Rs 8 crore.”

After the new government came to power, it constituted a separate department for non-conventional energy. But after a few months of operation, the department was merged with the power department.

Also, due to lack of separate tariff for West Bengal and the eastern region of the country, solar power projects are not very competitive in the state.

Bengal has thus been losing out in the competitive bidding with states like Gujarat and Rajasthan., as solar radiation is lower in the state from states like Rajasthan and Gujarat and Bengal have been losing out to these states in competitive bidding.

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Power India – A popular blog on Indian Power Sector

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CEO of Tata BP Solar resigned as Industry struggles against cheap Chinese supply…

Power India found that Mr. K. Subramanya the CEO of India’s third-largest panel make Tata BP Solar Ltd. has resigned as the panel manufacture industry struggles to cope with oversupply from Chinese competitors that’s crushed prices.

Indian panel makers such as Tata BP, Indosolar Ltd. (ISLR) and Moser Baer India Ltd. (MBI) are struggling along with counterparts in the U.S. and Europe after lower-cost Chinese manufacturers boosted supply. Germany and Italy, the two biggest markets for the technology, have scaled back subsidies for renewable energy.

Indian manufacturers received almost no orders for the more than 700 megawatts of sun-powered capacity under construction in the nation last year and have idled their factories, Subramanya said in an interview in December.

Tata Power Co. (TPWR), the utility arm of the industrial group that owns Jaguar Land Rover, agreed to buy out BP Plc (BP/)’s stake in the Indian joint venture in December after the British oil company said it was winding down its solar business worldwide.

Prices of silicon-based panels plunged 47 percent in the past year, helping to tip at least seven U.S. and German manufacturers into bankruptcy.

(The article is original posted on Bloomberg.com (see the link) by Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai.)

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Power India – A popular blog on Indian Power Sector

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