Alstom T&D wins orders worth Rs 162 cr for substations in West Bengal...

 

Alstom T&D India on Tuesday said that it has bagged three contracts worth Rs 162 crore (€24 million) from West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (WBSETCL) for projects across the State.

The first two contracts include design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of 220/132 kV gas-insulated substation (GIS) package for Vidyasagar Industrial Park at Kharagpur and 220 kV GIS package at Dharampur. The orders are worth approximately Rs 60.7 crore (€9 million) and Rs 30.9 crore (€5 million), respectively.

As part of the third contract, worth Rs 63 crore (€10 million), Alstom will supply a 400 kV substation and a 220 kV transformer bay at Gokarna, and a 220 kV substation and feeder bays at Krishnanagar.

The 400 kV air-insulated substation (AIS) is constructed to evacuate power from the 1,000 MW Sagardighi Power plant (Phase II). It will be directly connected to the substation of PowerGrid.

“With these orders, Alstom T&D India has secured leadership position with more than 50 per cent market share in eastern India for GIS and AIS substations,” Rathin Basu, Managing Director, said in a statement.

West Bengal has planned major investments in the transmission and distribution sector. The aim is to build the transmission backbone of the State, through which power will be channelled from the eastern part of the country.

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Vedanta seeks nod to use IPP power for smelter...

 

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), a unit of Anil Agarwal controlled Vedanta Resources, has sought the nod of the Odisha government for using 600 Mw power from Sterlite Energy (also a Vedanta Group firm) to run its smelter at Jharsuguda.

VAL’s 1.25 million tonne per annum (mtpa) aluminium smelter set up as a sector specific Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Jharsuguda is lying idle presently for want of power. Sterlite Energy, an independent power producer (IPP), runs 2,400 Mw (4x600 Mw) coal-fired station at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda.

“We have set up our aluminium smelter in Jharsuguda in line with the state’s SEZ policy 2003 and are awaiting approval. We will be very pleased if approval can be granted immediately. The company also requests the government to allow use of 600 Mw power plant to run our smelter for value addition which is lying idle,” Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Agarwal said a quick decision by the government can help start operations of the smelter resulting in generation of economic activities, huge local employment and additional revenue creation for the state.

The company had recently sought extension of SEZ benefits for its aluminium smelter project at Jharsuguda.

VAL has already invested Rs 12,000 crore on the smelter complex. The commissioning of VAL’s multi-product SEZ at Jharsuguda has been delayed considerably due to non-finalisation of the state specific SEZ policy. Due to lack of the policy, various government departments were unable to extend the SEZ benefits. Commissioning of the SEZ facility promised to boost the local economy by generating business potential worth Rs 15,000 crore every year. Direct and indirect employment opportunities for nearly 12,000 persons are set to be created.

The facility is also expected to develop local infrastructure besides boosting numerous small scale enterprises. Since the Odisha government has granted its concurrence to grant the SEZ status to the smelter plant, VAL had pointed out earlier that the state SEZ policy should be applicable to the establishment. The company had also suggested that developing and setting up of downstream industries in the area adjoining to the smelter should be made mandatory.

Source: Business Standard

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Indonesian coal to be part of index determining power tariffs...

 

Power sector regulator CERC has decided to provide 50% weightage for Indonesian coal in the benchmark index that is used to determine escalation rates for electricity generated using imported dry fuel.

The move would help in having a benchmark in deciding the escalation rates for electricity generated by power plants that are fired by Indonesian coal.

It also assumes significance amid deadlock between various power generators and procurers over increasing the electricity tariff due to rise in imported coal prices.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided to include Indonesian coal, besides South African and Australian dry fuel, in the composite index for imported coal for payment purposes.

Currently, for payment purposes, the index takes into account only Australian and South African coal.

The Commission said that the decision to revise the index has been taken after considering the composition of steam coal imports as well as the importance and acceptability of indices in international contracts.

The Commission said in an order dated December 23rd that "The weights of different coal in the composite index shall include 25% Australian coal, 25% South African coal and 50% Indonesian coal."

CERC has the mandate to notify the escalation rates for imported coal used to fire power plants. These rates are notified every 6 months.

According to the watchdog, Indonesian coal has been included in the index considering that it makes up for a pre dominant share of steam coal imports into the country.

In 2010 to 2011, period about 73% coal was imported from Indonesia while 24% was from South Africa.

Average import of steam coal for the last 3 years shows about 76% from Indonesia and 19% from South Africa.

During the same period, the dry fuel import from Australia was just about one per cent.

The Commission said that despite insignificant steam coal imports from Australia, it would have 25 per the Commission said in an order dated December 23rd weightage in the index.

Thr soiurb said that Australian coal has been retained in the composite index despite very low volume of consumption in India due to its liquidity, acceptability for contracts, and possibility of increased use of Australian coal in future."

The new index should be used to determine the escalation rates from April 1st 2014.

Source: Business Standard

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Solar power a lucrative new opportunity for Punjab SMEs...

 

Vishav Mohan (name changed), a small entrepreneur based in Ludhiana, Punjab, was running a sewing machine company that was losing money owing to the decline in demand caused by a glut of cheaper models imported from China. He is now setting up a unit to manufacture solar panels for solar photovoltaic power generation on the same premises.

Other entrepreneurs in the region have already embarked on this road.

Vikram Hans, managing director of Multi Overseas India Private Limited, Chandigarh, said that owing to the increase in opportunities in solar power generation, he is manufacturing solar power inverters with high charging capacity. "There is huge demand from the telecom sector, as solar gen-sets are more cost effective than diesel gen-sets. Solar power is not an option but a strategic compulsion now. So there is a lot of scope for business expansion."

Jagat Jawa, director general of the Solar Energy Society of India, said that due to a fall in the cost of solar power generation in the past four to five years, the business had become lucrative for SMEs. "Four years back the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission had fixed the tariff of solar power at Rs 17.91 per unit, and this has now decreased to one-third. SMEs can make modules, solar cells, cables and small electronic parts. They can register as channel partners with the ministry of new and renewable energy to avail of business opportunities."

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission launched in January 2010 by the Union government has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 Mw of grid-connected solar power by 2022. One of the ways through which the mission aims to reduce the cost of solar power generation in the country is through domestic production of critical raw materials, components and products. This is expected to open new opportunities for small and medium entrepreneurs.

"There is a huge demand-supply gap in the availability of grid-tied photovoltaic inverters and bi-directional electricity meters. Most of these are either imported or provided by the big players, and are expensive. SMEs can make use of available technologies to manufacture such items. This would not only cut the government's import bill but also slash the cost of power generation," said Santosh Kumar, director, Science and Technology, Union Territory of Chandigarh, and also the director of CREST (Chandigarh Renewal Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society).

Chandigarh is one of the four model solar cities (the others are Nagpur, Pune and Mysore) selected by the Union government for setting up rooftop solar photovoltaic power systems. In a model solar city, a subsidy of either 50 per cent of the project cost or Rs 19 crore is given for solar power generation.

Uni-directional meters are used when the power is drawn from the grid. But in case of power generation by the consumer, a bi-directional meter is required which can register the electricity consumed and can also measure the surplus power supplied to the grid by the consumer. Such meters are presently available at an exorbitant price (about Rs 20,000 each). These meters can be sourced at a third of the price if manufactured by SMEs, added Santosh Kumar.

SMEs can also manufacture grid-tied invertors. These inverters can 'sense' the grid. When the grid shuts down, they divert power from the grid to the battery, saving power.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has been conducting a high-resolution satellite imaging survey to develop a web-based GIS tool for assessing the availability of rooftop space and radiation in Chandigarh. Amit Kumar, director (energy-environment) at TERI, said that SMEs can start making photovoltaic inverters, charge controllers, electrical components and metallic mounting structures.

With the tariffs for conventional power increasing owing to the high cost of coal and diesel, and the cost of renewable energy declining owing to the availability of better technologies, India is expected to reach grid parity (when the cost of renewable and conventional power equalises) by 2017. And since the Indian climate supports solar power generation, the investment in this field would be sustainable.

Source: Business Standard

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200 kWp Rooftop Solar plant commissioned by an Educational Society in Andhra Pradesh

 

A roof top, solar photovoltaic power plant has been commissioned at the Sri Vishnu Educational Society, Bhimavaram Campus in West Godavari district.

The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh, M. Kamalakar Babu commissioned the plant on Saturday, which has an installed capacity to generate around 3 lakh units per year.

The 200 kWp grid-tied unit has the capacity to produce 820 units per day average. However, in summer, the peak capacity of 1000 units can be generated while during rainy season, the minimum units produced would be around 600 per day. K.V. Vishnu Raju, Chairman of the Educational Society, said the installed project will meet about 10 per cent of the campus power requirement in base case i.e. 10 per cent of energy shall be off settled in the power imported from the grid and diesel generator.

The total project cost is Rs 2.6 crore. Of this, 30 per cent was obtained as grant from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy as capital subsidy.

The remaining has been funded by the Vishnu Educational Society, he said in a press release.

The break even for the project is four-five years.

The power plant has been designed, supplied, installed and commissioned by Varshini Power Projects, Hyderabad. It is the biggest solar power plant in the district as well as the biggest roof top project under APEPDCL, the release said. Recently, the educational society also installed a solar PV plant on the rooftop of its engineering college in Narsapur, Medak district near Hyderabad.

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GAIL gets environment nod for 220-Mw power plant...

 

GAIL India Ltd, the nation's biggest gas marketing company, has received environmental clearance for setting up a 220 MW gas-based power plant at Raigad in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 1,028 crore.

The state-owned firm plans to use 1 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas to generated 220 mega-watt of electricity at the proposed combined cycle power plant.

The State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority of Maharashtra in its 63rd meeting "decided to accord environmental clearance to the project under the provisions of Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006," R A Rajee, Principal Secretary in Environment Department of Maharashtra Government, wrote to GAIL on December 23.

GAIL plans to set up the combined cycle gas based power plant within the existing LPG plant boundary. Electricity generated at the plant will be sold to Maharashtra.

The project, which will use natural gas or imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel, is proposed to be located within GAIL's existing LPG recovery plant at Raigad.

GAIL has appointed Tractebel Engineering Pvt Ltd as consultant for preparation of Detail Feasibility Report (DFR).

According to the company's proposal, natural gas requirement for use in the proposed project would be about 1 million standard cubic meters per day.

The supply of fuel is proposed to be available from GAIL pipeline network. A new pipeline of about 400 meters is to be laid to connect the power plant.

GAIL in the project reported stated that about 1 mmscmd gas is available for the proposed project. Gas can be made available for the project either from domestic fields or imported LNG).

Source: Business Standard

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Clearances of Odisha power project coal blocks may be de-linked: Report

 

The government may de-link forest clearance of coal blocks for 4,000-MW Odisha ultra-mega power project (UMPP) with the environmental clearance accorded to the entire plant, so that delay in development of mines does not affect the construction of the thermal station, according to a source close to the development.

This development comes after the Coal Ministry last week issued show-cause notice to Power Finance Corporation seeking explanation for delay in commencement of production from the allocated mines.

"MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests) is likely to de-link forest clearance of coal blocks for 4,000 MW Odisha UMPP with the environmental clearance accorded to the entire plant so that delay in development of mines does not affect the construction of the thermal station," the source said.

The Coal Ministry has also said that if these firms fail to give reasons for the delays it would be presumed that it has no explanation to offer and appropriate action will be taken against the company.

As many as nine companies have qualified the first bidding round for the Odisha UMPP and are likely to participate in the second and final round also.

NTPC, Tata Power, NHPC, Adani Power, JSW Energy, Jindal Power, an arm of Jindal Steel & Power, Sterlite

Infraventures, CLP India and Larsen & Toubro had submitted applications for the Odisha project.

Odisha UMPP is a pit-head power project. Based on domestic coal, to be sourced from allocated captive coal blocks, it is expected to cost around Rs. 25,000 crore.

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Trial linking of national and southern power grids to start from today...

 

The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) will start synchronising the national power grid with the southern power grid on a trial basis on Tuesday. The much-awaited synchronisation is expected to ease electricity shortage in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

The synchronisation was to begin in the first week of January 2014. But the PGCIL decided to begin testing the synchronisation on Tuesday itself as work on the 800 kV line between Raichur in Karnataka and Solapur in Maharashtra had accelerated, officials explained.

Nevertheless, this synchronisation of the two grids would only be a testing phase and continue for sometime, officials with the Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre told Deccan Herald.

It is said that this synchronisation testing will continue for the next four to six months until the possibility of sustained power reaching the southern states from the north of the country is ascertained. For Karnataka, the synchronisation of the two grids may bring good news. Once the two grids are linked, the State may get close to 1,000 MW of additional power, according to officials. The State has a medium-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with three to four states in the western and northern parts of the country, including Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The KPTCL has, however, estimated that 1,000 MW of power will be received only after the ‘hierarchy of power supply’ is committed. The hierarchy means upper states will have the first right in the supply of power.  At present, the KPTCL estimates that it receives only 500 MW of the 1,500 MW under the PPA which it has signed with the western and northern states. The PPA continues till April-May 2015.

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Power losses halved in Haryana, but little gain for consumers...

 

Seen in pure revenue terms, the year 2013 was good one for the power discoms. According to reports, operational losses were reduced by 52%, thanks to financial restructuring.

But from the viewpoint of the consumer, there are few causes for celebration. First of all, there were around half a dozen tariff hikes in this year alone.

In October, when the domestic tariffs were ratcheted up by 34 paise a unit, there were many voices of protest. Especially from the industrial community, which has been pressed the hardest by rising power costs. Industrial power costs as much as Rs 7 per unit, and this is without taking into account added tariff components like fixed charges and fuel surcharge.

Many are now anticipating another hike as a New Year gift. The discoms, including the DHBVN, are aiming to further slash their annual losses by around 21%. And putting the burden on the consumer, especially on the industrial users - who account for around 42% of the total power consumed in the region - has been common practice."The power authorities have implemented unreasonable hikes all these months, and the same is likely to happen next year.

Industrialists are paying fixed charges and a fuel surcharge on an already high tariff. Buying electricity off the grid here is becoming as costly as diesel-based backup," said S K Sharma, a local entrepreneur.

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50 Substations across the state has been inaugurated in Tamil Nadu...

 

With a view to ensure uniform power supply to all and to reduce transmission loss as well as maintenance cost, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday inaugurated 50 sub-stations across the State, set up at a cost of Rs. 509.88 crore, through video conferencing facility at her camp office at Kodanadu in Nilgiris district.

Jayalalithaa also launched the distribution of 14.62 lakh CFL lamps that consume less power to hutment dwellers, instead of incandescent bulbs.

The 50 sub-stations include a 33 KW facility at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in Madurai, as well as two each of 230 KW capacity, 29 each of 110 KW capacity and 18 each of 33 KW capacity across the State.

The Chief Minister had unveiled the Solar Energy Policy 2012 with a thrust on tapping the abundant natural resources in the State since it is environment friendly.

Jayalalithaa also inaugurated a 60 KV solar energy panel on the rooftop of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation office in Chennai, set up at a cost of `55.80 lakh. This could generate one lakh units of power per year to meet a substantial quantum of electricity required for running the office. Besides, on holidays, this solar panel would be connected to the grid.

To encourage power saving and considering the market price of CFL lamps, the government has decided to provide them to 14.62 lakh hutment dwellers at a cost of `8.77 crore. In the first phase, 7 lakh lamps would be distributed. The Chief Minister gave away 9 watt CFL bulbs to seven beneficiaries. With this scheme, the State could save 40 MW of power.

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