MMTC, Adani in fray for NTPC coal tender…

 

State-owned MMTC Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd and Knowledge Infrastructure Systems Pvt. Ltd (KISPL) are among the firms in the fray for supplying 7 million tonnes (mt) of imported coal estimated to be valued at around Rs. 4,500 crore to NTPC Ltd.

The tender for the largest such package in the current fiscal year was called by NTPC, India’s largest coal consumer, which has a coal requirement of 166.7 mt in the year to March.

Of this, 150 mt is to be supplied by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd; the balance 16.7 mt is to be sourced from overseas. NTPC has already ordered for 9.7 mt with the price bids opened for the balance 7 mt this month.

“This 7 mt is being sourced through four separate tenders for which the price bids have been opened. They are under evaluation,” said a senior NTPC executive requesting anonymity.

Another NTPC executive confirmed that MMTC, Adani Enterprises and KISPL were in the fray for supplying fuel to India’s largest power generation utility.

The utility has the capacity to generate 42,454 megawatts (MW) of electricity with 17 coal-fuelled projects. The demand for coal will increase with the utility setting a target of becoming a 128,000 MW power producer by 2032. Of this, 56% or 71,680MW will be coal-based.

“Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for imported coal procurement was notified in newspapers and is currently under evaluation therefore the information sought can not be shared at this stage,” an NTPC spokesperson said in reply to emailed queries.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of MMTC and Adani Enterprises on Wednesday remained unanswered as of press time on Monday.

“We are one of the participants in the recent NTPC tender for imported coal,” a KISPL spokesperson said in an emailed response. “We are awaiting formal announcement and award of contract by NTPC.”

Analysts said NTPC must improve procurement efficiency.

“The negotiated route with coal miners in select geographies such as Indonesia, South Africa and Australia may have greater procurement efficiency given that the volumes are large and the miners may favour long-term contracts in view of uncertainties ahead, but these need to be weighed against the established procedures and objectives of transparency,” said Dipesh Dipu, a partner at Jenissi Management Consultants, a Hyderabad-based resources-focused consultancy.

“In future, adopting a globally accepted standard contract of coal trade may also enhance procurement efficiency,” said Dipu.

NTPC, India’s largest power generation utility, has been allocated six captive coal blocks by the government and aims to mine 15 million tonnes per annum in three years. However, it has not been able to make them operational yet.

“India has a strong structural demand for coal, given the country’s reliance on thermal power. We expect the country’s thermal coal-based power capacity to increase from an estimated 123GW at the end of FY13 to ~150GW by FY16,” UBS Global Equity Research wrote in a 18 December report.

“Thereby, we expect the total coal demand to increase from~720 mt in FY13 to 920 mt in FY16. However, we expect the domestic coal supply to only cater to 76% of the FY16 coal demand, with rest of the requirement being filled up by imports,” it said.

NTPC’s orders comes at a time when demand for the fuel in the country is expected to grow from 649 mt per year now to 730 mt in 2016-17, and its failure in securing coal assets overseas.

Of India’s current capacity of 227,356.73MW, 58.6%, or 133,188.39MW, is fuelled by coal.
NTPC has an 18.29% share of India’s installed power generation capacity.

Source

Read More...

10MW power plant in collaboration with Nabard and JREDA to light up 200 Hazaribag houses…

 

The 10MW mini-power plant, set up in collaboration with Nabard and Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Authority (JREDA) at Bengwari village under the Keredari block of Hazaribag district, was launched on Monday.

The chief general manager of NABARD, K C Panda, inaugurating the plant, said: "Nabard provided Rs 6 lakh and JREDA Rs 1 lakh, apart from technical assistance for setting up the plant. With this, more than 200 houses in the village will be electrified."

Residents of the remote village expressed their gratitude to NABARD and JEDA, an NGO for providing power, denied to them since Independence.

The plant will generate power with the help of coal and wood, which are available in plenty in Keredari. It may be mentioned here that the coal blocks in Keredari and Chatti Bariatu in Keredari block have been allotted to NTPC for the production of coal to generate power. But the company is yet to start its work due to a long-standing dispute with the villagers over land acquisition as well as payment of compensation.

Panda said: "Nabard is willing to provide financial assistance for setting up of more such mini-power plants if villagers come forward to be trained in running such plants." A team of villagers led by M K Mahto of Bengawari were sent to Rajasthan to obtain technical knowhow on running and operating the mini-power plant. The technical expert of JREDA, P P Verma said: "Now the villagers will have to ensure that the plant is run by trained villagers." He, however, added that whenever the villagers require any technical assistance, JREDA will provide it to them.

Source

Read More...

Power deficit falls as slowdown trips companies' usage…

 

India's peak power deficit hit a record low of 4% for the quarter to December 2013 from 9% a year ago, according to an estimate by experts. They attribute the decline partly to the increase in generation capacity, but mainly to the worrying fall in industrial demand amid the economic slowdown.

The trend is likely to continue as manufacturers in auto, metals, and cement sectors may continue to run at low capacity due to poor demand, resulting in lower demand for power, experts said.

"Growth in energy consumption in the eight months to November 2013 has been less than 1%, as against an estimation of 7-8% for the 12th Plan period. This is unprecedented and reflects the severe slowdown in economic activities," said Debashish Mishra, senior director-consulting at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India.

Power deficit falls as slowdown trips companies' usage India's peak power deficit or the shortage of electricity supply when demand is maximum during the day, was as high as 13-14% during the 10th Plan period (2002-2007).

The figure came down to 10% as new power units started generation and stayed around this level over the past few years. But it has been consistently declining since May 2013, plunging to its lowest level of 2.9% in November.

Although, government officials attribute this to capacity addition and delayed winter, industry experts warn that the decline is mainly on account of slowdown in industrial demand.

This is corroborated by the data on industrial production, which contracted 2.1% in November compared with the year-ago period. The manufacturing sector reported a year-on-year decline of 3.5%, its worst since March 2012, triggering worries that the worst might not be over yet.

"The November data indicates the depth of the current macro slowdown. We expect that the production data will continue to be weak for another three months since we do not see any recovery in manufacturing," said Tirthankar Patnaik, director and India strategist and economist at Religare Capital Markets.

According to data from the Central Electricity Authority, India added 6,963 MW of power generation capacity during April-November 2013. The authority is yet to release the data for December but expert estimates indicate that demand for power may have declined in the quarter ended in December.

Brokerage Sharekhan estimates that India's power requirement during the quarter declined to 4% year-on-year to 239.4 billion units, while power availability is expected to have grown by 2% to 230 billion units.

"During this quarter, we also observed that the power demand has fallen sharply compared to the growth in power availability," Sharekhan said in a report. Experts also believe that demand for short-term power from power distribution companies would remain low as the loss-making units resort to load-shedding over buying expensive power.

Source

Read More...