RBI blacklists TNEB,claims state govt…

According to reports, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday claimed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has blacklisted the state’s electricity board, but banks here said they had not received any communication from the central bank that barred them from lending further loans to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).

Earlier, while announcing her Cabinet’s decisions, state Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said the debt-ridden TNEB should not expect any help from the banks since the RBI had issued them an order blocking financial aid to the board.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo blamed the erstwhile regime of M Karunanidhi for precipitating TNEB’s plight to the present state, adding her administration had no plans now to bail out the board.

She said the 1957-founded TNEB’s current loss was at Rs 40,659 crore, and it had a debt burden of Rs 42,175 crore. “Its debt is expected to likely to cross Rs 53,000 crore by end of the current fiscal,” she added. Besides, the Board has to pay around Rs 10,000 crore to power producers and contractors.

In 2010-11, TNEB had borrowed Rs 21,385.70 crore. So far, it has repaid Rs 15,000 crore towards instalments and interest. In such circumstances, rating agencies have reduced their outlook for the board, Jayalalithaa said.

Leading bankers in the state, when contacted, said they had not got any information about the RBI having blacklisted TNEB.

Jayalalithaa said her government had paid Rs 2,016-crore subsidy to TNEB, besides giving it an advance of Rs 1,055 crore. Another Rs 2,000 crore would be given to the Board as share capital, she said.

Further, the government had, last month, given another Rs 500 crore to the Board to buy power from the open market. “We don’t have anymore money to give it,” she added.

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Essar expects big play in power plants with Foster Wheeler tech…

With a technology-transfer agreement with the US power major Foster Wheeler under its belt, Essar Projects expects a large play in India in what is touted as the ‘future technology for India's power sector'.

The technical agreement is for thermal power boilers of the ‘circulating fluidised combustion bed' type. CFBC is said to be the future of India's power sector. It is impossible to give up coal-based plants altogether, given the preponderance of coal in India's power sector.

And if coal has to be used, it had better be through CFBC route, says Dr Arjun Bharatan, Senior Vice-President, Plant Technologies Group, Essar Projects Ltd.

Eco-friendly

CFBC boilers are environment-friendly because they do not let out harmful gases. Harmful substances such as sulphur are mixed with limestone and removed. But the attractiveness of CFBC boilers today is more due to their ability to handle any kind of fuel. This is a big advantage because, for example, when coal prices are high, it is possible to use a blend of coal and some other low cost fuel such as lignite.

The CFBC boilers cost about 10 per cent more, but their fuel flexibility is a big advantage, says Mr William Rajkumar, Vice President – Stem Generators, Plant Technologies Group, Essar Projects.

Fuel flexibility

If India adds 75,000 MW of thermal power capacity, it would need 3 billion tonnes of coal. Flexibility to mix or switch fuels, depending upon their market prices, is said to be a huge advantage.

With Foster Wheeler's backing, Essar Projects offers high a combination of CFBC and supercritical boilers.

In India, the biggest operating CFBC boilers are of 135 MW (though Neyveli Lignite Corporation is close to commissioning a 250 MW plant). The biggest operating CFBC-supercritical plant is the one that was set up by Foster Wheeler at Lagisza in Poland. But the Samcheok Green Power plant of the Korean Southern Power Company, is putting up four units of 550 MW each.

These CFBC-supercritical plants, expected to begin generation in 2015, are also of Foster Wheeler technology.

Under the technology licence, Essar is obliged to buy the pressure parts from Foster Wheeler for the first three projects. Foster Wheeler is likely to supply the components from its plant in China.

For the subsequent projects, Essar is free to buy from any of the Foster Wheeler-approved vendors.

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GERC ropes in GEDA to monitor RPO and issue RECs…

The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has directed the power bodies to take preventive actions to minimize the accidents. The regulator suggested electricity distribution companies to focus on safety and form safety cells to give immediate attention to the same. According to the GERC directive, power bodies of the state will form a committee to monitor accidents in electricity distribution companies.

Ninth meeting of the Co-ordination Forum, consisting of stakeholders of state's power sector, was held on Wednesday in Ahmedabad. Among other crucial decisions, the commission designated Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) as a state nodal agency to function in accordance with the provision of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission Regulations' terms and conditions for recognition and issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation.

GEDA is also asked to monitor the renewable power purchase obligation on regular basis and submit the report to the Commission quarterly basis. GERC circulated proposed guideline for signing of power purchase agreement for power projects and renewable energy projects and sought the views from the participants. GERC also discussed the paper on proposed solar tariff for the new control period 2012-15, assessed the impact of the last tariff orders of electricity distribution companies and reviewed their standard performance.

The committee for safety, to be chaired my the managing director of Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSEC), will consist members from four state owned electricity distribution companies, three private sector power ventures and Kandla Port Trust. The committee will analyse the accident data of past five years on quarterly basis and the report will be submitted in the next co-ordination meeting.

Meanwhile, a committee constituted by the commission submitted and discussed the report on 'Issues of Right Way, safety and coordination amongst the various service providers for creation and maintenance of infrastructure'.

The participants, representing different power companies, also discussed the status of transmission projects associated with generating stations and renewable source projects including proposed Solar Park of the government of Gujarat, read the media statement from the regulator. GERC members, chief electrical inspector, representatives from power bodies and affiliated state agency attended the meeting.

During the meeting, apex state power utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited, GSEC and GEDA officials made a presentation on power sector scenario in Gujarat.

Ninth meeting of the Co-ordination Forum, consisting of stakeholders of state's power sector, was held on Wednesday in Ahmedabad. Among other crucial decisions, the commission designated Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) as a state nodal agency to function in accordance with the provision of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission Regulations' terms and conditions for recognition and issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation.

GEDA is also asked to monitor the renewable power purchase obligation on regular basis and submit the report to the Commission quarterly basis. GERC circulated proposed guideline for signing of power purchase agreement for power projects and renewable energy projects and sought the views from the participants. GERC also discussed the paper on proposed solar tariff for the new control period 2012-15, assessed the impact of the last tariff orders of electricity distribution companies and reviewed their standard performance.

The committee for safety, to be chaired my the managing director of Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSEC), will consist members from four state owned electricity distribution companies, three private sector power ventures and Kandla Port Trust. The committee will analyze the accident data of past five years on quarterly basis and the report will be submitted in the next co-ordination meeting.

Meanwhile, a committee constituted by the commission submitted and discussed the report on 'Issues of Right Way, safety and coordination amongst the various service providers for creation and maintenance of infrastructure'.

The participants, representing different power companies, also discussed the status of transmission projects associated with generating stations and renewable source projects including proposed Solar Park of the government of Gujarat, read the media statement from the regulator. GERC members, chief electrical inspector, representatives from power bodies and affiliated state agency attended the meeting.

During the meeting, apex state power utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited, GSEC and GEDA officials made a presentation on power sector scenario in Gujarat.

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AP power sector gets Rs 1,604 cr from Centre…

The Andhra Pradesh government has directed all the distribution companies (discoms) to bring down aggregate technical and commercial losses to below 15 per cent in major towns in the state.

To achieve this target, the discoms have been asked by the state energy department to fully gear up for the implementation of the Re-structured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) meant for this purpose, within the schedule period.

Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary (energy), who reviewed the progress and performance of APEPDCL on Saturday, said that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 1,604 crore under Part-A and Part-B of the R-APDRP scheme to achieve the target.

With the investment of Rs1,604 crore the state government is expected to take up construction of numerous new substations, laying of new lines, renovation of old substations and lines, replacement of old electro-mechanical meters with high quality static meters, providing automatic meter reading instruments to the meters near distribution transformers (DTRs) and high-tension services, apart from establishment of a data centre, a disaster recovery data centre and a centralised customer care centre in the discom headquarter, a release said.

The state government has requested the power ministry to extend the scheme even to towns with population of 10,000 instead of the Centre’s criteria of 30,000 under Part-A of R-APDRP.

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China Light Power project likely to be operational by 2012…

The 1320 MW (2X 660 MW) coal based super critical thermal power project of China Light and Power India at Jhajjar in Haryana is expected to be operational between January and March 2012.

According to sources, headquartered in Hong Kong, China Light and Power is one of the largest power companies in Asia Pacific with interest in over 50 generation, transmission and distribution assets in Hong Kong China, the Philippines, Australia and others.

According to Kolkata headquartered power sector EPC contractor Techno Electric & Engineering Company Ltd the commissioning of the transmission line from Jhajjar to consumption centres at Rohtak and Sonepat will be over in December. The transmission project is set up by KT Transco Pvt Ltd an SPV created by Techno (49%) and Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd (51%).

The INR 450 crore transmission project generated an EPC business of INR 210 crore to Techno. This is above the INR 54 crore annuity income expected for operating the transmission line for 25 years against an equity contribution of INR 38 crore.

As per Mr PP Gupta MD of Techno, “We are expecting the construction of the first 660 MW unit of CLP to be over soon after the commissioning of the transmission line.”

The INR 700 crore EPC major has recently forayed into wind power generation and completed commissioning of 104 MW capacity in Tamil Nadu through its subsidiary Simran Wind Project.

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Power cuts in all sectors…

Continuous dry spell and delayed Kharif season has forced the energy sector to continue power cuts on almost all sectors of the society _ domestic, agricultural and industrial _ to manage the gap between supply and demand. At present, the power shortfall stood at around 25 mu (million units) per day.Keeping in view the forthcoming Rabi season, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government has already placed orders with power exchanges and central generating stations to purchase up to 1,200 MW of power per day between January and May 2012 to avert power crisis during Rabi. As on date, about 700 MW of power per day is being purchased at an average price of ` 4.50 per unit to meet the demand.According to APTransco chairman and managing director Ajay Jain, the state is experiencing power shortage of about 1,000 MW (about 25 mu) each day.

The Bhoopalapalli power plant (Kakatiya thermal power unit) of 500 MW capacity, has stopped functioning since October 7. Reduction in gas allocation by RIL has resulted in shortage of 250 MW of power and NTPC Simhadri plant is generating 650 MW as against its full capacity of 1,000 MW.

On the other hand, the hydel generation stood at zero level due to nil inflows into the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs. Depletion of ground water and continuous dry spell (drought conditions) since August have resulted in an increase in the power demand to protect standing crops.

Delayed Kharif due to delay in seed sowings has also shown its impact on the power demand. At present, the power sector is able to supply up to 225 mu per day as against the demand of around 250 mu.Ajay Jain is hopeful of a fall in the demand for power by January 2012 due to the end of the Kharif season.

The overall power demand is expected to come down during winter. At present, the shortage of power of about 25 mu per day is being managed by imposing power cuts on the domestic sector _ for two hours in Hyderabad, four hours in district headquarters, six hours in municipalities and towns and eight hours in mandals. Besides, the oneday power holiday for industries is being continued in addition to oneday weekly off by industrial units.

Steps have been taken to ensure seven hours of power supply to the agricultural sector to protect the standing crops. And then, unscheduled power cuts depend on grid frequency.

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Power sector requires 6.6 lacs manpower…

India''s power sector, which has embarked on ambitious capacity addition plans, is projected to require more than 6.6 lakh additional manpower during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Grappling with severe power shortages, the country expects to see the addition of about 1,00,000 MW of generation capacity during the 12th Plan, even as many existing projects are running behind schedule due to various factors, including fuel supply issues.

"The proposed capacity addition during the 12th Plan is about 1,00,000 MW. This capacity addition and associated T&D network is likely to lead to the additional requirement of around 6.6 lakh manpower," according to a parliamentary panel.
The total projected requirement includes engineers, supervisors, skilled and semi-skilled workers, among others, for construction, as well as operation and maintenance activities.

In its recent report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy said operations and maintenance activities alone would require about 6.12 lakh people during the 2012-17 period.

During the same period, the manpower requirement on the construction side is estimated at around 49,000 people.
About 59,000 engineers would be needed for construction, as well as operation and maintenance activities, in the power sector.
As per the report, there would be a requirement of 93,000 skilled workers and 1,00,000 semi-skilled people during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

The power sector is already facing talent crunch, which has also resulted in rising attrition.

In the current Five-Year Plan, ending March, 2012, the manpower requirement is pegged at 10,00,000 people. This is based on the capacity addition target of nearly 78,000 MW.

Total capacity addition in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) is estimated at a little over 52,000 MW, much lower than the revised target of 62,000 MW.

A National Training Policy (NTP) has been formulated for the power sector that highlights the need to plan for training as an integrated Human Resources Development activity, the panel said.
Going by estimates, the power sector is expected to see investments worth USD 300-400 billion in the 12th Five-Year Plan.

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