Lanco completed Asia’s largest multi-developer, multi facility 56 MW Solar PV Park in Gujarat…

Lanco Solar, the fully owned subsidiary of Lanco Infratech completed Solar Photovoltaic Power plants aggregating to 56 MW in Gujarat. These include three plants of total 35 MW which are owned by Lanco Infratech itself and additional 21 MW developed as turnkey EPC projects for the following developers:

• GHI Energy : 10 MW
• Gujarat Power Corporation : 5 MW
• GSPC Pipavav Power Company: 5 MW
• Gujarat State Electricity Corporation: 1 MW

As per our estimation these power plants will generate around 90 Million Units (kWhs) of green electricity annually which will result into reduction of around 85757 tonnes of CO2 annually.

 

As stated by Mr. V. Saibaba (CEO Lanco Solar)

“We came to Gujarat in 2009 to explore the possibility of setting up our Solar business here. The visionary approach of the Hon`ble Chief Minister and the attitude of Government of Gujarat have been very positive for promotion of solar energy. Gujarat is at the forefront of solar development in the country today, with its excellent solar radiation, progressive solar policies and conducive business environment. We look forward to our continued growth here over our existing 56 MW, that we have built as a Developer & an EPC player in the last one and a half years in Gujarat”

We found that the said Gujarat Solar Park is Asia’s largest solar park and has been dedicated by Hon’ble Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi to the nation on April 19, 2012. The Park is the first of its kind in the world, being the largest, multi-developer, multi-facility park to encourage investment in the sector.

 

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GMDC to develop 200 MW power plant at Bhavnagar…

We found that GMDC (Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation) is going to establish a 200 MW lignite based power plant near Bhavnagar to supply power to the textile industry, especially the spinning sector.

Quoting an official from the state industries department, a report said GMDC has short-listed Univision Textiles Limited, Ahmedabad Textile Processors Association, Pradeep Overseas and Suryachakra Energy & Infrastructure Limited for partnership in the Rs 1,000 crore project.

“Gujarat is the largest producer of cotton and has a strong presence of ginners. Time is ripe for units to go into value addition in spinning. They can expect higher returns by selling yarn instead of raw cotton,” the official reportedly said.

Bhavnagar has 63 million tonne lignite reserves, while the project will require 10 million tonne lignite per annum.

 

The report added that the state government has plans to more than double the state’s share of cotton spinning capacity from 7% to 15% in five years.

 

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Power Minister invited US leaders to invest in country’s growing energy sector…

 

Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde, Hon’ble Union Power Minister, has invited US corporate leaders to invest in India’s energy sector.  During the meeting of Mr. Shinde with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a discussion has happened on ways and means to enhance bilateral cooperation in the energy sector and in particular the renewable sources of energy and energy conservation.

 

In his address to a meeting of US private sector organised by US India Business Council yesterday, Shinde said India is moving on the path of massive investment in the energy sector, especially electricity generation and transmission.

According to Mr. Shinde

“Energy security is of vital economic and strategic significance for us. A number of financial, technological and exploratory initiatives already exist with the US in clean and renewable energy and energy conservation and efficiency and we now need to explore economic partnerships between the Indian and US companies in this shift to clean energy. There are excellent opportunities in India to examine the feasibility of clean energy technologies, which will be a win-win situation for India and the United States. I am also aware of the concerns of investors with respect to land acquisition, coal sourcing, financial health of discoms, pricing reforms, payment security and contract sanctity. Recognising the need for an overall and comprehensive legal architecture and a policy framework conducive to larger and more sustained investment in the power sector, the Government of India took numerous steps to facilitate reforms in the sector.

Mr. Shinde said the Indian government has proposed various proposals in the Budget 2012 to stimulate investments.

Further, we found that a crucial Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is under the consideration of the Parliament.

 

The current installed capacity of India stands at over 1,90,000 MW of which renewables (wind and solar) contribute over 22,000 MW.

 

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CLP India to develop 102.4 MW wind power project in Rajasthan…

We found that, CLP India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the CLP Group (China Light and Power), has signed an agreement with Rajasthan Government for development of a 102.4 MW of Wind Power Project.

 

According to the reports, the proposed wind farm will use 800 kW gearless turbines from Enercon which are suitable for medium to low wind sites.

 

The project is proposed to be commissioned by end of December 2012.

 

With the commissioning of this project, the same will become CLP India’s third wind project in Rajasthan and ninth in India.

 

Further, we analysed that after commissioning of this project, CLP India’s wind power portfolio in India will reach to about 740 MW which is spread across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

 

Technorati Tags: Wind Power Project,Rajasthan,CLP India,Enercon

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Government to consider PPP model to increase outputs of CIL mines…

We have found from various sources that the Union Government which is under tremendous pressure due to its inability to meet the growing demand of coal for the power projects has started considering the proposal to engage private sector companies to under taking mining on behalf of CIL.

This proposal to involve private sector companies for the “Public Private Partnerships” (PPP) mode has been discussed between the Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Coal Secretary Mr. Alok Perti.

 

We learnt that the Coal Ministry is considering a model agreement  - mining, development and operations (MDO) – under which private companies would undertake mining operations, while the ownership and sale of coal would rest with CIL.

 

According to the letter by Dr. Ahlwalia to Mr. Sriprakash Jaiswal (Hon’ble Coal Minister) “It should be possible to expand cola mining operations rapidly through the proposed PPP model and the same can enable a fair and transparent framework based on competitive bidding.

 

CIL, in which government has a majority stake, has already done some preliminary work on the new model.

 

Technorati Tags: CIL,coal,PPP mode,power,Coal Secretary,Coal Ministry

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APDCL posted 620% accumulated losses in five years…

Against the backdrop of ‘power sector reforms’ being carried out by the power department of Assam government, the accumulated losses of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) had shot up staggeringly by 620 per cent in five year, beginning 2006-07 and ending in 2010-11. The accumulated losses of the company increased from Rs. 142.90 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 1,029.61 crore in 2010-11, which is an increase of Rs. 886.71 crore, found the recently submitted Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report.

Further, the audit report observed that the borrowings of APDCL increased by 74.40 per cent from Rs. 479.58 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 836.40 crore in 2010-11. The realisation per unit increased from Rs. 4.71 to Rs. 5.74 (21.87 per cent) during 2006-11, whereas the cost per unit increased from Rs 5.02 to Rs 7.00 (39.44 per cent) during the corresponding period.

The audit report said that “due to unnecessary drawal of loan fund and its non-utilisation, APDCL had burdened itself with a total interest liability of Rs. 42 lakh to the Assam government..

The debt-equity ratio ranged between 2.95:1 and 4.60:1 during the same period. “Increase in debt-equity ratio in 2010-11 as compared to 2006-07 was due to increase in unsecured loans,” the report said. At a time when the accumulated loss was mounting, the company could not recover its operational cost in any of the years as it failed to attain category wise sales-mix and restrict sub-transmission and distribution losses within the limits prescribed by AERC, found the CAG report. “We noticed that long length of the feeders, non-installation of capacitor banks, low power factor, un-metered consumers and theft of electricity etc. had contributed to energy losses,” stated the report.

It added: “APDCL, in reply, stated that it had taken various steps for improvement of sub-transmission and distribution losses viz. addition of transformation capacity as per 17th report of Electric Power Survey Committee, installation of meters for un-metered consumers, replacement of stop/defective meters and reduction in theft cases. However, the fact remains that APDCL was yet to achieve AERC norms for energy losses.”

Among the state public sector undertakings (PSUs) of Assam, APDCL was the third most loss making company in 2010-11 as it incurred a loss of Rs. 8.62 crore.

As part of power sector reforms, the erstwhile Assam State Electricity Board was unbundled and consequently, the business of power distribution was carried out by three distribution companies namely, Upper Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UAEDCL), Lower Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (LAEDCL) and Central Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (CAEDCL), which were incorporated on October 23, 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956.Subsequently, the two companies viz., UAEDCL and CAEDCL were merged with LAEDCL on April 1, 2009 and LAEDCL was renamed as Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL), which was incorporated on October 23, 2009 under the Companies Act, 1956.

As on March 31, 2011, APDCL had distribution network of 1.12 lakh Circuit Kilometers (CKM) of lines, 36,240 sub-stations and 34,664 transformers of various categories catering to 19.13 lakh consumers.

 

Technorati Tags: Discoms,APDCL,Finance,Power,SEBs

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CIL to start signing of new guaranteed coal supply agreements….

Finally the Indian Power companies have got some good news on the coal front. Coal India Limited (CIL), the one of the biggest coal miners in the world, has agreed to sign new fuel agreements with power producers. These new fuel supply agreements will e guaranteed nature and CIL will pay a penalty of 0.01% of shortfall in supplies.

 

The company will start the procedure for signing the agreements by April 20, 2012.

 

Spark believed that, the government, CIL’s largest shareholder with a 90%  stake, has forced it to sign fuel supply agreements with power producers, guaranteeing to supply 80 percent of contracted quantity.

The penalty clause according to the Chairwoman Zohra Chatterji has been kept at a minimum level and would be operationalized after three years.

 

Following intense lobbying by the power sector, the government directed Coal India to guarantee long-term supplies to the power sector, even if it has to resort to imports.

 

However, activist UK investor The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), which owns 1% of the company, has threatened legal action against the firm's directors for not protecting the interests of minority shareholders.

 

Coal fuels more than half the power generated in India, which does not produce enough power to meet the demands of a fast-growing economy and increasingly affluent population of 1.2 billion people.

 

The country has about 10% of the world's coal reserves but is still forced to import coal to meet demand.

 

Coal India's production has virtually stagnated over the past three years as the company battles regulatory and infrastructure hurdles.

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