J&K to spent Rs 1900 Crs to bring down T&D losses in the state…

Power India found that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said a Rs 1,900-crore project is under execution to bring down the power transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the state.

 

"The government has put R-APDRP schemes to execution to reduce T&D losses by 3 per cent annually," he said. Upgradation and power reforms project R-APDRP has been taken in hand at a cost of Rs 1,909 crore, Abdullah said while inaugurating a powergrid station at Ponicheck here.

 

He said the project envisages improvement in high tension and low rension in towns and cities with a population of 10,000 and above. Seven grid stations have been completed in 2011, while two have been completed this month and another seven are in the pipeline, he said. He said financial self-reliance of the state is directly linked with harnessing of huge potential of about 20,000 MWs of hydro electricity available in the state.

 

"My government is working on a comprehensive plan to make remarkable dent in this direction", he said, adding that considerable thrust is on the generation of power along with upgradation of distribution and transmission system. He said in a state where the total income from all resources is Rs 6,500 crore and expenditure on salaries of government employees is Rs 13,500 crore, the only hope for financial self-reliance can be pinned on the power sector.

 

The powergrid station at Ponicheck of 50 MVA capacity with 132/33 KV voltage level. The construction of the station is accompanied with the installation of 1.78 km feeding line. The construction of the station was taken in hand in 2010 at a cost of about Rs 16.72 crore. \

 

It will benefit the population of about one lakh inhabitants in Mur and Raipur- Domana Constituencies besides people living in Talab Tillo, Trilokpur and adjacent areas. The station will also improve and regulate quality power supply at 33 KV level feeding the sub-transmission system in Tehsil Jammu. It will relieve the overloading of existing network and grid station at Janipur and Canal.

 

The transmission line constructed along with the grid station is of 1.7 km long with 7 towers of B+6 and D+0 types. The Chief Minister said that improvement and upgradation of power supply to the consumers is being ensured by construction of new grid stations, receiving stations and sub- stations across state. He, however, showed concern over the huge transmission losses the State has to bear due to misuse of electricity.

 

He said the yearly losses on account of misuse and transmission leakage of electricity have touched over Rs 2,000 crore which should be serious concern to all. He said this amount if procured from the consumers could be utilised on various development projects and employment generation for youth. He asked the consumers to pay the electricity charges in accordance with the consumption they make.

 

 

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Artificial Leaf…

Power India found that Daniel Nocera (an MIT researcher) has developed a potentially ground breaking energy storage technology that successfully mimics nature.

 

Daniel call this technology as an “Artificial Leaf”

 

In a photosynthesis-like process, the ‘leaf’ uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The emitted gases could then be stored in a fuel cell, making off-grid living beyond feasible.

 

Not only that, but Nocera says that his leaf’s efficiency outperforms nature by a factor of 10.

 

He founded the company Sun Catalytix to work on products that may some day provide electricity to impoverished households in developing countries.

 

Solutions are expected to be ready for commercial use in the next few years. (Note: while it’s called an ‘artificial leaf’, it’s not actually a leaf.)

Source: Clean Technica

 

 

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NPCIL’s Kudankulam nuclear plant to get nod for fuelling soon…

Power India found that Atomic power reactor operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) hopes to get the regulatory nod to fuel the first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant in a week's time, a top official said here Saturday.

The NPCIL had sought the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board's permission April 18 for loading the fuel in the nuclear project in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here.
"We are hopeful of getting the board's nod in a week's time. We will then remove the dummy fuel (similar to the real fuel in terms of specifications but without enriched uranium) and start loading the real nuclear fuel," S.K.Jain, chairman and managing director of NPCIL, told IANS.

 

"If everything goes well, the fuel loading process will be completed by May or June," Jain said. He cited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's April 25 letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the reactor "will be fuelled in the next few days" and it will attain criticality in 20 days' time.

"We have been able to mobilise necessary workforce within three weeks following the state government's nod to go ahead with the project. The hot run of the reactor (trial run without real fuel) was 200 percent success," said Jain while speaking about the status of the first unit of the reactor.

He said the reactor's life expectancy was around 60 years and the NPCIL has the in-service testing capacity for which data was to be collected after hot run.
According to Jain, pre-service inspection will be completed in a couple of days while fine tuning of data is going on.

 

"We have completed integrated emergency core (reactor core) cooling system simulation. This is a prerequisite for fuel loading," Jain said.
Officials at the Kundankulam plant have tested more than 600 pumps and motors, 200 control panels and the same number of electrical panels and individual systems of the reactor.

Terming reports about the presence of a spring near the reactor building as a rumour, Jain said the NPCIL spent around Rs.10 million to conduct isotope hydrology test to find water reservoir near the project site and could not find even salt water.

Speaking about the safety drills conducted prior to loading nuclear fuel, Jain said they were of three kinds: Plant emergency, site emergency and off-site emergency. The first two of these drills have been completed, Jain said.

 

"The plant emergency is declared if there is any system malfunctioning. Under this drill, all the plant personnel are required to assemble at a designated place if a warning is sounded. The second drill is site emergency that applies to all those present within 1.6 km radius of the plant. They too have to assemble at a designated place on hearing a warning sound in case of an emergency," Jain said.

The off-site emergency drill is conducted by district administration officials, who are trained by the NPCIL, Jain said.

 

"We have trained the district administration officials on safety drills such as traffic diversion and informing the people about how to react in an emergency. Training on evacuating people and handling other emergency situations will be done before the reactor goes critical," Jain said.

 

 

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Mahagenco considering to shut down old plants…

Power India found that faced with a shortage of coal for its thermal power stations, the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) is working on a contingency plan wherein it may have to shut down old power generating sets to divert their coal linkages to the utility’s newly commissioned units.

 

MahaGenco managing director Subrat Ratho told that in case the coal supply scenario did not improve in a month, they will shut down old units and divert their coal to the new ones with a total of 1,750MW capacity at the Parli, Khaparkheda and Bhusawal power plants.

 

This includes a 250 MW set at Parli, a 500 MW unit at the Khaparkheda thermal power station and two 500 MW units each at Bhusawal. The units at Bhusawal are under trial runs. The Khaparkheda set, which declared commercial operations recently, was under forced outage due to lack of coal, while coal stocks for the Parli set were at critical levels.

 

“The MahaGenco is working on a contingency plan in case things do not improve in a month,” said Ratho, adding that otherwise, the new capacity would be stranded due to lack of coal. This in turn would lead to a financial crisis as these new units had high fixed costs, he added.

 

Ratho said they were likely to shut down old units in power plants like Koradi, Parli and Chandrapur and divert their coal linkages to these new plants under the plan. These old units are to be revamped and modernised by MahaGenco.

 

The MahaGenco has also asked the public sector coal companies to give an estimate of the coal that they could supply to them in the future, said Ratho, adding that it would do away with the “uncertainty” and help them decide on which units to concentrate on. “We will like to focus on these units at Khaparkheda, Parli and Bhusawal as they will provide maximum efficiencies,” he added.

 

Ratho also met officials from the coal ministry and the coal firms in New Delhi on Wednesday. “The meeting concentrated on shortage of rakes to carry coal from the Western Coalfields Limited,” said Ratho.

The MahaGenco needs 35 rakes of coal per day for its 7,980 MW coal-based thermal power capacity (including the two sets of 500 MW each at Bhusawal).

 

 

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Tata Power to have stakes in Cleantech companies…

Power India found that Tata Power, India’s biggest private energy producer, is looking to generate a quarter of total power produced through renewable energy sources in the next few years and is open to buying stakes in companies working to develop clean energy technologies.

 

S Ramakrishnan, executive director, Tata Power told , “In the past, we have bought stakes in firms involved in developing clean energy and will continue to do so if any significant opportunities prop up in the future.” Tata Power had recently bought stakes in two Australian firms—a 5% stake in Exergen for $10 million and 10% stake in Geodynamics for $50 million.

 

Exergen has developed a cost-effective moisture removal process for high moisture brown coal, which will emit only 800 kg of CO2 per mw as compared with the current level of 1,500 kg.

 

Geodynamics work in the area of developing geothermal energy.

Tata Power and another Australian company Sunengy are jointly developing a floating concentrated solar PV pilot project.

 

Ramakrishnan said Tata Power is in touch with large global utility companies such as American Electric Power, Tokyo Electric and Vattenfall, which are evaluating clean coal technologies such as integrated gasification combined cycle plants.

 

Tata Power’s current generation capacity is 5,297 mw, out of which about 22% comes from clean sources.

The company generated revenue of `471 crore from clean energy sources in the last nine months of fiscal 2012, he said.

In January, Tata Power commissioned a 25 mw solar power project in Mithapur, Gujarat.

 

“Tata Power plans to set up 300 mw of solar power capacity by 2017. The company is also looking at solar rooftops on buildings,” he said.

 

Tata Power, which currently has an installed wind capacity of 375 mw, plans to add 150 mw every year till fiscal 2015. It is also developing power from waste gases generated during steel-making.

 

“We have already set up various plants at Haldia and Jamshedpur based on waste gases model that are helping in reducing greenhouse gas emission significantly,” he said. Tata Power is looking at some more waste gases power project with Tata Steel, he said.

 

Tata Power is developing the 236 mw Dugar Hydro Power project in Himachal Pradesh in partnership with S N Power, Norway.

“The team has carried out route survey, geological mapping and contour mapping of the project site. Currently, the project is being optimised for 500 mw,” he said.

 

 

 

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Palatana 726.6 MW Gas project to be delayed due to delay in evacuation facility…

 

Power India found that, delay in getting forest clearance for setting up transmission facility is likely to delay power evacuation from 726.6 MW Gas Based Combined Cycle Power Project at Palatana in Tripura.

 

The status report of the transmission project has observed that not getting forest clearance from Assam and Meghalaya has become "very-very critical".

Sudhir Basudeva, CMD, ONGC, who reviewed the progress of work recently in Tripura said that first unit of the project will start generation by June this year.

 

Transmission system associated with 726.6 MW is being implemented through joint venture route by North East Transmission Company Ltd and the cost of the project is around Rs 2057 crores.

This project is implemented by North Eastern Transmission Company Ltd ( NETCL) which is promoted jointly by Powergrid (26%), ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) (a Joint between ONGC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial services (IL&FS)and Government of Tripura) (30%), Government of Tripura (10%), Government of Assam (13%), Government of Mizoram (10%), Government of Manipur (6%) and Government of Meghalaya (5%).

The 400 kilo volt (KV) double circuit transmission Line will connect the power plant site with the PowerGrid Pooling stations at Silchar and Bongaigaon in Assam.

According to the status report of the project delay in obtaining forest Clearance for Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya has adversely affected the project schedules since the last two working seasons from October to May could not be effectively utilized for construction of foundations and erection of towers for more than 300 locations passing through total forest area of 130 Km in Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.

The second stage clearance for starting the work in forest has been obtained for Tripura. The second stage forest clearance is still awaited for the states of Assam and Meghalaya despite exchange of various communications between Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) and state Government of Assam and Meghalaya during the last one year. This has become very-very critical.

According to report some portion of line passes through insurgency area and therefore there is need for the support of local police.

 

 

 

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CIL to set deadlines for signing FSAs for coal supply with power producers..

Power India found that Coal India plans to take an aggressive stand against power producers and set a deadline after which it will not sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with the companies, as the state monopoly fights back after being arm-twisted to commit long-term fuel supply. Coal India's board has already decided to impose negligible penalties if it defaults on FSAs and has asked companies to accept its price if CIL needs to import coal.

 

CIL is concerned about slow growth in output and blames delays in environmental clearances for the coal shortage. However power companies accuse the state-run firm of abusing its monopoly and offering FSAs from which it can easily back out.

 

Most power producers have not come forward to sign the FSAs, making Coal India officials impatient. "Depending on the final response (from power companies) we will take a decision next week. We also intend to ask for the ministry's view on the same," Coal India chairman S Narsing Rao.

 

Another official said the company can't wait forever. "We are planning to introduce a cut-off date for signing the agreements because we cannot keep on waiting indefinitely for all the firms to come and enter into contracts," a senior Coal India official explained.

 

Coal India's board agreed to sign FSAs after top industrialists jointly approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention to help power projects that had not fuel to burn. Subsequently, the company was directed to sign supply pacts.

 

Power companies say they are discouraged by the draft FSA prepared by Coal India. NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation along with a number of large private sector companies are viewing the draft of the fuel supply contract as heavily biased towards the coal company.

 

About 50 firms are expected to sign the contracts but only about 10 has approached Coal India so far. Almost all biggies who would be consuming bulk of the additional coal have not yet approached the company.

 

NTPC does not intend to sign separate fuel supply agreements for new units and old units at the same power station as is now required by Coal India. It intends to sign the same set of contracts - the one it has already signed for some its units. It will be consuming almost 50% of the incremental coal that will be supplied by CIL under the new draft agreement.

 

"We have already written to Coal India expressing our intention because it is not practically possible to sign two sets of fuel supply agreements for different generating units of a single power station. We would like to sign the same old set of for the new units as well," NTPC chairman Arup Roy Choudhury.

 

Following a presidential directive, CIL has prepared a new draft of fuel supply agreement that it wants to sign for units which have come up between April 1, 2009 and December 31, 2011. This draft is different from the ones that NTPC has signed for units installed prior to April 2009.

 

The new draft contract has fixed the penalties in case of supply falling below 80% of the committed amount to 0.01% which will be effective after three years. While the penalties for existing agreements are 10%.

 

 

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Karnataka power line to be swapped for wildlife corridor

Power India found that the Karnataka government is going to dismantle a 25 km long power transmission line passing through Kudremukh National Park to compensate for the loss of an 8.3km long wildlife corridor in Chikamaglur district caused by another line.

 

The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Karnataka Forest Department initiated this swap to restore the wildlife corridor disrupted by a 220 KVA power transmission line in Kudremukh. The line originally supported the mining operations of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL) which was shut down by the Supreme Court in response to litigation by conservation groups. The move was initiated after an ecological analysis by experts.

 

It’s being described as a “conservation swap”.

 

MC Vinay Kumar, assistant director (conservation support and outreach), Wildlife Conservation Society-India (WCS-India), said that the Karnataka government had sought forest clearance from the FAC in early 2010 for permitting a power line to carry power from the Udupi Power Corporation’s Thermal Power Plant in Nandikur.

 

Since the proposed 400 KVA power line cut through an 8.3 km stretch of critical evergreen forest corridor in the Balur forests in Chikmagalur district, a field inspection of its ecological impacts was conducted by an FAC expert committee comprising Dr K Ullas Karanth, director of WCS-India and FAC member, and Dr AJT John Singh, former dean of the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

 

Due to delays caused by KIOCL, the recommendation was not followed initially. This was protested by wildlife groups, Wild Cat-C and Bhadra Wildlife Conservation Trust, who sough the FAC’s intervention. The latter intervened and took the violations seriously.

 

“Thanks to a proactive role played by the Karnataka Chief Secretary SV Ranganath and Forest Principal Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee, a senior forest officer rushed with an undertaking letter to the FAC meeting on October 12, 2011. The state government provided an undertaking saying that the existing line through Kudremukh would be dismantled before the other transmission line was commissioned,” said Vinay Kumar.

 

The dismantling of the Kemmar-Kudremukh line began on April 17 this year after alternative power was provided to a few affected villages on the eastern edge of the park.

 

 

 

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EGoM to discusse the coal diversion issue of RPower’s Sasan UMPP…

Power India found that an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) is going to discuss today the issue of diversion, with government permission, of surplus coal by Reliance Power Ltd (R-Power), meant for its 4,000-Mw Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, to another project being developed by it, Chitrangi, in the same state.

 

A recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had alleged the government's decision to allow the coal diversion had caused a Rs 15,849 crore financial benefit to the company, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

 

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the same day, the CAG had downplayed the draft report, saying “The details being brought out were observations under discussion at a very preliminary stage and do not even constitute our pre-final draft and, hence, are exceedingly misleading.”

 

The EGoM, in its earlier meeting in December, had decided to seek legal opinion from Attorney General (AG) Goolam E Vahanavati on the matter. The AG had reportedly felt if the government wanted to revoke permission for the diversion, it would have to show the company violated the norms which allowed it to use incremental coal.

 

CAG’s audit report had said the government permission for R-Power to use excess coal from mines allotted for Sasan, subsequent to execution of contract agreements, vitiated the sanctity of the bidding process for the project.

 

R-Power had contested the allegation. “The government’s right to grant permission is built in to the coal block allocation letter of Sasan that were made available to all bidders prior to bid submission. Hence, there is no change in commercial conditions after award of UMPP. So, the issue of undue benefit does not arise at all,” it had said in a presentation made to the CAG this February.

 

The company also said there was a strong legal basis for the award of incremental coal, citing the Colliery Control Rules, 2004, empowering the government to provide approval for utilisation of surplus coal. An EGoM had in 2008 approved the diversion, subject to conditions. These included providing Sasan priority in use of coal from the allotted blocks — Moher, Moher Amlori Extn and Chhatrasal — and sale of power generated from surplus coal only through bidding.

 

The company also said there was no rationale behind CAG’s methodology for arriving at the ‘undue benefit’ figure of Rs 40,000 crore. CAG had quantified the difference between Reliance Power’s cost of production and notified sale price of Coal India, extending it over 28 years for arriving at the loss figure.

 

 

 

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