NTPC pre-closes Rs 1,750-crore tax-free bond issue today...

 

State-run National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) said on Thursday it has pre-closed its Rs 1,750-crore bond issue which received a good response from investors by getting over-subscribed 3.3 times.

"The Company has exercised the option of early closure of its public issue of tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds which was opened on December 3 and was scheduled to close on December 16. The issue will now close today," NTPC said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.

The issue was oversubscribed 3.3 times on Tuesday as against Rs 1,000 crore, the company has already collected about Rs 3,310 crore, Rs 2,310 crore above the base size.

This is the state-run company's first bond issue after a gap of over 20 years.

Under the offer, the company issued tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds.

The base issue size aggregates to Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain over-subscription up to Rs 750 crore for issuance of additional bonds, aggregating up to Rs 1,750 crore.

The funds raised through the issue would be utilised towards funding of capital expenditure and refinancing for meeting the debt requirement in ongoing projects.

ICICI Securities, A K Capital Services, Axis Capital, SBI Capital Markets and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company were the book-running lead managers of the issue.

Currently, NTPC has a capacity of over 42,000 MW and targets to add about 14,000 MW to its total capacity by the end of 2016-17.

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Acme ties up with French RE Major EDF Energies for large scale solar projects in India...

 

ACME Cleantech Solutions, an energy generation, management and conservation company, today announced that it would partner French renewable energy major EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) to set up large scale solar projects in India.

EDF Energies Nouvelles is rolling out its operations in a new country offering strong potential, with a partnership with Indian company ACME Cleantech Solutions Limited to create a joint venture based in India. EDF Energies Nouvelles holds a 25% stake in the company, ACME Solar Energy Private Limited, which will focus on the development, construction and operation of solar power projects in India.

Based in New Delhi, Acme Solar Energy Private Limited is owned by three complementary partners:

• ACME Cleantech Solutions Limited, an Indian company with international operations specialising in new energy solutions, communications and environmental services, holds a 50% stake;
• EDF Energies Nouvelles, a major international player in renewable energy and photovoltaic solar power, holds 25%;
• EREN, the first group dedicated to saving natural resources, also holds 25% of the company.
  

Positioned primarily in the photovoltaic power market, ACME Solar Energy Private Limited has already begun construction of a 30 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh in the centre of India and has a portfolio of 200 MW of projects at various stages of completion.

India presents considerable potential for EDF Energies Nouvelles to expand its solar energy operations. The country has a high level of sunshine and a recurring shortage of electricity generation. With current installed capacity of 2 GW[1], the country is aiming to achieve capacity of around 22 GW by 2022.

“This promising new partnership constitutes a wonderful opportunity for EDF Energies Nouvelles. It will enable us to establish our position in the solar power market in a country with a high level of demand for renewable energy and presenting considerable potential in terms of resources, with the support of a local company,” comments Antoine Cahuzac, Chief Executive Officer of EDF Energies Nouvelles.

India is the 18th country in which EDF Energies Nouvelles is developing its presence, and its first foothold in southern Asia.

About EDF Energies Nouvelles
Operating in Europe and North America, EDF Energies Nouvelles is a market leader in green electricity production, with a portfolio of 6,358MW of gross installed capacity. With a development focused on wind and solar photovoltaic energy, the Company recently entered new promising markets: Israel, Morocco, South Africa and Poland, and is expanding its business in offshore wind energy. The Company is also present in other segments of the renewable energy market: marine energy, biogas, biomass and small hydro as well as in distributed energies. EDF EN manages renewable energy projects’ development and construction as well as operation and maintenance for its own accord and for third parties. EDF Energies Nouvelles is a subsidiary of the EDF Group and its renewable energy arm.

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India to set up HVDC transmission line with Nepal, Bhutan...

 

India is working to set up an energy efficient power transmission line (HVDC) with Nepal and Bhutan as part of its energy security plans, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.

India also hopes to have power transmission connectivity with ASEAN and SAARC countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, he said while addressing the World Energy Policy Summit 2013 here.

"We are also working on the India-Nepal HVDC link which will perhaps begin with providing power to Nepal in order ultimately to be able to take power (import) from Nepal.

Again, same sort of thing is what we hope we will be able to do with Bhutan. Nepal and Bhutan will become a major source of supply of power to India," he said.

"Of course, we could have a grid that goes into ASEAN. We have road connectivity with ASEAN, but we would also have hopefully power connectivity with ASEAN, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and into Pakistan and perhaps into Afghanistan as well," Khurshid said.

He, however, did not elaborate on the transmission connectivity plans to ASEAN nations.

India has been working for the last few years to put in place a multilateral SAARC Market for Electricity (SAME) and has plans to set up a larger SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) transmission grid.

In October, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had dedicated to the nation the 71-km Baharampur-Bheramara HVDC transmission link, which connected electricity grids of India and Bangladesh.

The link is designed to facilitate cross-border electricity transfer of up to 500 MW from India to Bangladesh.

As far as Bhutan is concerned, India's transmission link with that country is already in place.

The government has plans to augment the existing line to import upto 5,000 MW power from Bhutan by 2020 through HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission line.

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RInfra to merge transmission line cos with itself...

 

Reliance Infrastructure's board today approved the merger of its two wholly owned subsidiaries--Western Region Transmission Gujarat and Western Region Transmission Maharashtra, with itself.

This merger is subject to requisite approvals.

Both these companies combined are building power transmission lines of around 1,600 kilometers.

 

While Gujarat has three lines under it, Maharashtra has six lines. “Out of the nine lines, seven of them are already operational,” Reliance Infra said in a results press release, last month.

The company's stock fell 1.2% in today's trade to close at Rs 425, as per data available on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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AREVA has achieved first steam production at R-Power's CSP Plant in Rajasthan...

 

AREVA has completed a major milestone in the commissioning of its concentrated solar power (CSP) plant by achieving the first steam production.

This solar plant, which integrates AREVA’s compact linear Fresnel reflector technology, is Asia’s largest CSP installation. Located at Dhursar in the state of Rajasthan, it will be operated by Reliance Power Limited.

Reliance Power Limited, a part of Reliance Group, is India's leading private sector power generation company.

The initial steam operation is a critical step in the plant’s connection to the electrical grid as part of the ongoing commissioning. Commercial operation is planned for March 2014.

“The project is part of India’s energy program which aims to install 20,000 MW of solar power capacity in the country by 2022,” said Sam Shakir, CEO of AREVA Solar. “This plant built by AREVA will avoid approximately 557,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to a similar sized coal-fired power plant.”

AREVA is a global supplier of CSP solutions for large-scale standalone power plants, power augmentation of fossil-fired power plants and solar hybrid applications.

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GEDCOL aims to generate 200 Mw green power...

 

The Odisha government's newly floated Green Energy Development Corporation (GEDCOL) has set a short term goal of generating 100 Mw power from small hydel power projects and another 100 Mw from solar power projects.

This was informed by state energy minister, Arun Kumar Sahoo in a written reply to the state assembly.

GEDCOL is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Limited (OHPC).

The main aim and objective for creation and constitution of the company by the energy department is to explore the huge renewable energy resources in the state which are otherwise untapped for long time, read an energy department resolution.

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world’s highest rated power transmission line between Wardha & Aurangabad...

 

Driven by need and denied help, India developed its own super computers, learnt to put satellites in space and mastered the pressurised heavy water reactor nuclear technology. While these do not make India a scientific super power, they do fetch the country a measure of respectability. Now, the same need is driving India to the cutting edge of technologies in another field — power transmission.

The 400-km distance between Wardha and Aurangabad may not be very long, but the cables which connect the two cities in Maharashtra will, in a couple of years, have the distinction of being the world’s highest capacity power transmission line. At present, it is “charged to 400 kV” but when the Power Grid Corporation of India is ready, the capacity of the line will be raised to 1,200 kV. Nowhere in the world does a 1,200-kV line exist, partly because other countries do not need such high capacity lines. China, another country of distances, which does need ultra high voltage transmission, has a 1,100 kV line in commercial operation.

The Wardha-Aurangabad transmission system takes off from a 2 km-long pilot line that the public sector PGCIL has been experimenting in Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The pilot was to study how electrical systems behave when a current of 1,200 volt zips through them.

The ultra high voltage (UHV) systems have one significant advantage — they can carry more power. This is crucial in a country where laying new lines is a challenge because of ‘right of way’ problems.

“UHV is an evolving technology, specially initiated by countries with large surface areas like China and India,” says John Yesuraj, Deputy General Manager, Design and Technology, Crompton Greaves Ltd. “India’s ambition of 1,200 kV system, which would be a step greater than China’s 1,100 kV, is now widely discussed in international technical forums across the world,” Yesuraj told Business Line.

Cromption Greaves recently announced the setting up of a Rs 40-crore ‘UHV lab’ to test how well the various transmission equipment can withstand electrical stress when current of very high voltage, up to 1,600 kV, passes through it. The lab will enable local manufacture of UHV products, substituting costly imports.

Superconductivity

In the meantime, Power Grid Corporation is all set to begin research into superconducting transmission systems. Superconductivity has been in physics books for long, but is yet to come into reality. Basically, if you pass electricity through a wire, the wire resists the flow and this resistance heats up the wire and some energy is lost as this heat. A superconducting system keeps the cable under extremely low temperatures, so low that making it possible at temperatures of -135 degrees Celsius is called ‘high temperature super conductivity’. The challenge is, of course, to keep the cable so cold but if you get it right, there will be practically no transmission losses.

Power Grid Corporation will soon be set up a research centre in collaboration with IIT Kharakhpur, the company’s Director-Operations, I. S. Jha, said.

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Maharashtra sets up panel on tariff revision for adani owned Tiroda plant...

 

The Maharashtra cabinet on 04-12-2013 cleared a proposal to appoint a committee to decide on a tariff revision for Adani Power Ltd's 1,320 MW Tiroda power plant in Gondia district, as directed by the Maharashtra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).

The state government-owned power distribution utility Mahavitaran Ltd had signed a power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Adani Power in 2008. However, in 2009, the environment ministry declined to grant clearance to a captive coal mine allotted to the company as the mine was in the middle of the buffer zone at Tadoba tiger reserve.

Subsequently, it tried to negotiate with Mahavitaran for a higher tariff as it had to purchase coal from other sources, but Mahavitaran declined to oblige.
Adani Power approached MERC seeking a tariff revision in 2011. In August, ruling in favour of Adani Power, MERC approved a temporary hike of 57 paisa per unit and asked the state government to appoint a committee to decide on the tariff hike.
"The committee will consist of secretary energy, managing director of Mahavitaran, independent financial analysts, bankers and independent experts from power sector," a press release issued by the chief minister's office said.

The government has already approved an increase in price of power purchased from Mundhra ultra mega power project (UMPP) by 59 paise per unit, which has taken the price to Rs2.85 per unit. In this case too coal price hike caused generation cost to move up. MSEDCL gets 800MW from this plant.

The increased cost of power purchase will be recovered from consumers through fuel surcharge that appears in your bill as 'Indhan Adhibhar'.

Adani Power had filed a petition in Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) demanding increase in power rates as the allocation of Lohara coal mine had been cancelled by ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and it was forced to buy coal from elsewhere and price of this coal was far higher.

MERC agreed to Adani's contentions and asked the state government to set up a committee to revise the rates on lines of Tata Power's Mundhra UMPP. Other than ACS (planning) it will comprise principal secretary (energy), managing director of MSEDCL and experts in the sectors of finance and power.

While the price of Adani power is expected to cross Rs3 per unit, Mundhra's 800MW still remains one of the cheapest for MSEDCL. Other private companies are supplying it at over Rs3 per unit while its rate of the new units of its sister concern Mahagenco is over Rs4 per unit.

The decision to increase Mundhra's rates was taken on the recommendation of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). The state government agreed to the hike with certain conditions. Tata would have to make advance payments to Indonesian coal suppliers with the profit earned. The financial institutions that have provided loan to the company should reduce their rates. Similarly, the power generated over and above 80% plant load factor (PLF) should be supplied to MSEDCL.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to provide grants to MSEDCL for providing electric connections to poor SC and ST consumers instead of loans. This will reduce financial burden on the company and consequently the tariff. The loans given since 2010-11 will be converted into grants. Money will be made available from district planning committee (DPC) funds as earlier.

Source: ToI & KSEBOA

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Gurgaon Industries want power from open exchange...

 

Bogged down by the dismal standards of grid supply in Gurgaon, the industrial community here had proposed the idea of buying electricity from the open exchange a few years ago. The official permission for the same was also sought, but wasn't granted.

Most recently, the issue was once again brought up by senior industry representatives at a meeting held here with Devender Singh, the state's principal secretary (power).

"They are now discouraging us to go for open access," said S S Verma, the former vice-president of the chamber of industries of Udyog Vihar. The argument presented to the industrialists by the government official against open access touched upon the high costs that the move would entail. "He said that it was going to be expensive for small-scale industrialists," Verma said.

But the issue of expense, as it is, has remained a point of contention between the small industry and power authorities for years. Additional fuel surcharge, fixed charges, and soaring tariff rates have continued to make grid-supplied electricity dearer for Udyog Vihar's entrepreneurs.

"Why do they have these components in their tariff scheme? When we pay for infrastructure, for transformers, what are they charging so much money for? This is dictatorial," said a plot owner in Udyog Vihar Phase IV.

The industrial sector, according to recent data, accounts for the highest sector-wise consumption of power in Gurgaon - at around 45% of the total quantum of power supplied to the district. This, of course, translates to high revenues for power authorities. And letting industrial consumers shift to open access would mean significant loss of revenue for the discom.

A representative of the communications firm Genesis Burson-Marsteller said, "The government official asked why we want to shift to open exchange. And we said if you give us good enough reasons to stay, we will," said another industrialist who was present at the meeting.

Sources said a meeting between industrialists and senior power authorities is scheduled for Thursday. Discom officials were not available for comment.

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