Rajpura Thermal Power Plant unit of L&T at Patiala inaugurated by Punjab CM...

 

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal inaugurated the first unit of the 2X700 MW supercritical Rajpura Thermal Power Plant set up by infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at Nalash in Patiala district of the state today.
 
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and other prominent leaders and senior officials were present on the occasion.
 
The plant is the first major coal-powered power plant to be owned and operated by L&T through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Nabha Power Limited.
 
A press release from the company said coal supply for the plant has been secured through a fuel supply agreement with South Eastern Coalfields. The entire power will be supplied to the state of Punjab.
 
Nabha Power had placed the total EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) order on L&T Power. In addition to the supercritical boiler and turbine generator manufactured in collaboration with the joint venture partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan, L&T also supplied balance of plant equipment including electrostatic precipitators, coal and ash handling plants, chimney, cooling tower, control & automation, and switchyard.
 
Mr Shailendra Roy, whole-time director, L&T, said: “We are proud to have completed the project on schedule. With this launch, we have demonstrated our capability of constructing a large supercritical power plant. L&T Power has projects totaling 11000 MW currently under implementation on EPC basis for different customers in various parts of the country.”

Source

Read More...

Tariff hike alone cannot bail out Discoms: Care report

 

Structural improvements and financial discipline are far more crucial for improving the health of distribution companies than depending on tariff hikes, rating agency Care has said. According to a Care report, which analyzed 30 Discoms in 11 states, a series of tariff hikes had been effected by these companies in the last three years.

 

"Tariff hike alone can't bailout the Discoms given that there are substantial regulatory assets on their balance sheets," Care Rating said in a report.

The report also said that apart from untreated gap which has left tariffs far from being cost reflective, unsustainable levels of cross-subsidization with a slowdown in high paying subsidizing consumers like commercial and industrial sector and emergence of group captive model wheeling away high paying consumers, have further impacted their financial health. The report observed that total power demand has tapered this fiscal so far with a slowdown in growth and delay in restructuring state Discoms.

According to the study, demand for power grew by only 1.7 per cent in September compared to year-ago period, led by off-take back-down by Discoms coupled with continuing load shedding in tier 2-3 cities in northern and southern region.

"For demand to improve, there is a need for companies to go slow on implementing financial restructuring package, buying power from the open market and entering into fresh long-term power purchase arrangements by inviting case-I/II bids," it said.

Source

Read More...

Heavy Industries Minister concerned over higher ECB cap for power projects...

 

The Heavy Industries Ministry has raised concerns over enhanced external commercial borrowing limit for funding domestic power projects, citing that the move adversely impacts local gear makers including BHEL.

The red flag comes at a time when the domestic power equipment makers are grappling with tough business conditions amid sluggish growth, stiff competition and cheaper imports.

"The Reserve Bank of India's decision to enhance ceiling on External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) for financing of domestic power projects has further affected the prospects of domestic power equipment makers," an official told PTI.

In this regard, the Heavy Industries Ministry has also written to the Finance Ministry, he added.

The major concern is that higher limit for raising funds overseas also facilitates sourcing of equipment from outside the country for power projects. Such a scenario adversely impacts the business prospects of domestic equipment makers.

Many Indian entities have sourced equipment for their power projects along with finance from overseas, especially from China.

As part of efforts to boost capital inflows into the country, the RBI recently eased ECB norms.

In September, the central bank allowed all types of companies to avail trade credit facility from overseas for import of capital goods.

"On a review, it has been decided to allow companies in all sectors to avail of trade credit not exceeding USD 20 million up to a maximum period of five years for import of capital goods as classified by Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)," RBI had said.

Earlier, only companies in the infrastructure sector were allowed to raise such trade credits.

Currently, local players, including state-owned BHEL, are going through a difficult period, especially from 2011-12.

Besides cheaper imports, weak investment sentiment, financing constraints and lack of level-playing field with regard to foreign competitors are hurting the domestic entities.

"... Some of the existing power projects are going slow or are being put on hold due to customer's constraints in releasing payments for deliveries and other constraints faced by them thereby curtailing progress of their projects," the official said.

Source

Read More...

Odisha Govt to set up Solar Power Project at Manmunda in Boudh with Rs 400 Cr investment...

 

In another step towards generation of green power, Energy department of Odisha Govt has proposed for a Solar Power project at Manmunda of Boudh district to be set up by Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd. (GEDCOL).

A high level meeting to this effect was held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra in secretariat conference hall today wherein Secretary Energy Pradeep Kumar Jena outlined the broad features of the project for discussion. Discussions in the meeting reveal that Solar Energy Corporation of India has proposed to set up solar projects of 750 MW in different parts of the country.

It has been decided in the meeting that GEDCOL will bid for 50 MW solar power to be set up in Odisha at the proposed site. IDCO has been requested to provide land to GEDCOL. It has also been decided that the generated power will be purchased by GRIDCO as per renewable power obligation.

It has been estimated that around 250 acres of land will be necessary to set up the project @ 5 acre for generation of 1 MW of solar power. The proposed minimum cost of the project will be around Rs 400 cr.

It has been in principle decided that the project will be implemented on PPP mode. CMD IDCO Vishal Dev, CMD GRIDCO Hemant Kumar Sharma, CMD GEDCOL Sahadev Khatua, AGM GEDCOL Sanjeeb Kumar Tripathy along with other senior officers department of Energy participated in the discussions.

Source

Read More...

Chinese firm Dongfang in talks to buy Trichy-based power firm...

 

Chinese firm Dongfang is in talks to take over Trichy-based power equipment manufacturer Cethar. The acquisition will help the Chinese company have presence in India. It will also help Dongfang control its costs as well as comply with the localisation norms in India.

Cethar, formerly known as Cethar Vessels, manufactures both sub-critical and super-critical boilers, used in power plants. It also designs and constructs thermal power plants up to a capacity of 800 megawatts. In 2010-11, it clocked sales worth Rs 2,430 crore. "The valuation of this company comes to around Rs 500-600 crore. They are currently in talks and the acquisition would help Dongfang have an entry into Indian manufacturing," said a person directly involved with the deal. Neither Cethar nor Dongfang responded to an email questionnaire.

Cethar was founded by K Subburaj, who started it in Trichy as a sub-contractor to Bharat Heavy Electicals (BHEL). Subburaj had worked for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) prior to starting the venture. The company expanded into power manufacturing and then into a construction company for power plants.

Analysts say Indian facilities can help foreign companies as they have been asked to set up service centres in India to help power plants under construction using the equipment. "This move will help because power companies will definitely prefer firms that have domestic presence," said Piyush Nimgaonkar, manager at CARE Research.

Dongfang, along with Shanghai Electric and Harbin, has already garnered a major market share amongst private power generators. About 24,437 megawatts power capacity is installed in India; plus, 40,000 megawatts of power capacity, based on Chinese equipment, is under construction. This has created a huge furore amongst Indian manufactures such as state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and private engineering company Larsen & Toubro.

After multiple representation by industry bodies as well companies, the government has made it mandatory for Chinese companies to have service centres in India. In transmission and distribution sector, state-owned companies are preferring companies having domestic manufacturing facilities. A bulk tender for the country's largest power generator, NTPC, had barred foreign companies which did not have an Indian joint venture partner.

Source

Read More...