Center withdraws its previous green order on Western Ghats...

 

Giving way to politics by ignoring green concerns, the Union environment ministry on Friday withdrawn its "in principle" approval given to the Kasturirangan panel report that prohibited activities like mining, quarrying and setting up thermal power plants and other high polluting industries in 60,000 sq km area of the Western Ghats across six states.

"The earlier office memorandum of November 16 regarding 'in principle' acceptance of the high level working group report on Western Ghats stands withdrawn", said an order issued by the ministry of environment and forest.

Though the ministry had time and again clarified that the previous order did not prohibit farming and plantation in those areas, it has now withdrawn it altogether in order to give it a second shot after consulting state governments.

The move comes after a series of protests against the Centre's decision in the past one month. The Kerala government had been most vocal against the decision, saying it will affect the livelihood of local population.

The environment ministry, which came out with a list of villages in six states which were included in the Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) for making them a no-go area for certain activities, has now decided to fine tune the boundary of the Zone after taking inputs from state governments.

Though the protest over the Centre's move to earmark ESZ had started the moment it gave its nod to the Kasturirangan panel report last month, the environment ministry had initially resisted it. The pressure from Kerala government had, however, started building up more after the Congress poor show in recent assembly polls.

Although the ministry had clarified that the decision would not affect the farmers in the ESZ, the clarification did not pacify the agitators in Kerala. The reversal of its previous order is seen as the Centre's move not to touch any controversial issue which may cost it heavily in the coming general election.

The last month's order which earmarked 60,000 sq km area of the Western Ghats across six states as ESA had prohibited activities like mining, quarrying and setting up thermal power plants and other high polluting industries "with immediate effect".

Building and construction projects of 20,000 sq meters area and above and township and area development projects with an area of 50 hectare and above or with built up area of 1,50,000 sq meters and above were also supposed to be prohibited in these areas.

The order had, however, clarified that it would not affect the hydro power and wind energy projects in those areas. These activities will be allowed subject to "applicable regulations".

The ministry in its notification, issued in November, had annexed a complete list of state-wise, district-wise and taluka-wise villages in the entire ESA and put the details on its website while asking the six states - Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - to implement the order strictly.

"In case of any violation, appropriate legal action under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 will be taken", said the November order.

The ESA - roughly 37% (59,940 sq km) of the Western Ghats - has been earmarked on the basis of the recommendation of a high-level working committee, under the chairmanship of K Kasturirangan (Planning Commission member), which had submitted its report to the government on April 15.

Though any new or expansion project was supposed to be completely banned in those notified villages across the six states with immediate effect, the applications for getting various environmental clearances which were submitted before April 17 were, however, be processed as per earlier rules.

April 17 was fixed as a cut-off date because the committee had made its report, earmarking those areas as ESZ, public on that date.

The panel had identified the more or less contiguous area (roughly 37% of the Western Ghats) as natural landscape having high biological richness, low forest fragmentation and low population density. It also found that this area also has World Heritage Sites and Tiger and Elephant corridors, making it to be a fit case for earmarked as ecologically sensitive area.

Referring to the recommendation, the ministry's through its order had asked the states to follow the "non-tolerance" policy towards prohibiting "highly interventionist and environmentally damaging activities" as Western Ghats has been under unprecedented threats due to mining and urbanization.

It specifically flagged the Red category (high polluting) of industries like thermal power, oil refinery, petrochemical, cement, sugar, pesticide, zinc smelting, leather and integrated steel plants among others -- which are part of the list of polluting industries prepared by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and pollution control boards of most of the states - for imposing the complete ban.

Besides being a global biodiversity hotspot and treasure trove of varieties of flora and fauna, the Western Ghats - which extends over a distance of approximately 1,500 km and traverses through six states - is the origin of Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and a number of other rivers.

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GMR, IFC to develop 600 MW hydro-power project in Nepal...

 

GMR Energy Limited, the energy arm of Indian infrastructure major GMR Group, has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to jointly develop the 600 MW Upper Marsyangdi-II hydro-power project in Nepal.

The 600 MW Upper Marsyangdi-II project is located on the Marsyangdi river in the Manang and Lamjung districts of Nepal, some 200 km west from capital Kathmandu, and is already in an advanced stage of development.

The project is being currently undertaken through a Nepalese subsidiary of GMR Energy Limited, Himtal Hydropower Company Pvt. Ltd. The electricity produced by the project will be exported to India.

"The Nepalese government has identified the proposed Upper Marsyangdi-II as one of the National Priority Projects and is being facilitated by the Investment Board of Nepal. The project has completed all survey and investigation work, finalised the feasibility studies and has already received majority of the clearances from the government of Nepal," GMR said a press statement.

A project development agreement (PDA) is expected to be signed early next year. IFC will provide 10 percent of the capital and 15 percent of the total cost in loan for development of the project, according to the agreement.

The project will be implemented in the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model. It aims at a total investment of around $1 billion and is targeted for commissioning by the financial year 2021.

Himtal has already completed the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and submitted these to the energy ministry.

GMR is also constructing the 900 MW Upper Karnali hydro-power project which is also awaiting the PDA with the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN).

G.B.S Raju, chairman of energy business, and G. Subba Rao, chief executive of hydro business of GMR Group were present during the JDA signing ceremony.

"We are pleased to have IFC as our partners in the Upper Marsyangdi-II hydro-power project," Raju said.

"Apart from investing in the company, IFC will also bring its vast experience in financing similar large and complex infrastructure projects, which will add value to the project. We believe that with the continuous support of IBN, both GMR and IFC shall be able to implement this project in an accelerated manner," he added.

Anita George, IFC infrastructure director for Asia, said: "Nepali citizens and industry face severe electricity shortages. The development of hydro-power is a sustainable and responsible way to address this need while creating jobs and other benefits for the community."

According to Radhesh Pant, chief executive officer of IBN, the Nepal government was "hopeful that GMR and IFC teams shall be able to give Nepal the much needed impetus for large scale hydro-power development through development of this project in a world class manner".

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Alstom T&D India bags contracts worth Rs 298 crore in HP...

 

Alstom T&D India on Friday said it has received two orders worth Rs 298.3 crore for supplying equipment for power stations in Himachal Pradesh.

"Alstom T&D India has been awarded two contracts with a total value of Rs 298.3 crore to supply two gas-insulated substations (GIS) at Wangtoo and Gumma in Himachal Pradesh," an official statement said.

The projects respectively received from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and HP Power Transmission Corporation Limited (HPPTCL), aim to improve the transmission capacity of HPPTCL for the transport of electricity generated by hydropower sources across the state, the statement.

The scope of the Wangtoo project, worth approximately Rs 155 crore, covers the design, engineering, manufacture, supply, testing, and commissioning of gas-insulated switchgear, power transformers, instrument transformers and substation automation system.

The Gumma project worth Rs 143.3 crore includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection, testing, commissioning and covers civil works of GIS substation on a turnkey basis.

All key equipment for both the projects will be produced by Alstom's manufacturing facilities across India, the statement said.

"With these dual contract wins for HPPTCL, Alstom is pleased to earn the confidence of its customer for the provision of advanced GIS solutions at the Wangtoo and Gumma substations," Rathin Basu, Managing Director, Alstom T&D India, said in the statement.

Shares of Alstom T&D India were trading at Rs 190.70, up 3.42 per cent on the BSE.

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Gujarat Model: Now solid waste management for power generation in 50 cities...

 

After getting lauds for Gujarat model which has become a benchmark for development, Gujarat is planning to launch new pilot project across the State which will generate power and fertilizer from solid waste.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced that the State Government will run a pilot project to set up solid waste management plants in nearly 50 cities of the State.

Modi was addressing Vibrant Gujarat’s National Summit on ‘Inclusive Urban Development’ on Thursday.

He said, ‘these waste management plants will generate power, fertilizer and reusable water which will be provided to rural areas for usage in agriculture.’

“This is a part of a two-way strategy in which both urban as well as rural areas gain,” Modi said.

He said, “This will also stem the flow of migrants into urban areas as these steps will result in the long term development of rural areas.”

Criticising the Congress ruled Central Government, Modi said that he had suggested the same plan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but he never took it seriously.

Modi further said that the country should give up pessimistic mindset and look at urbanisation as an opportunity.

He said the waste management plants will be erected out of a ‘PPPP’ (people public private partnership)

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NCC close to selling its thermal power assets to Sembcorp...

 

Infrastructure firm NCC has signed a detailed term sheet to sell its thermal power assets to Singapore global utilities services firm Sembcorp, moving a step closer to a definitive agreement, said two people aware of the development.

The development comes days after France's power GDF Suez agreed to buy a 74% stake in Meenakshi Energy, possibly indicating revival of interest among global investors in Indian infrastructure.

The sources said NCC and Sembcorp agreed on a broad framework to determine premiums to be paid on attainment of milestones.

They expect a definitive agreement and a final deal over the next six to eight weeks. NCC is developing a 1,320MW coal-fired power project at Krishnapatnam in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh in a joint venture with Gayatri Projects, another Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm. NCC holds 55% stake in the project.

Sembcorp proposes to pay around 500 crore to buy the stake from NCC and invest more in phases. The premium payments will be made over the next few years based on milestones like project completion, fuel linkages and power purchase agreements. NCC will continue as the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor.

Confirming a detailed term sheet with Sembcorp, KV Rao, CEO of NCC Infrastructure Holdings, the holding company of NCC for BOT road and power assets, told ET that he expects a definitive agreement with Sembcorp by January next year. Sembcorp did not respond to an E&Y mail seeking details on the agreement with NCC.

PwC's energy, utilities and mining leader Kameswara Rao said the structuring of the deals is "understandable and bridges the gap between long-term expectations and the more immediate concerns of project delivery risks".

If it fructifies, the deal will make it the third major investment in India for Sembcorp, which had reported revenues of S$10.2 billion ( 48,000 crore) in fiscal 2012, and its second in India's power sector. Sembcorp bought a 49% stake in a 1,320MW power project being developed by Thermal Powertech of Gayatri Projects for 1,042 crore in 2010. Earlier in November 2009, it had bought 40% stake in a marine offshore venture of Kakinada Seaports.

The deal also helps Sembcorp increase its Indian power portfolio to 2,640MW, at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, making it the third largest global investor in the Indian energy sector after Hong Kong's CLP Holdings and United States-based AES Corporation.

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India Wind Power Association moves Tribunal challenging Tamil Nadu’s move to buy thermal power...

 

The India Wind Power Association (IWPA), a representative of wind energy producers, has launched a fresh challenge against the Tamil Nadu government's decision to buy thermal power, instead of using available wind power, to tide over shortages.

On Thursday, the association moved the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, the appeals body, challenging an earlier ruling against it by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission.

"Tangedco (the state-run power generation and distribution company) is buying from outside costly thermal power even during the windy months of May to September by backing down wind mills eight to 22 hours daily and refusing to give the 'must run' status to wind mills, calling it infirm power," K Kasthurirangaian, chairman of IWPA, told ET.

Infirm power is considered interruptible at a very short notice.

Wind energy producers feel hard-done by the absence of a 'must run' status, having lost an opportunity to sell their power. Already, they have been hit hard by long delayed dues that the utility owes them.

State government officials couldn't be reached for comments.

The tussle between wind energy producers and the state comes at a time when the latter is trying to address a huge problem in the electricity sector. Tamil Nadu faces a huge shortage of power and the state-run utility is neck-deep in debt.

The grouse of wind energy players, once the state's darlings, also manifests itself at a time when the Tamil Nadu is aggressively wooing solar developers, following a plan to add 3 gigawatt of solar power in three years.

According to data available with the Centre for Wind Energy Technology, Tamil Nadu is still the leader in wind power installed capacity. It accounts for 40% of the country's total installed capacity of over 18 gigawatt.

The tussle started in September when Tangedco sought the nod from the state electricity regulator to buy over 2 gigawatt of thermal power for 15 years starting 2013. This was over and above the 1 gigawatt or so approved end of last year.

The state's plan was this: buy roughly half from outside the state from the players such as Balco and GMR and the rest from private players inside like OPG and ILF&S.

IWPA protested, saying there was enough surplus wind power available. It was also joined by Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association in the case. Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills is also fighting a case against Tamil Nadu over the mandatory solar purchase obligation.

The electricity regulator upheld Tangedco's stand, ruling that the IWPA position lacked merit. Tangedco, citing a Central Electricity Authority estimate, had pegged the total available capacity for 2013-14 at just under 11 gigawatt, much lower than demand (at 15.7 gigawatt). Further, it had argued, that the utility can't plan for the future relying on infirm power such as wind.

The appellate tribunal has posted the case for hearing on Dec. 21

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EU firms set to enter India’s renewable energy market...

 

In their move to look beyond their boundaries and even beyond Europe, smaller EU countries are keen on tapping the growing Indian energy sector. While bigger players like France, Germany, the UK are looking at being part of India’s nuke journey, relatively smaller players like Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania, Czech Republic are set to explore India’s renewable energy sector with their technology and other offerings.

“India’s per capita electricity consumption figure is expected to double by 2020, with even around 6.3 per cent annual growth, and reach 5000-6000 kwh by 2050, requiring about 8000 teh/yr (terra watt hour per year) then. There is an acute demand for more and more reliable power supplies. One third of the population is not connected to any grid. Therefore India, one of the fastest growing economies in BRIC will have to exploit all forms of energy, particularly renewable energy. And this, in turn, may throw up huge opportunities for EU countries, who have the right kind of technologies,” Peter R Wolfmeyer, EU expert for funding & SME policies, told FC.

Wolfmeyer, who was here to attend the 8th Energy Forum organised by the Economic Forum Programme Council of Foundation Institute of Eastern Studies at Sapot in Poland, said that these opportunities have come at a time when these comparatively smaller EU countries have realized that they need to look beyond Europe.

India’s growing population of millionaires, billionaires and high networth individuals (HNIs) is the other reason why these EU countries’ companies are getting attracted to India as many of these companies have renewable energy solutions in areas of wind, solar and others, well cut out for this segment, the segment.

E Pdziadosz of Edison Polaska, a Polish company, for instance, is mulling tapping the Indian market with their waste-based, biomass based, wind-based and solar based units typically capable of generating upto 1 mw. “These have great utilities for household, hotel and resorts and other institutes,” said Pdziadosz.

A number of Belgian companies seem well set to foray into India’s renewable energy space. The two countries have already agreed to work on strengthening, promoting and developing renewable energy cooperation between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The two countries will now explore possibilities of coordination in renewable energy through joint research and development programmes of mutual interest.

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‘Take my roof, give me solar power’ concept catching up in TN...

 

Industries and commercial establishments in Tamil Nadu are letting out their lands or rooftops in return for cheaper solar power.

Various speakers and participants at a solar conference held here to unveil the Tamilnadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA)-sponsored ‘Renergy 2014’ event, stressed that the so-called ‘opex model’ is fast catching up in the State.

‘Renergy’ is an annual conference of renewable energy held by TEDA. The 2014 edition of Renergy will be put together by UBM India, a company that specialises in organising exhibition-cum-conference events.

“Most companies want to use capital in their core business and not in power,” noted Pashupathy Gopalan, who heads the India, Asia-Pacific and Africa operations of the American company, SunEdison.

SunEdison pioneered the concept in the country — it put up a 100 kW solar plant on the roof of Standard Chartered bank’s captive BPO office building in Chennaiin March 2012. SunEdison is now putting up a similar 160 kW rooftop project for the Murugappa group company, Tube Investments, also in Chennai.

Refex Energy, another company that builds solar plants for others, said it has orders for over 5 MW, where again, Refex would own the assets and sell only the electricity.

While many companies — notably, textile units that had a good run with exports due to rupee depreciation — are putting up solar plants with an eye on the tax-saving ‘accelerated depreciation’ benefit, several others just want electricity.

Thus two trends are running concurrently in the State — industries owning solar power plants and consuming the power themselves, and those that have others invest in solar plants and buy only the electricity.

Incidentally, both categories of solar companies bear in mind the imminence of the ‘solar purchase obligation’ mandated by the Tamil Nadu Government. The SPO has been challenged in courts, but regardless many industries in the State want to be “seen as compliant”.

Another Chennai-based company, ARC Power Consultants, marries industries that have land or large roofs and need electricity, with other profit-making companies that need to own solar plants for ‘accelerated depreciation’.

Gopalan stressed on the two fundamental requirements for the ‘opex model’. The first is, the buyer of the power should have credibility to honour a 20 or 25-year power purchase agreement.

Second, he should inspire the trust that he would not say one day, “who the hell are you, get out of my place.”

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Ideal Energy seeks Rs. 1,300 Cr loan recast...

 

Ideal Energy Projects Ltd has approached a group of six lenders led by state-owned Canara Bank Ltd to recast Rs. 1,300 crore worth of loans on the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) platform after its business was crimped by weak demand for power amid slower economic growth.

The proposal by Ideal Energy, a company promoted by the family of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd chairman Virendra Mhaiskar, has been admitted by the CDR cell, a forum of banks, and will come up for discussion on 24 December, a senior banker familiar with the development said.

“It should go through as there are very few banks in the consortium,” the banker said on condition of anonymity. Typically, if too many banks are involved, it takes time to reach a consensus on loan restructuring proposals.

The power sector contributes about 9% of the loans restructured through the CDR mechanism. Banks typically offer a payment holiday to a financially stressed company, stretch the period in which the loan has to be repaid, cut the cost of borrowing and sometimes even take a “haircut” by reducing the amount of debt the borrower has to pay back.

A CDR is approved if at least 75% of the creditors by value of the loan and 60% by number back the proposal.

Typically, 70-80% of the power generated by private power generators is sold under long-term contracts to state-government owned distribution utilities and the remaining to consumers either directly or through power exchanges.

“Hardly any state government-owned power distribution company (discom) has come out with bids inviting tenders from private power generators for supply of power and due to economic slowdown, there are no takers for merchant power,” said Jayant Mhaiskar, chairman of Ideal Energy.

Merchant power is the capacity of a power plant that is not tied up under long-term contracts with the discoms and is sold directly through bilateral contracts with large industrial or commercial consumers or through power exchanges. Some power plants are also facing problem of inadequate or no coal supply.

Mhaiskar confirmed that the company had approached banks for loan restructuring.
“We recently had a meeting with state government officials and told them their claim of state being power-surplus is not correct; many parts of the state are still facing regular load shedding and they must come out with bids to procure additional power,” he said.

India’s banking system has been weighed down by an increase in restructured loans as slowing economic growth, which slumped to a decade’s low of 5% in the year ended 31 March, and high interest rates make it difficult for many corporate borrowers to repay loans. As of the end of September, Indian banks had recast about Rs.2.7 trillion worth of loans under the CDR.

Ideal Energy is not the only power company which is in trouble. Weak demand has affected nearly 2,250 MW of power capacity in Maharashtra and many plants are not producing any electricity. “An investment of nearly Rs.12,000 crore has got locked up,” said a senior official from Maharashtra government’s energy department who did not want to be identified.

The companies whose projects are stranded include JSW Energy Ltd, CESC Ltd, KSK Energy Ventures Ltd and Gupta Energy Ltd.

While CESC’s spokesman declined to comment for the story, an email sent to JSW Energy’s public relations agency remained unanswered. Mails sent to KSK Energy and Gupta Energy also remained unanswered.

According to estimates by the Association of Power Producers (APP), a lobby group of private power generators, nearly 10,000 MW of power capacity at the national level has been stranded. Plants with a capacity to generate nearly 17,000 MW are operating at less than 60% of installed capacity because of inadequate fuel supply.

“If we want to end woes of power sector, we need to carry out reforms in distribution urgently,” said APP director general Ashok Kumar Khurana.

Kameswara Rao, executive director and leader of the energy, utility and mining practice at audit and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of coal-based thermal power projects that had been stranded for lack of fuel.

“A variety of reasons have hit the sector simultaneously —utilities are slow to bid or sign new power purchase agreements while many new projects got commissioned,” he said.

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Policy patronage puffs up NTPC’s power show while private peers lag...

 

On the face of it, state-run power major NTPC continues to outperform most of its private peers which have entered the fray in less than a decade, by raking in higher profits in relation to revenue. However, this has mostly to do with relative regulatory flexibility and policy support enjoyed by the PSU’s plants, with little contribution from the company’s operational efficiency.

During the July-September quarter, NTPC posted a net profit of R2,490 crore on a revenue of R16,415 crore, a margin of 15%. In comparison, private players Adani Power and Lanco Power posted heavy losses during the quarter while Tata Power and JSW Energy made modest profits. Only Reliance Power has posted margins slightly higher than NTPC during Q2 at 19%, thanks to efficient capacity utilisation at its Rosa and Sasan plants.

All NTPC thermal power stations operate under the protective cost-plus regime, while private firms which have bagged projects through tariff-based competitive bidding face commercial risks at every stage. Power projects are financed in a 7:3 debt-equity ratio. While NTPC is entitled to 15.5-16% return on equity (minimum 15.5% RoE and additional 0.5% as incentive when projects are completed on time) from its cost-plus projects, there is no assured return on projects awarded through the bidding route. Non-automatic pass-through of fuel costs (which have risen in the case of most plants) and a weak payment security mechanism are other irritants faced by the private players.

Pertinently, NTPC had lined up massive capacities of over 40,000 MW for implementation under the now-discontinued cost-plus (MoU) regime before the tariff-based bidding regime was made mandatory in January 2011.This means the PSU would continue to be insulated from the risks posed by the tariff-based bidding regime for some more years. Including its existing capacity of 42,500 MW, 20,000 MW under construction and another 40,000 MW for which the company has entered into MoUs with distribution companies, a massive 1 lakh MW capacity of the PSU would be out of the tariff-based bidding mechanism.

A recent study by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has found that in 12 out of 14 cases, levelised cost-plus tariffs were higher than those discovered through bidding within a range of 4-20%. This, despite the report excluding subsequent capital expenditure allowed under the cost-plus dispensation for the purpose of comparison.

While Adani Power is losing Rs 1,400 crore a year or thereabouts on account of additional fuel costs on power supplied to discoms of Gujarat and Haryana from its Mundra power plant, Lanco must run its plants at less than contract capacities due to domestic fuel shortage. The average plant load factor (PLF) of Lanco's generating stations worked out to be 47% against the operational threshold of 85% during Q2 this fiscal. Profits reported by Tata Power and JSW Energy were just nominal (less than 1% of total revenue).

While private developers bear all risks of the bidding regime – those relating to project execution, fuel price, demand and payment – NTPC remains insulated from such vagaries. For the PSU, if project cost escalates due to delays in competition, the extra expenditure can be capitalised and the burden passed on to the distribution companies as fixed charges. Similarly, the developer can recover additional fuel costs from discoms if it has to import coal owing to domestic fuel shortage. Even if discoms fail to lift (costly) power generated from imported coal, they will have to pay fixed charges to the PSU. That means there is little financial impact on a company like NTPC if discoms do not buy power from its plants.\

“There is no level playing field between NTPC and private players as they are operating on different footings,” said former Union power secretary RV Shahi, referring to competitive bidding and cost-plus regimes. The cost-plus system ended on January 5, 2011, giving way to mandatory bidding regime.

Private developers which bagged power purchase contracts by participating in bidding have to bear fuel price risks for 25 years. If a discom refuses to take allocated power, the developer can sell electricity in the open market. However, that is easier said than done, since finding an alternate buyer could prove tricky.

The unanticipated rise in fuel costs have proved to be a problem for private power companies. Tata Power and Adani Power are struggling to get the discoms agree to tariff hikes of 59 paise/unit and 80 paise respectively for their Mundra projects, even though the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has recommended compensatory tariffs.

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More Indian airports are planning to tap solar energy...

 

Airports in India are increasingly looking to solar power. After Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) announcing last week that it had set up a 2.14 MW solar power plant, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has said it too has set up a 1 MW plant.

Though the plant at CIAL is up and running, it is yet to be formally inaugurated. And airports of Bangalore and Hyderabad are also keen on tapping solar energy, with Hyderabad closer to a decision for a 5 MW system.

Unlike Delhi airport’s solar plant, the 1 MW facility at Cochin is spread over three locations within the airport, part of it on rooftops.

None of them is on the ‘airside,’ or on the land abutting the runway, which is where most airports abroad have their solar power systems. A 320 kW plant has been put up on the vast roof of the MRO hangar of CIAL.

Another 550 kW is ground-mounted, and the rest is installed on the roof of the training centre building, the CIAL official said.

However, the official of CIAL said the airport has plans to expand solar capacity to 10 MW, and the future projects will come up on the airside.

Incidentally, CIAL had first put up a 100 kW system, which was built for them by Kolkata-based Vikram Solar. The 1 MW plant was put up by Emvee Photovoltaic of Bangalore.

Airports and hotels typically have large area of land and are a very attractive market-base for solar, says K.M. Santosh, Managing Director, Enerparc Energy Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of the German company of the same name, a global pioneer in putting up solar plants at airports. The solar plant in the Delhi airport was put up by Enerparc.

The solar plant in the Delhi airport was put up by Enerparc. Where there is possibility of the airport availing itself of depreciation benefits, solar is particularly attractive, he says.

Today, a 1 MW solar power plant costs between Rs 6 and 7 crore and typically generates 1.5 million units of electricity a year.

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Maharashtra Government to reduce power tariff for Vidarbha Industries...

 

In a big relief to the Vidarbha industries, the Maharashtra government, on Thursday, declared that it would reduce the recently increased power tariff for the industries on an urgent basis.

Industries minister Narayan Rane made the announcement in the assembly while replying to a calling attention motion move by MLA Devendra Fadnavis highlighting various problems faced by industries in Butibori and Hingna areas.

The minister assured the house to conduct an 'industry friend' meeting in the city, instead of Mumbai, to boost the local establishments and also to attract new investments. He also assured to take positive steps on reducing water charges for the industries.

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