Ex-IITian develops power converter to prevent energy loss in energy conversion applications such as solar power...

 

Umesh Kumar Mishra, a faculty member of University of California, who had come to attend the 35th reunion of the batch of 1979 at IIT-K, has developed a power converter which is capable of converting AC power into DC and vice versa. The converter had been developed, aiming to lower down the energy loss during the conversion of power.

Mishra said: "We have developed this power converter, realising that around 15% of the power goes for a waste when the conversion is done. The converter reduces the energy loss to just 2%. Therefore, the major property of this converter is that it efficiently converts the power either from AC to DC or DC to AC."

The converter uses a semi-conductor named gallium nitride. The demand for the power converter is on the rise in US. It is being used in Japan since 2012.

People have started using the power converters for domestic use, he added.

He had first demonstrated this product in Japan with a Japanese partner in November 2012.

"My company will start the mass production of the power converters both in US and Japan. The product will be sold in the markets of US, Japan, China and Taiwan," he said.

When questioned about the cost, Mishra mentioned that every new technology costs high in the beginning but costs less when the mass manufacturing begins. Therefore, the cost of the product will come down in the times to come.

Talking about the application at the domestic level, Mishra said that the power converters can be used with solar panels, inverters, laptops etc.

Recalling the first major research work done for NASA in US, Mishra said, "I and three other members of my team had developed an amplifier after a hard work of two-and-a-half-year which was attached with the spacecraft and launched in the space. The amplifier helped in receiving clear signals (images) of the space. This work was done in 1986."

He informed that the spacecraft later moved out of our solar system (went into deep space) but still sometimes at a very slow pace, the amplifier sends the images of the outer space.

The high-end technology used in the amplifier has gone a long way in serving several fields, including its use in the direct to home service which is popularly known as D2H.

"As the time moved ahead, the technology evolved itself and the size of the amplifier became small and its use increased manifold in different products," he said.

Mishra completed his BTech in electrical engineering from IIT-K in 1979. He pursued his PhD from Cornell University.

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Six firms get notice for delay in development of coal blocks...

 

The coal ministry on Friday sought explanation from six companies including state-owned NTPC, Damodar Valley Corporation and private player Tata Steel for the allegedly slow progress in development of their allocated captive coal blocks.

These companies have been asked to reply within 20 days, explaining why the delay should not be held as a violation of the terms of allocation and why the block should not be deallocated.

Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation, Utkal Coal and Gujarat Mineral Development have also been issued similar show-cause notices by the ministry.

The coal blocks in question are Utkal C, Tara, Kerandari, Khagra Joydev, Ganeshpur and Morga-II. The ministry issued notices to the companies following recommendations of an inter-ministerial group constituted to review development status of captive coal blocks.

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The Kochi Corporation moots biogas plants for local schools...

 

The Kochi corporation will distribute portable biogas plants to 35 government schools within its limits. In the initial phase, the plant, which costs about Rs 13,000 each, will be installed only in government schools. This will be later extended to aided schools.

Chairman of the education standing committee R Thyagarajan said, "The project will be launched soon. The expenses will be met by the government's annual plan fund. While the government provides a subsidy of 50%, the corporation will give 25% as subsidy. The schools will have to bear the rest of the cost."

The chairman said the biogas generated from organic waste can be utilized for 90 minutes daily by the kitchen. "We have already equipped government schools with smart classrooms, laboratory facilities and distributed benches and desks. The new project is aimed at managing waste in schools, especially those which have the midday meal scheme," he added.

Saraswathy M E, headmistress of the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Ernakulam, said, "We have to serve midday meals to 600 students daily. We have been finding it difficult to treat waste generated from it. So the plant will be of great use for us."

"The corporation has informed us about the plan to install biogas plants in schools. Though we installed a biogas plant in 2007, it stopped functioning in 2010. Currently, the organic waste generated in our school is sourced by the agriculture department," said Telma Mendes, principal, Government Higher Secondary School, Elamakkara.

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Solar plant for Civil Supplies Department in Andhra Pradesh...

 

The State Civil Supplies department has got a solar power plant atop its building in the city. It is a first of its kind in the Government sector.

The Minister D. Sridhar Babu inaugurated the newly installed 20 KWp plant. It will approximately save 3,000 units every month for the department.

The life of the plant is 25 years and payback period about four year. It is estimated to save roughly about Rs 50 lakh for the rest of the period.

The project was executed by Sun Technologies. The company is into promoting solar energy for homes, agriculture, industries and institutions.

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Solar panels power a section of Tiruchi District Central Library...

 

In a bid to conserve electricity, the district central library has begun the use of solar panels to power a section of the premises.

“Solar panels with 5kV capacity have been installed on the roof of the library building, at a cost of Rs. 9 lakh sanctioned by the government.

“The panels absorb solar energy and store it in batteries, thereby ensuring that electricity is available even after sunset,” said P. Sivakumar, District Library Officer.

The electricity generated by the panels is used to provide power to the “dailies and periodicals” section of the library. Electricity is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The solar panels had been used on a trial basis for the past 20 days. Based on the success, the rest of the library would soon function on solar energy, Mr. Sivakumar added.

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Solar industry enthused by Rajagopal’s appointment to regulatory panel in TNERC...

 

Nothing was happening for a long time in what was believed to be the ‘most happening place’ for the solar industry — Tamil Nadu. Most of the reason for the non-happening had to do with the presence of only one member in the State’s electricity regulatory commission.

Now, with the appointment of S. Rajagopal, the current Director-Finance of the state electricity generation and distribution utility – Tangedco – as another member of TNERC – the Chairman is yet to be appointed – the solar industry believes that there are sunny days ahead.

Rajagopal is expected to be administered the ‘oath of secrecy’ by the state’s electricity minister early next week. The general expectation is that the Commission will buck up and take long-pending decisions, the most crucial of which is the signing of the power purchase agreements with those who have won rights to put up solar projects and sell electricity to Tangedco through a bidding process that was run a year ago.

The PPA-signing is a big event that the entire solar industry has been anxiously awaiting — about 700 MW of solar projects worth Rs 5,000 crore could get off the mark once the PPAs are signed.

The PPAs could not be signed because the Commission had not approved them. The Commission didn’t do that for three main reasons. First, it feels that the tariff discovered through last year’s bidding process — Rs 6.48 per kWhr with 5 per cent annual escalation for 10 years — is rather high. Tangedco’s point of view is that the tariff being market-determined, ought to be approved by the regulator. Second, some industry bodies have filed cases against the imposition of the ‘Solar purchase obligation’ on specified classes of consumers. The Commission prefers to wait until the cloud over this is cleared. Business Line learns that the Court’s judgement on this will come in the third week of this month. Third, the Commission had only one member — and, therefore, did not want to take major decisions.

Rajagopal joining TNERC is expected to remove the first and the third of the hurdles.

Terming his appointment as a “positive sign”, Bikesh Ogra, President of Solar Business of Sterling & Wilson (of the Shapoorji Pallonji group), notes that “the fact that the newly-appointed member comes with recent Tangedco background sends strong signals to the industry.” Ogra expects that TNERC will now be able to fast-track the PPAs.

Others note that it is not just the PPAs, but a whole lot of other regulations relevant to the solar industry are expected to be decided upon by the Commission.

For instance, the Commission is yet to determine charges that solar power producers should pay if they wheel their power to their customers using the State-owned grid lines, charges for defraying the State’s burden of subsidising the poor and whether or not the power producers could ‘bank’ their power and draw it back at some other date.

Vivek Jayakumar, Executive Director of the solar consultancy, Arbutus, also feels that Rajagopal’s appointment would “accelerate the state’s solar programme.”

How much will come?

Amidst all this — and now being the beginning of a new year — there is a lot of lively speculation in the industry as to how much solar capacity will get added in Tamil Nadu in 2014.

The optimists put it at around 500 MW, since many projects are ready to take off the moment the PPAs are signed. The sceptics feel that none of the projects conceived for implementation under the Tangedco bid, will come to fruition this year. They feel that such of those investors who eyed the tax-saving ‘accelerated depreciation’ benefit will be interested in the projects, given that the projects cannot be completed by March-end. Secondly — and more importantly — they feel that it is proving to be very difficult to obtain grid connection, another hurdle-ridden process.

Tamil Nadu will be key to the solar programme of the entire country. There being an election this summer, the industry sees little chance of project awards under the Centre’s National Solar Mission, though a substantial capacity addition under the Mission could come next year. Then, there are only three other States that have active solar initiatives — Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab — all adding to a capacity of less than 350 MW.

The Tangedco-awarded solar projects constitute a major chunk of the industry, there are tens of other projects — mostly under 1 MW — happening in the State all the time. Industries and commercial establishments are going in for solar in the belief that the ‘solar purchase obligation’ will come for sure one day or the other, and also for some energy security. Profit-making entities find solar worthwhile when looked at in conjunction with the tax-saving accelerated depreciation. These are all small projects scattered across the State — and that’s how ‘solar’ should be. A good guess is that these will add up to between 100 and 150 MW this year.

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Researchers Find Simple, Cheap Way to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency...

 

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found an easy way to modify the molecular structure of a polymer commonly used in solar cells. Their modification can increase solar cell efficiency by more than 30 percent.

Polymer-based solar cells have two domains, consisting of an electron acceptor and an electron donor material. Excitons are the energy particles created by solar cells when light is absorbed. In order to be harnessed effectively as an energy source, excitons must be able to travel quickly to the interface of the donor and acceptor domains and retain as much of the light's energy as possible.

One way to increase solar cell efficiency is to adjust the difference between the highest occupied molecular orbit (HOMO) of the acceptor and lowest unoccupied molecular orbit (LUMO) levels of the polymer so that the exciton can be harvested with minimal loss. One of the most common ways to accomplish this is by adding a fluorine atom to the polymer's molecular backbone, a difficult, multi-step process that can increase the solar cell's performance, but has considerable material fabrication costs.

A team of chemists led by Jianhui Hou from the Chinese Academy of Sciences created a polymer known as PBT-OP from two commercially available monomers and one easily synthesized monomer. Wei Ma, a post-doctoral physics researcher from NC State and corresponding author on a paper describing the research, conducted the X-ray analysis of the polymer's structure and the donor:acceptor morphology.

PBT-OP was not only easier to make than other commonly used polymers, but a simple manipulation of its chemical structure gave it a lower HOMO level than had been seen in other polymers with the same molecular backbone. PBT-OP showed an open circuit voltage (the voltage available from a solar cell) value of 0.78 volts, a 36 percent increase over the ~ 0.6 volt average from similar polymers.

According to NC State physicist and co-author Harald Ade, the team's approach has several advantages. "The possible drawback in changing the molecular structure of these materials is that you may enhance one aspect of the solar cell but inadvertently create unintended consequences in devices that defeat the initial intent," he says. "In this case, we have found a chemically easy way to change the electronic structure and enhance device efficiency by capturing a lager fraction of the light's energy, without changing the material's ability to absorb, create and transport energy."

The researchers' findings appear in Advanced Materials. The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Science and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. Dr. Maojie Zhang synthesized the polymers; Xia Guo,Shaoqing Zhang and Lijun Huo from the Chinese Academy of Sciences also contributed to the work.

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No takers for Meghalaya’s hydro power projects...

 

There has been no takers from power companies to develop over 75 run-off-river mini hydro electric projects in this power-starved state of Meghalaya, an official said Friday.

“We have floated expression of interests (EOIs) inviting private power companies to develop small hydro electric projects, but unfortunately there has been no takers,” additional chief secretary in-charge of power B.K. Dev Varma said.

The proposed mini power projects if developed would enhance an additional power of over 567.91MW in this power-starved state, which presently generates only 186.70 MW and has a share of 200 MW from central utilities.

“I really don’t know exactly what was the reason that why we couldn’t find any bidder, it could be the proposed projects are in treacherous and lack of infrastructure (roads) to reach those areas,” Varma said.

“The other reason could be the terms and conditions of the EOIs do not attract investors to develop these projects. But nonetheless, we will again rework the EOI’s in a couple of months and we are hopeful by this year these projects will find investors,” he added.

Till a decade ago, Meghalaya generated surplus power and sold it to neighbouring states. But today, the state shells out about Rs.20 crore for purchasing power every month.

The situation may not improve in the near future as many of the hydel power projects under construction are running behind schedule.

Bangladesh has also opposed to construct two dams: One across the Umiew River known as Mawphu Hydro Electric Project in East Khasi Hills, and another across Myntdu River known as Myntdu-Leshka Hydro Electric Project Stage-II in the West Jaintia Hills.

The 85 MW Mawphu project would be built by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (Neepco) on the Umiew River in East Khasi Hills District at an estimated cost of Rs 453.81 crore.

Moreover, Meghalaya is already on debt-trap with the state-owned Meghalaya  Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has to clear pending dues of around Rs 300 crore to  North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO, National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation(NHPC).

State-owned NEEPCO has already regulated its power supply to Meghalaya following the non-clearance of outstanding dues. 

However, Varma said the Meghalaya government has submitted a proposal to union ministry of power for financial restructuring plan in order to clear the pending dues of the three central power corporations.

“The restructuring plan was aimed at to avail 25 per cent financial assistance from the Central government as well as 75 per cent from financial institutions in the form of loan,” he said.

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DERC plans new regulations for tariff fixation...

 

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has proposed to adopt new power regulations from next fiscal to help fix tariff. The new regulations will replace the current average revenue requirement (ARR) petitions that discoms file every year.

DERC chairperson P D Sudhakar said, "Discoms have already prepared their ARR for tariff submissions for 2014-15 so we plan to adopt the new regulations the year after," he said. The new accounting format has been prepared by the forum of regulators and is being slowly adopted by electricity regulators across the nation. "The present ARR is not submitted in this new format. The new regulations will help facilitate further processing easily and be useful. Discoms will have to submit information in a format that will enable us to assess data conveniently. The forum of regulators had come out with model regulations and we have made certain changes in the regulations we wish to adopt," Sudhakar added.

DERC is keen to have the new regulations in place at the earliest. "A draft of the regulations has been put up on the Commission's website for information and comments and public feedback is invited till January 31," said an official. Till date, only Tata Power has submitted their ARR petitions to DERC for tariff determination. Petitions from two BSES discoms, Rajdhani and Yamuna, are still awaited.

Meanwhile, discoms are preparing for the CAG audit next week as ordered by Delhi government. Sources said CAG office is likely to officially notify the power companies early next week for the audit.

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Power production resumes at Tuticorin thermal unit...

 

Power production in the fifth unit of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station resumed on Friday, according to Chief Engineer of TTPS, S. Valliappan.

The fifth unit, which was suspended on Thursday at 6 am owing to breakdown, resumed production around 1am after the technical experts attended to the problem.

Production was suspended at the unit after it developed a puncture in the boiler tube.

Third unit

Besides, production in the third unit came to a halt since November 27, 2013 for carrying out major maintenance works, he added.

“With the halt in operations of the third unit of TTPS, there is a production shortfall of 210MW.”

“Except for the third unit, production is in full swing now from other four units. Each of the units has a capacity of producing 210MW,” he said.

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After Delhi, MH to reduce electricity tariff by 15 per cent for MSEDCL consumers...

 

Nearly 21.4 million consumers of the state-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran) can expect a gift in the New Year, which happens to be an election year, too.

A Cabinet sub-committee headed by Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane has recommended an across-the-board 15 per cent reduction in existing rates. The committee has also recommended reduction in the electricity duty.

Power rate in Maharashtra is 20-50 per cent higher than other states. The panel has not considered any cut in the rate charged to Mumbai consumers by Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure, MahaVitaran and BrihanMumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST).

If the recommendation is implemented, the state government and MahaVitaran will have to bear a burden of about Rs 2,000 crore annually. Of this, MahaVitaran’s share will be at least Rs 200 crore, while the state government will have to provide the balance through a budgetary allocation.

This will be in addition to the annual subsidy of Rs 10,500 crore provided to agricultural consumers and Rs 1,100 crore to power looms. Of this, MahaVitaran cross-subsidises industry and commercial consumers worth Rs 6,500 crore; the balance is contributed by the state government.

According to the rates effective from September, high-tension industrial consumer power rate ranges between Rs 10.51 and Rs 11.53 a unit; for high-tension commercial consumers, it is between Rs 9.46 and Rs 14.46 a unit. For low-tension industries, it is between Rs 8.07  and Rs 10.06 a unit. For high-tension agricultural consumers, the per unit tariff is Rs 3.83.

A senior minister who was part of the committee told Business Standard: “The Rane committee, which was formed in October to address issues raised by couple of parties and organisations, submitted its report on Thursday evening to the state government. The decision will be taken after the approval of state Cabinet at its meeting slated for next week.”

The minister claimed the state government’s decision has nothing to do with Aam Aadmi Party's move to cut 50 per cent tariff for those consuming below of 400 units of electricity in Delhi.

Source: Business Standard

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