Tata Power's hydro plants get certification for integrated management systems…

 

Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company, today announced that its hydro generating stations at Bhira, Bhivpuri and Khopoli have received certification towards the successful implementation of QMS, ISO 9001:2008, EMS: ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS :18001:2007 systems, by TUV NORD Mumbai.

These certifications are awarded to organisations who have improved their health and safety performance and demonstrated sensitivity and responsiveness towards their customers, employees and the society at large.

Speaking on the accomplishment, Mahesh Paranjpe, head -Hydros, Tata Power, said, ''We are committed to operating our facilities in an environmentally sensitive and responsible manner and facilitate clean, safe and healthy workplace to provide value to our customers, employees and all stakeholders. We are dedicated to continuously improve the Quality, Environmental, and Occupational Health & Safety management practices in order to provide world class standards in all our facilities. The certifications are the outcome of the extraordinary team work exhibited by all the employees at the Hydro stations.''

Shares of the company declined Rs 0.8, or 1.02%, to settle at Rs 77.60. The total volume of shares traded was 243,624 at the BSE (Monday).

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Moser Baer sells solar PV worth Rs 100 crore in Japan…

 

Moser Baer Solar, a subsidiary of Moser Baer India, has crossed more than Rs 100 crore PV module sales in the Japan market during April-December 2013," the company said in a statement.

Moser Baer Solar has been exporting solar PV modules to Japan for last four years and the volume of shipments has increased significantly in last nine months, the statement said.

"Japan traditionally is amongst the world's most quality conscious markets and we are proud to have established an Indian brand in high technology space here. The opportunity is big and we look forward to further our commitments in Japan's journey towards promoting clean energy," Vivek Chaturvedi, Chief Marketing Officer, Moser Baer Solar said in the release.

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TPG Growth cuts stake in clean energy producer Greenko Group…

 

TPG Growth, an arm of global private equity major TPG, has sold around a quarter of its stake in clean energy producer Greenko Group plc nearly four years after its initial investment.

TPG Growth sold a little over 2 per cent stake over the last six months in London’s AIM-listed Greenko, reducing its holding to 5.96 per cent.

According to VCCircle estimate, the stake has been sold for $6 million to $8.5 million. A large chunk of the stake has been sold earlier this month as Greenko's scrip reached over 170 pence per unit.

In January 2010, TPG Growth led a $116-million round of funding in Greenko Group plc. The PE firm will pick up a little over 10 per cent stake for around $35 million. TPG's remaining stake is worth $26 million, according to Greenko's current trading price.

Shares of Greenko were trading at 178.75 pence, up 2.14 per cent on Monday morning in London.

Greenko Group plc reported a 74.6 per cent increase in operational capacity from 244 MW in March 2013 to 426 MW by end of September 2013.

The company, backed by a slew a private equity funds, reported an 18 per cent increase in revenues to €27.9 million for the six-month period. On a constant currency basis, revenues grew by 32.4 per cent.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 49 per cent to €24.6 million, despite being affected by adverse currency movements and lower generation from biomass assets, said the company. Adjusted profit after tax increased 151 per cent to €10.5 million from €4.2 million during the same period in 2012.

Greenko Group plc raised $150 million or £100 million from GIC

Singapore, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, last year. Greenko, one of India’s largest independent power producers in the renewable energy space, raised money through its Mauritius arm.

Other investors in Greenko include Aloe Private Equity, Standard Chartered Private Equity, GE Energy Financial Services and Capital Group.

Greenko has a portfolio of wind, run-of-river hydropower, natural gas and biomass assets. The company is now focused on building new utility scale wind farms and hydropower projects across India. Greenko's goal is to reach 1,000 MW of operational capacity in 2015 and approximately 2,000 MW in 2018.

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Govt plans to offer 4 coal blocks in first tranche of auction…

 

The Centre is planning to offer four coal blocks to power sector out of the proposed ten to be auctioned in the first lot through competitive bidding in the first tranche.

"We are planning to offer four coal blocks to the power sector and other six for non-power sectors," coal secretary S K Srivastava said.

He said that in another one month the government was hoping to concretise the road map for the auction.

The ministry was learnt to have shortlisted some 29 blocks that would be put for auction through competitive bidding route.

Srivastava said the government would auction the coal blocks after deciding on the sectors to be offered.

It was yet to finalise the sectors for which the other six blocks would be offered in the first tranche, he said.

The government, in the past, had expressed confidence in completing the auction by March.

The Coal ministry was also in the process of finalising new bidding rules and a draft Request For Proposal (RFP) for public feedback had already been issued.

The draft RFP said that if an allottee was found to have directly or indirectly engaged in a corrupt, fraudulent, coercive, undesirable or restrictive practice in the bidding, then it won't be eligible to participate in any tender or RFP for another five years.

Incidentally, the ministry was trying to incorporate strong clauses to prevent any corrupt practice.

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Maharashtra slashes power tariff by 20 per cent…

 

In a major pre-election initiative, the Maharashtra government on Monday slashed power tariff by 20 per cent across all sectors.

The move will provide relief to domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural consumers, according to an announcement by the Chief Minister's Office.

The 20 per cent cut will be applicable for domestic consumers - around 1.30 crore in the state - using up to 300 units per month.

The move drew criticism from the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The decision will be implemented in the entire state including north-east parts of Mumbai which get power from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB).

"A decision on the other areas of the city - like north-west and south Mumbai - which are serviced by private suppliers like Tata Power and Reliance Energy shall be taken next week," an official said.

The MSEB has a total of 2.14 crore consumers in Maharashtra, of which 1.56 crore are domestic users, a MSEB spokesperson said.

Of these 1.56 crore, a whopping 1.30 crore fall in the below 300-units per month range, making them eligible for the 20 percent slashed tariff.

Maharashtra also has 3.60 million agriculture consumers, 1.60 million commercial users, 300,000 industrial and 100,000 powerlooms.

Certain other consumers like the railways are no included in the above list, the spokesperson said.

The 20 per cent reduction in tariff would mean a loss of around Rs.706 crore per month for MSEB.

However, the government will provide subsidy of Rs.606 crore per month or Rs.7,272 crore per annum to the MSEB.

The remaining Rs.100 crore per month or Rs.1,200 crore per annum will be borne by the MSEB.

Since the past fortnight, Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam has launched protests demanding reduction in power tariff in Mumbai and other parts in the interest of ordinary consumers.

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Mega Plan to Generate Power from Sewage by Bangalore Sewerage Board...

 

In its efforts to minimise power bills, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is preparing a road map to generate 100 MW of power from over 1,000 MLD of sewage generated in the city.

BWSSB Chief Engineer S Krishnappa said, “As we are consuming around 60 million units of power every month, we are incurring a lot of expenditure on electricity bills.”

“According to our estimates, we can generate around 100 MW power from the sewage generated in the city. It will be sufficient to meet 75 per cent of our  (power) needs.”

14 STPs Identified for Project

Krishnappa said BWSSB has identified 14 sewage treatment plants (STP) where methane gas can be generated from the sewage.

As the STPs are in good condition, BWSSB can start generating methane by constructing a digester near them.

“The biggest challenge is to ensure that the methane generated in the digester is pure in nature. If not, the generator that burns methane will be destroyed very soon,” Krishnappa said.

BWSSB has already initiated the process to produce electricity from sewage at one of the STPs in Hebbal valley by entering into an agreement with England-based Mott MacDonald Ltd.

Mott MacDonald Ltd team leader, Ian P Taylor said, “We have already imported the machinery required to generate 1 MW of power and initiated the process to construct a digester near one of the STPs. We should be in a position to generate electricity soon.”

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Delhi discoms offer to surrender surplus power to state govt...

 

Facing allegations of selling a surplus 1,000 mw to group companies at below-market rates to supress profits, BSES discoms have urged the Delhi government to take over management of unused power so that the controversy can come to an end.

Despite the Delhi High court quashing the regulatory order that said discoms could make profit of Rs 3,577 crore a year by selling surplus power alone, consumer groups continue to cite the order to bolster their case that discoms are manipulating electricity trading deals. The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission had arrived at the profit figure by assuming electricity price of Rs 5.75 a unit in 2007.

On the other hand, discoms maintain that power is surplus only during non-peak hours when prevailing market rates are low. So, prices are usually lower than rates at which power is purchased from central generating stations under long-term power purchase agreements ( PPAs).

In a letter to Delhi power secretary Puneet Goel, discoms have said they sell surplus electricity through transparent mechanisms like power exchanges, trading and banking arrangements and unscheduled interchange (UI), where all transactions are accounted by the state load despatch centre in compliance with the guidelines laid down by the regulator. Anyway, the discoms have further said that they cannot be held responsible for terms of the PPAs that were signed by the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board prior to its privatisation in 2002, and assigned to them in 2007.

“In the interest of transparency and to avoid baseless allegations and unnecessary controversy, the BSES discoms request the Delhi government to take over the entire responsibility for ensuring adequate power to meet the peak demand and sell off-peak power in the most optimal manner,” said the letter sent by Gopal K Saxena, CEO, BSES Rajdhani Power. BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power together cater to two-thirds of electricity consumers in the national capital.

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India, UAE to cooperate for solar, wind energy...

 

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed an agreement to enhance cooperation in renewable energy, especially in the areas of solar and wind power.

India's Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, minister of state and the UAE's special envoy for energy and climate change, Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in these areas in Abu Dhabi.

Both the countries also agreed to form a Joint Working Group for better coordination through joint research on subjects of mutual interest, exchange and training of scientific and technical personnel, exchange of available scientific and technologies information and data, according to a statement released here Sunday by the ministry of new and renewable energy.

India and UAE have also agreed to cooperate in organisation of workshops, seminars and working groups, transfer of know-how, technology and equipment, on non-commercial basis.

Abdullah, who is on an official visit to Abu Dhabi, held talks with UAE minister Al Jaber.

Abdullah briefed the UAE minister on the progress made by India in renewable energy with special reference to the National Solar Mission launched in 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.

He also briefed the minister on India's efforts in promoting energy for remote and un-electrified areas, the statement said.

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