Nod to 4000 MW Banka Ultra Mega Power Project in Bihar…

 

The Centre has cleared the proposal for a 4,000MW ultra mega-power project (UMPP) in Banka, a project designed to take care of Bihar’s energy requirements by the end of this decade.

The project is expected to be commissioned by 2019-20. The state would get 2,000MW from the plant as the Centre has allocated 50 per cent share from the plant to itself.

“We received a letter today (Wednesday) from the ministry of power giving its nod to set up a ultra mega-power project at Banka. We are happy that the Centre has acceded to our long-pending demand as the state would get 2,000MW power from this plant,” energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told The Telegraph.

Any power project with an installed capacity to generate 4,000MW or more is deemed as an ultra mega-power project.

The state government had, on November 23, 2013, written to the power ministry seeking early approval of the project.

The state government said it would press the Centre to provide coal linkage to the project at the earliest.

“The state government is responsible for providing land and water for the project. We have made that available and accordingly informed the ministry of power. Now, the Centre has to provide coal linkage to the plant,” Yadav said.

Bihar at present gets around 1,500-1,600MW against the total scheduled allocation of around 2,000MW from the central sector.

The state also purchases 400MW from the open market besides getting 110MW from its own source from Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station. The state government has set a target of providing at least 3,000MW in the coming summer and 4,000 MW by the end of the year.

The central decision on power comes close on the heels of the cabinet clearance to two railway projects in Bihar — at Madhepura and Marhowra — that had been gathering dust for a long time.

Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a nodal agency under the ministry of power which advises the government on energy issues, had in March 2013 approved the setting up of the ultra mega-power project at Kakwara in Banka district.

A team from CEA and Power Finance Corporation (PFC), along with state government officials, visited two sites to assess the project’s feasibility.

The team went to Kakwara in Banka and Rajauli in Nawada. The Kakwara site, about 260km from Patna, prima facie, appeared to be suitable for setting up the project, sources said, adding that there are no environmental issues related to it.

The project would require 2,500 acres of land and 120 cusecs of water.

Sources said the site at Kakwara in Banka fulfils all parameters such as easy availability of land, water and coal linkage. They said coal for the project could be transported easily by rail from neighbouring Jharkhand.

The site is also 65km away from Sultanganj from where the plant could draw 120 cusecs of water from the Ganga for power generation.

The clearance of the project is a big boost to the Nitish Kumar government which claims to have drastically improved the power situation in the state.

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Bihar government not for power tariff reduction...

 

Amid demands in several states for power tariff reduction on the lines of AAP government's move to reduce tariff in Delhi, Bihar government today refused to toe the line, saying the rate was already low and much below the purchase price in the state.

"The power tariff is already very low in Bihar at Rs 2-2.25 per unit for urban consumers and much below the purchase price of the commodity," state Electricity Minister Bijendra Yadav told reporters in reply to a question.

"The electricity charge is not at all costly in Bihar in comparison to other states," he said when reporters insisted on his response.

In any case, Bihar has only 11 per cent urban areas and the rest rural, the minister said referring to the power tariff reduction demand gaining currency in big cities following the popular decision taken by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi yesterday.

In reply to another question, Yadav said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had, during the Independence Day speech last year, promised to improve power situation in Bihar failing which, he had said he would not seek votes from the people in the 2015 assembly polls.

"All that the Chief Minister had said then was that he will not go to the people to seek votes in case he failed to improve power scenario in Bihar by 2015. He had not promised to provide power to all households," he said.

With the power situation improving and its availability expected to increase to at around 3000 MW by 2014, besides improvement in distribution and transmission infrastructure, the Chief Minister, he said, would not have to apologise to the people.

"Instead he will be in a position to seek their votes for another term in office in 2015 assembly polls," Yadav said.

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Alstom T&D India bags Rs. 54.4-crore contract from Bihar Power Transmission Company...

 

Alstom T&D India today said it has bagged an order worth Rs 54.4 crore for supplying equipment to Bihar State Power Transmission Company.
    
"Alstom T&D India has secured Rs 54.4 crore turnkey contract from Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited," the company said in a statement.
    
The state government of Bihar plans to add a number of new voltage level substations at various locations in the state in near future.
    
In this context, the substation at Bihta is important as it is the first in the series in energy expansion plan of the state, the statement said.
    
The scope of this turnkey contract covers design, engineering, manufacture, supply, testing, erection and
commissioning of (air-insulated switchgear) AIS substation including supply of transformers, it said.
    
In addition to this, all major equipment like circuit breakers, instruments transformers and control and protection system will be manufactured in Alstom T&D India's manufacturing facilities spread across the country.

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NTPC commissions Unit 1 of Barh Super Thermal Project; reaches 42,454 MW installed capacity...

 

NTPC Ltd has announced that the Unit-I of 660 MW of Barh Super Thermal Power Project Stage-Il has been commissioned on November 30, 2013 at 20:15 hrs.

With this, the total installed capacity of NTPC group has become 42454 MW.

 

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Power Ministry recommends financial restructuring of jharkhand, bihar and karnataka discoms...

 

Power Ministry has sent the note on financial restructuring of state discoms to the cabinet for final approval, a top ministry official today said.

As per the proposal, the state electricity boards of Jharkhand, Bihar and Karnataka will be allowed to convert their outstanding loans, till March 2013, into bonds as part of an amendment to the discom debt restructuring package.

"We have sent the note to the (Cabinet) Secretariat for the final nod," Power Secretary P K Sinha told reporters here on the sidelines of Indian Energy Summit. Karnataka along with Jharkhand and Bihar had approached the Ministry seeking this special provision.

Currently, under Financial Restructuring Package (FRP), which was approved by the government last year, 50 per cent of the accumulated debt of the discoms till March 2012 can be converted into bonds.

These bonds will be issued by the distribution companies to the participating lenders, backed by state government guarantees. Balance 50 per cent loans will be restructured by providing moratorium on principal and best possible terms for repayments.

The support under the scheme is available for all participating state-owned discoms on fulfilling short-term mandatory conditions. The accumulated losses of state power distribution companies are estimated at about Rs 1.9 lakh crore as on March 31, 2011, and Rs 2.46 lakh crore as on March 31, 2012.

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Bihar government to invest Rs. 28,000 Crores for improving power scenario in the state...

 

According to sources, the Bihar Government is planning to invest around Rs. 28,000 Crores to strengthen the state power sector in the next five years.

 

 

Out of the proposed amount

• Rs. 10,000 Crores will be used to improve the depreciated power infrastructures related to transmission & distribution of electricity.
• The balance amount will be used to connect all of every village in Bihar with electricity in next couple of years  and to improve generation in the state.

Currently, Bihar is having highest highest Transmission & Distribution Losses in the country. As per the government data, the state loses almost half of its power even before it reaches to the consumers. The Government is planning to bring down these losses to 10 percent in next five years. For that purpose, the state government has recently signed an MoU with the Power Grid Corporation of India with an aim to revamp its transmission network.

It has also decided to give the distribution network of almost 70 towns in the state in the private hands to improve its revenue collection.

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More literature on this...

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/bihar-plans-to-invest-rs-28-000-crore-on-power-sector-in-next-5-years-113092900778_1.html

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R-Infra receives Rs. 185 Crores order to digitize Bihar's power distribution network...

 

Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra) has bagged a Rs. 185 Crores order from the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) to digitize its customer service which will allow the utility to reduce losses, improve billing and load distribution to its 12 lakh consumers.

 

Under the said contract, R-Infra will cover North and South Bihar Discoms which are having around 71 towns. The It implementation project to be carried out by R-Infra will help business processes of Bihar's SEBs using IT platforms, which will result in enhanced customer service, reduction in power theft, revenue realization and improved efficiency.

The project will involve implementation of key IT technologies like geographical information system (GIS) and network service provision will result in a drastic improvement in network. Real time monitoring and energy audit will further ensure reduction of losses. As a result of this, the cost of subsidy will be reduced and this will reduce tariffs for consumers. Apart from this, R-Infra will carry out system integration (SI) for utilities and deploy key applications, including management information system, document management system, asset management, IT infrastructure, network & IT security. It will ensure faster execution and more accountability to stakeholders.

R-Infra will also train the resources of utilities for all its IT applications to help them become IT savvy. After the completion of the project, R-Infra will carry out management & maintenance of system for five years.

According to the R-Infra, the project will be completed in one and a half years.

The company is executing IT consultancy and implementation projects for utilities in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka. This is R-Infra's ninth project under the government's R-APDRP Program.

 

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More literature on this topic...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/power/reliance-infrastructure-to-digitise-customer-services-in-71-bihar-towns-help-cut-losses/articleshow/21609746.cms

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