Coal India offers 447 MT of coal to power utilities…

Coal India Limited has offered to supply 447 million tonnes of coal to Power Utilities in 2011-12 subject to availability of wagons by the Railways at an average of 190.4 rakes per day during the year.

This information was given by Minister of State in the ministry of Coal,Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The minister informed the house that 216 coal blocks with geological reserves of about 50 billion tones have been allocated to eligible public and private companies under the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973. Out of that, 24 coal blocks have been de-allocated. Out of de-allocated coal blocks, two coal blocks were re-allocated to eligible companies under the said Act.

In view of the above, the net allocated blocks are 194 coal blocks with geological reserves of about 44.44 billion tones. Out of these 28 coal blocks have come into production. The rest of the blocks are in various stages of development. Development of coal blocks involves gestation period of 3 to 7 years for reaching the production stage and another two to three years for reaching the optimal production capacity.

The major constraints being faced by the allocates are i) delay in setting up end use projects and ii) time taken for obtaining various clearances for mining and land acquisition.

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Tata BP Solar commissions 1 MW Solar PV Project…

According to reports, Tata BP Solar India, a joint venture of Tata Power and BP Solar, on Monday, said it has commissioned its first 1 megawatt (mw) solar photovoltaic power plant in Orissa under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

The project, owned and developed by S. N. Mohanty at Cuttack in Orissa, was synchronized to the grid on 23 August, the company said in a statement issued here. “Tata BP Solar as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor in association with S. N. Mohanty is very proud in bringing about this first solar photovoltaic plant in Orissa,” the company’s chief executive officer, K. Subramanya, said.

The project, which is designed to run for 25 years, uses 4,400 crystalline silicon modules of 230 Watts each spread out over an area of 5 acres, which will generate electric current when solar radiation falls on them, the release said. The solar power plant is expected to generate 1.41 million units of electricity in the first year.

Tata BP Solar has also taken the contract to provide the operation and maintenance services to the plant for the first 10 years after commissioning, it said.

Mohanty has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Orissa State Electricity Board for 25 years to supply this power to them.

Tata BP Solar is currently executing projects in different parts of India including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand under the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) run scheme.

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China to fast track India’s Hydel Projects development ! ! !

While the title of this post seems illogical and surprising at times; the same is becoming a reality now-a-days. With the China factor looming large, the Centre is desperately pushing the Arunachal Pradesh Government to expedite the development of storage hydroelectric projects on the Brahmaputra.

According to reports, China is planning to construct world’s largest hydro-electric project on river Brahmaputra after its own another largest hydro-electric project; Three Gorges Dam.   The proposed project is being constructed on the upper reaches of the river involving the setting up of a massive dam on the bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo — the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra.

This will force India to speed up its own hydro projects on Brahmaputra to create a strong bargaining position to detract China from building mega hydel projects on the upper reaches of the river.

So far, India's success rate on this front has been dismal. Projects such as the 3,000-MW Dibang have been stuck for over three years now. Just two projects — NEEPCO's 600 MW Kameng and NHPC's 2,000 MW Lower Subhansiri — have a realistic change of coming up on the Brahmaputra over the next six years.

Even as NTPC Ltd has been roped in to prepare a feasibility study for a proposed 9,750-MW Siang Upper hydroelectric project, analysts are sceptical of how fast things can move.

Road and rail links, a prerequisite for transporting equipment to project sites, are lacking desperately. A key transmission link that was to come up for strengthening linkages with the North-Easter during the current Plan period is still held up for funds.

Additionally, the stated position of the Arunachal Government to avoid storage projects involving big dams is a hurdle.

The Ministry of Power has recently stated before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy that it is trying hard to convince the Arunachal Government on the need for storage projects, officials said.

According to Dr. Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Research

“If India harnesses the Brahmaputra in Arunachal through the proposed projects, it will strengthen its case against China's building of a mega-dam at Metog. But, it will have to do it before China does its project. Under the doctrine of prior appropriation, a priority right falls on the first user of river waters,”

The Tsangpo river flows through 1,625 km in Tibet, and then enters Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as the Siang. Further down, the Siang — after its confluence with the Dibang and Lohit — is known as the Brahmaputra.

India is thus, on the downstream side of all the developments being planned in China on the river.

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Solar Tariff… Need of re-evaluation ! ! !

Spark feels a need of re-evaluation of the preferential tariff given to the solar power generation by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)  from regions with less exposure to the sun’s radiation.

According to Spark,  it is illogical to follow a single feed-in-tariff (FIT) concept when it comes to setting up solar power plants. Developed countries such as Germany and the US, wherein Solar Power development is at advanced stage, have multiple tariff system based on the exposure of a particular region to solar radiation. The same policy should be adopted in India.

Similar kind of tariff mechanism is already proposed by CERC and in implementation in various states (such as Maharashtra) for Wind Power Projects wherein the tariff has been declared zone wise which is classified in terms of wind resources.

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), CERC has set the tariff at Rs 17.90 per kilowattt hour (kWh) for solar photo voltaic projects and Rs 15.40 per kWh for solar thermal projects. It reviews the cost every year and fixes the tariff accordingly for new projects.

The aim is to install 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022 with the first phase contributing 1000 MW by 2013.

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Anna shock for NTPC…

NTPC’s Farakka power project today hit the Anna hurdle as the company had to cancel the commercial production of its new Unit-VI set up at a cost of Rs 2,570 crore.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde were supposed to flag off the 500MW unit but they could not come because of an extended session in Parliament today on the Anna impasse.

Till late on Saturday evening, all parties were trying to find a way out of the Lokpal jigsaw.

NTPC officials will take a decision on when to start the production within 15 days.

The delay in starting the unit, from which Bengal will be getting 147MW, may affect power supply in the state. Two other eastern states — Bihar and Jharkhand — will get 50.5MW and 32.5MW, respectively.

“We had initially demanded that 500MW should be available to us for merchant trading. But we were not allowed. As of now, 75MW from the new unit will remain unallocated,” said S.P. Singh, director (HR), NTPC.

The new unit will raise Farakka power station’s capacity to 2,100MW from 1,600MW.

NTPC also hopes that from 2013 there will be no drop in power generation from Farakka because of low availability of water from the Ganges during summer.

“The water shortage was acute in 2001-02. Then we thought of having a river-bed pump house project to ensure sufficient water supply for the lean period,” said U.P. Pani, executive director, (eastern region 1), NTPC.

The new unit, however, has its dedicated cooling system and will not be affected by the availability of water from the feeder canal.

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UP signs 600 MW PPA with Gujarat & Adani Power…

 According to reports the Uttar Pradesh Government has entered into a year-long power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Gujarat government and a private utility Adani Power for 600 MW of electricity.

The UP Government’s move of one year PPA seems for political gains as state elections are to be held next year, but it has also helped narrow the demand-supply gap.

 

As per a report of the Central Electricity Authority

, the state received 6,028 MW of power in June against a requirement of 6,564 MW.

 
The PPA comes at a time when Gujarat is facing a problem of plenty in terms of signing the PPA for its own consumption (Read Here). There are few takers for its 3,000 MW of surplus power, which is set to double in the coming months as private power producers add capacity.

Adani Power's average realization dipped to as low as 2.82 a unit in the first quarter of the current fiscal, as against 3.36 in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Under the PPA, it will get 4.70 for every unit sold, including transmission charges.

 
Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, is one of the largest buyers of power in bilateral trade and power exchanges. According to the data published by the Power Exchanges (Indian Energy Exchange and Power Exchange of India), it also pays one of the highest tariffs in the country to procure it. In May, the state accounted for 20% of bilateral power trade, against only 3.8% in 2010 and 5.5% in 2009.

This politics-power nexus may prove to be a bonanza for voters, some of whom may be reluctant to pay a higher price for electricity, but it has its down side: It hampers effective check on power theft and slows down privatization of power distribution. This explains why Gujarat-based Torrent Power will have to wait longer to take over Kanpur's electricity distribution network.

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World’s Largest Power Plants, Spark’s Power Houses Series – Part – 1…

Upon request of lots of readers, Spark has initiated to provide its reader a weekly update on World’s largest Power Plants.

For that Spark started a series called, Spark’s Power House Series.

As a first article of the series, Spark will present the a summary slideshow giving overall information of world’s larges 25 power plants.

So, go ahead, see the article and wait for another…

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India to add 3,500 MW of renewable power during the current fiscal…

India will be adding about 3,500 MW of renewable power during the current fiscal. which would entail a capital investment of about 29,000 crore, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday.

Spark sensed that a power generation capacity of around 3400 MW (grid-interactive) and 130 MW (off-grid / captive) from various renewable energy sources, mainly wind, solar, biomass and small hydro, will be added in the country during the current financial year 2011-12.

Considering the historical trends, half of the capital investment would be towards

wind energy, investments in solar power are expected to be about Rs 9,000 crore. Other renewable sources like small hydro power and bio-power would have investments of about Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 2,500 respectively.

Additional investment of about Rs. 1,000 cr. is envisaged in deployment of decentralized renewable energy systems/ devices like biogas plants, solar water heating systems and SPV lighting systems in remote villages/ hamlets.

These include Generation Based Incentives (GBI) Scheme for wind power and solar power to attract private investment by Independent Power Producers and incentives like capital subsidy and concession on excise duty. The government has also created a contingency fund for solar power projects if state utilities fail to make payments.

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Planning Commission’s views on coal shortfall…

The Planning Commission has sounded the alarm over falling coal supplies, saying that special consideration should be made for projects in environmentally sensitive areas.

In its approach paper to the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the commission has sought a thorough review of the current approach to the environment-versus-development debate, clearly according top priority to the country's development agenda.

 
At the centre of the commission's critique is the 'go and no-go area' policy for coal blocks and the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index, or CEPI, norms adopted by the environment and forests ministry.

"Part of the reason for the shortfall in coal production is the implementation of tighter environment-related regulations, and problems in rehabilitation and resettlement and land acquisition," the document notes.

The commission had originally targeted coal production at 680 million tonnes during the ongoing 11th plan (2007-12), but scaled it down to 630 million tonnes during the mid-term appraisal in 2010. The target was further lowered to 554 million tonnes. Coal output expanded at 7% a year during 2004-05 to 2009-10, but stagnated in the previous fiscal. In the past five years, demand grew at an average 8% and is expected to continue at the same rate during the next plan.

Coal projects have struggled to get environment clearances since 2009, when the ministry's no-go classification disallowed mining in 203 coal blocks. According to a coal ministry's projection, the output from those 203 blocks, estimated at 660 million tonnes annually, could have been used to generate around 1.3 lakh megawatts of power a year.

"The environment ministry had adopted the policy of 'go, no-go'a¦ This would have severely impacted the ability to expand domestic production of coal," said a commission official. "The policy had to be reviewed and now some coal blocks have been cleared. This has to be continued to ensure coal availability.''

In January 2010, the environment ministry imposed a temporary ban on development works, including some coal mining projects in Jharkhand and Chattisgarh in industry clusters identified under CEPI norms. CEPI is an index of 88 industrial clusters across India, ranked according to their impact on environment and was developed to plan developmental projects in tandem with environmental protection.

The commission said the CEPI norms had prohibited mining in areas with high pollution index even if pollution was because of some other industry. "Coal being location specific, there is clearly a need for review of this (CEPI norms) approach," the paper notes. Currently the issue is under consideration of a group of ministers headed by

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The commission estimates a significant rise in reliance on imported coal as it would not be possible to meet the increased demand from domestic sources. Coal imports are expected to rise to over 200 million tonnes from the current 90 million tonnes by the end of the 12th plan.

The increase in reliance on imports not only portends a significant increase of 30% to 50% in costs for power plants, it also necessitates expensive technological upgradation as the units are not designed to take more than 10-15% of imported coal at present.

Read here the full presentation of Planning Commission on subject mater…

Planning Commission on Twelth Five year plan

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Discoms to pay higher penalty for over drawl…

Spark learnt from the market sources that  the Indian Government proposes to increase penalties on distribution utilities for overdrawing electricity from the grid, a move that is expected to raise demand and prices in the short-term open market and help merchant power plants run by private firms such as Adani Power, Lanco and Monnet Power.
This  move may also be useful in preventing the grid collapse due to over drawl and force the utilities to shed load.

Power prices in the short-term market are closely linked to penalties imposed by the regulator. Distribution utilities prefer purchasing from the open market if charges for overdrawing from grid are high.

Power sector regulator

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has proposed to levy penalties on distribution utilities if grid frequency falls below 49.5 Hz against the earlier limit of 49.2 Hz. Grid frequency falls when demand is greater than generation.

 
The penalties, called unscheduled interchange (UI) rates, are levied on state distribution utilities when they do not draw power as per agreed schedules. The power generators are also charged when they inject less or more power than their declared schedules.

 
"The commission is of the view that the utilities should plan for procurement of power on long-term, medium-term and short-term basis instead of resorting to overdrawal through unscheduled interchange," CERC said in its draft regulations.

A Maharashtra energy department official said the proposal was untimely as most distribution utilities are facing a severe cash crunch. An official in Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation said the utility was not in favour of the proposal that would force it to resort to load shedding as power would become costly.

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