MoP's draft replies on queries with respect to "implementation of Central Eletricity Act 2003 - a review"

 

The Ministry of Power has prepared draft reply to a list of queries with respect to the 'Implementation of the Central Electricity Act, 2003 -  A Review'.

The draft replies prepared ranged from queries relating to steps taken in furtherance of the objectives of the Central Electricity Act, 2003 to queries on challenges affecting the power sector.

As per the draft replies prepared for the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Ministry of Power states that the National Electricity Policy (2005), Tariff Policy (2006) and the Rural Electrification Policy (2006) have been implemented over the years in furtherance of the objectives of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The MoP also mentioned that the recently issued Standard Bidding Documents (SBDs) containing RFQ, RFP and model PPA for long term procurement of power from case-2 projects and Standard Bidding Document for long term procurement of power from Case-1 projects. This SBD comprising the Model RFQ, RFP and PPA is expected to bring in larger private sector investment in the power sector and make tariffs competitive.

The draft replies also highlighted the major challenges afflicting the power sector such as financial health of the distribution sector, lack of freedom of SLDCs which results in inefficient handling of grid related matters, issues related to Open Access, separation of Carriage & Content in the distribution sector, violation of grid discipline, etc.

The Ministry of Power`s draft replies on `Implementation of Central Electricity Act, 2003 - A review` also tends to queries regarding tariff regulation such as details of tariff determination mechanisms available for arriving at the tariff rates being levied on consumers.

The Ministry presented that the Electricity Act, 2003 provides for two alternatives methods for determination of tariff. While under Section 62 of the Act, tariff on the generating station and inter-state transmission system is determined on cost plus basis in accordance with the tariff regulations specified by the Central Commission, the other method is through a process of competitive bidding.

The MoP also clarifies its policies with reference to Regulatory Commission having no say in the bidding process for tariff determination. In this regard, the draft reply states that the Central Government has already issued detailed guidelines for tariff based bidding process.

And as per the guidelines, tariff determined after completion of the bidding process has to be adopted by the Commission and must ensure that a transparent process is followed during the bidding process. Moreover, under the guidelines, the Commission is empowered to adjudicate the disputes between the seller and procurers or between the transmission service providers and long term transmission customers with regards to tariff and other provisions of the PPA.

Source: Energy Line India

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NTPC's Farakka Super thermal power project starts imported coal movement...

 

NTPC rose 0.82% to Rs 154 at 9:35 IST on BSE after the company said that the company's Farakka Super Thermal Power Station in West Bengal had started the movement of imported coal by barges through inland waterway.

The announcement was made during trading hours today, 18 November 2013.

NTPC's Farakka Super Thermal Power Station in West Bengal had started the movement of imported coal by barges through inland waterway.

The first set of 3 barges carrying about 1,500 tonnes each of imported coal has berthed near Farakka station on 13 November 2013. NTPC said it will transport 3 MMTPA of coal through inland waterway to Farakka station for 7 years.

NTPC's net profit declined 20.7% to Rs 2492.90 crore on 0.9% growth in net sales to Rs 16272.27 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012.

NTPC, India's largest power company, has presence in the entire value chain of power generation business. The Government of India (GoI) holds 75% stake in NTPC (as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 September 2013).

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Research: harvest two times more energy from solar cells...

 

Researchers in Cambridge and Mons have investigated the process in which the initial electronic excitation can split into a pair of half-energy excitations.

Researchers are trying to improve efficiency is to split energy available from visible photons into two, which leads to a doubling of the current in the solar cell.

Researchers in Cambridge and Mons have investigated the process in which the initial electronic excitation can split into a pair of half-energy excitations.

This can happen in certain organic molecules when the quantum mechanical effect of electron spin sets the initial spin ‘singlet’ state to be double the energy of the alternative spin ‘triplet’ arrangement.

The study shows that this process of singlet fission to pairs of triplets depends very sensitively on the interactions between molecules.

By studying this process when the molecules are in solution it is possible to control when this process is switched on

When the material is very dilute, the distance between molecules is large and singlet fission does not occur. When the solution is concentrated, collisions between molecules become more frequent.

The researchers find that the fission process happens as soon as just two of these molecules are in contact, and remarkably, that singlet fission is then completely efficient—so that every photon produces two triplets.

The team used a combination of laser experiments - which measure timings with extreme accuracy - with chemical methods used to study reaction mechanisms.

This dual approach allowed the researchers to slow down fission and observe a key intermediate step never before seen.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

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Premier Solar ties up with US firm to invest $400 m in Andhra Pradesh...

 

Premier Solar has tied up with Chicago-based renewable energy company New Generation Power to set up solar farms in Andhra Pradesh.

The consortium, which plans to invest $400 million (Rs 2,500 crore) in the next couple of years, has already secured contracts to set up 70-MW capacity and will bid for another 245 MW under the Andhra Pradesh Solar Policy, which aims to build 1,000 MW in renewable capacity.

In the first phase, the consortium will install 70-MW solar farms in 14 locations in the State. "Funds have been tied up and the execution should be completed over the next 12 months," said Karthik Polsani, Premier CEO. The Hyderabad-based company is negotiating with US investors to get low-cost funding, he added.

The consortium has signed a power purchase agreement with the AP Government for 20 years. Mumbai-based WAAREE Group and Premier Solar will be the joint EPC contractors for the first phase.

New Generation , promoted by India-born Chirinjeev Kathuria, will hold a 74 per cent stake, while Premier will have the balance in the joint venture. There will a few more partners as the project implementation progresses, Polsani told Business Line.

New Generation is a diversified global developer, investor, owner and operator of energy infrastructure assets with focus on renewable energy. It is currently developing grid scale projects in Africa, Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

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Coal India hikes transportation fees...

 

State-run monopoly miner Coal India has increased the amount it charges its clients for transporting coal from the minefields to the loading points, a move that is likely to result in a hike of about 2 paise per unit in the price of power sold to households.

"We have been forced to hike the charges because diesel prices have increased substantially since the time we last adjusted this price in 2009," said Coal India's marketing director B Saxena, adding, "There has also been a rise in salaries and wages of employees and contract employees involved in transporting this coal."

As per the revised rates implemented from November 14, Coal India is charging Rs 57 per tonne instead of Rs 44 per tonne for 3-10 km. This spells an increase of 29.5% while the company has increased the surface transport charges for 10-20 km by nearly 51%, to Rs 116 per tonne from Rs 77 per tonne.

Almost all power producers will now have to pay more to Coal India because the distance between mines and loading points is usually 3-20 km. Loading points include coal stockyards and railway sidings from where Coal India's clients lift the fuel.

The revised rates imply that power producers will have to pay an additional Rs 55,000 for buying a rake of coal from Coal India in case the coal is transported between 3 km and 10 km. For loading points located between 10 km and 20 km, the additional outgo will be Rs 1.7 lakh per rake.

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UP Government inaugurates 110 MW unit at kanti; assures a 500MW power plant soon...

 

Heralding a new era in the field of power generation in the state, CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday dedicated the 110MW first unit of Kanti Bijli Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL) to the people of the state. He announced on the occasion that one more power plant of 500MW would come up at Kanti, on the outskirts of the town, soon.

Hitherto, the state's own power generation was nil. The 110MW first unit, which had remained closed since 2003, was given to BHEL for renovation in April 2008, which completed the task at a cost of Rs 471 crore. NTPC is operating this unit under the aegis of a joint venture with the state government. The unit, which never generated more than 60 to 80MW between 1985 and 2003, on Sunday generated 111MW.

The power plant's second unit, again of 110MW, which is also under renovation, would be operational by March next. This was stated by the CM following a categorical assurance by BHEL engineers on the stage.

Addressing a well-attended meeting on the occasion, the CM said two more units of 195MW each are expected to go into production by September and December next year, bringing the total capacity of Kanti plant to 610MW by next year. "Availability of power is the basic problem of Bihar as it is needed for agricultural and industrial growth as well as for better civic life. I have taken energy augmentation as a challenge. I am committed to make Bihar self-sufficient in power generation by 2015," the CM announced.

He said on the day of Chhath, the state got 2,300MW power through different sources. The availability will go up to 3,000MW next year and with the setting up of one more power plant, the state's generation capacity would increase further. He called upon NTPC CMD, Arup Roychaudhary, also present on the occasion, to set up new units in Bihar and assured Bihar's full cooperation to NTPC.

The CM requested the power consumers to pay their power bills on time, otherwise the government might have to curtail its essential expenditure on education, health etc. He told the audience that out of Rs 12,000 crore received from the Centre as special assistance, the government had spent Rs 9,200 crore on power projects alone.

JD(U) MLA from Kanti, Ajit Kumar thanked the CM for keeping his promise of power generation augmentation at Kanti. Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav was also present on the occasion.

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Coal India may hike prices by fiscal-end...

 

Coal India Ltd, the monopoly miner of the resource, may go for a price hike by end of the current fiscal following a fall in its earnings due to drop in the average quality of coal mined.

A better understanding of the actual need to raise prices would happen by the end of third quarter as by then old stocks would be fully cleared and supplies would consist only of freshly mined coal, chairman Narsing Rao has told analysts.

“We would like to observe for some more time what kind of grade decline would be happening with fresh coal (coming in). Some possibility (of price hike) is there, but when and how much we don’t want to speculate,” Rao said when an analyst asked would Coal India raise prices in order to safeguard its earnings.

State-owned Coal India’s profits saw marginal drop for the July-September quarter to Rs 3,052 crore against Rs 3,078 crore year ago even as sales were up 6% to Rs 15,411.5 crore from Rs 14,572.5 crore.

Profitability also suffered because of lower realisation from e-auction as power producers, burdened with excess stocks, stayed away.

“Our deliveries to the IPPs (independent power producers) have been better over the last year.
Stocks at the power stations have been at 22 million tonne (mt) consistently for the last 7-8 months. So purchase of IPPs buying coal from e-auction has come down,” Rao said. Apart from falling realisation, Coal India is also staring at the prospect of missing its production target for 2013-14 set at 492 mt.

“We had a jolt in October losing about 5-6 mt of production. But we are not revising our targets (of producing 492 mt in fiscal 2014). I won’t say we are very confident but we are (reasonably) confident of facing this challenge and go as close as possible to 492 mt,” Rao said. 

Also, it has outstanding dues with NTPC, its key customer, some of which may turn bad debt.

“Our receivables from NTPC now are about Rs 3,400 crore. At the beginning of October, receivables from NTPC were Rs 4,700 crore, and since then a portion of it was liquidated including some adhoc payments. I don’t want to comment on the likely write-downs that may or may not happen but we are taking this up seriously with NTPC. Our intention is to get back as much money as possible,” he said.

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MSEDCL blames MERC, activists for high electricity tariff...

 

Under attack from all quarters over high power tariff in the state, MSEDCL officials have blamed consumer activists and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the recent steep tariff hike. Senior officials also ask that why these activists don't evaluate the performance of private companies like Tata Power and Reliance.

"MSEDCL had to recover some dues from consumers from 2009-10 onwards. However, MERC did not allow us to do so until this September. Naturally, when an accumulated account is to be recovered in six months, the surcharge will be higher," a senior official said.

The official further said that MSEDCL had done a lot of capital expenditure in the last two years to improve the power infrastructure. "We have to recover this cost from consumers. Under pressure from consumer activists, MERC did not allow us to recover it on time. Now it has told us to recover expenses of two years in six months," he told TOI.

Another official launched a direct attack on the consumer activists. "The rates approved by MERC for wind energy are the highest in the country. MERC is promoting wind energy suo motu. Why have these activists never raised this issue? MSEDCL had repeatedly told the Commission that this costly power would only burden common consumers," he said.

The official further said that MERC's consumer representatives never targeted Reliance for its high industrial power tariff. "Reliance does not have agricultural consumers. Still its tariff is Rs 9.12 per unit while that of MSEDCL is Rs 8.22 per unit and that too for six months. They were also silent during the Tata Power asset valuation controversy. Why do they target only government companies," he asked.

MSEDCL has also contended that while comparing its power tariff with that of Gujarat, the consumer activists forget that subsidy to powerlooms in Gujarat is very low. "The consumer activists want low cross subsidy for industries, low tariff for farmers and powerlooms and other consumers. We don't have a magic wand. If industrial tariff reduces, that of others will increase. Open access will hit poor and middle class consumers. This is the harsh reality and consumer activists must accept it," he stressed.

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Mundra UMPP shut down until Nov 24 due to major fire...

 

Tata Power's arm Coastal Gujarat Power Limited run 4,000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project (UMPP 800x 5) has been shut down since November 14 due after a major fire broke at the site.

The company has already communicated to the western region load dispatch centre (WRLDC) and power drawing states Gujarat, Maharashtra, Harayana, Rajasthan and Punjab that the generation will be restored from November 24 as the repair and restoration work was underway.

The plant will be light up from November 24 while the actual power supply is expected to begin from early morning of November 25.
 
The company is expected to incur a generation loss of 912 million worth Rs 206 crore due to the closure of the plant.  The financial loss is estimated at the levelised tariff of Rs 2.26 per unit. This is the first fire broke at the site after Mundra UMPP was fully operational with five generating units on July 30, 2012.
 
WRLDC officer, who did not want to be identified, told  ''As per our record and the company's communication, the fire broke at 4.30 am on November 14 when the Mundra plant was generating 3,040 MW from four units. Unit no 2 was under shut down for the inspection of generator and transformer. In stages, the plant was ultimately stopped the total generation from 3 pm on the same day. The company has cited fire and the subsequent damage to the conveyor belt as leading cause for the stoppage of generation and the closure of plant.'' 
 
The company spokesman said "Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL) would like to inform that generation from the UMPP has been temporarily shut down due to a technical incident. At this stage immense importance is placed on measures to deal with this incident and the conveyor repair work is in progress. All efforts are being made to expedite the matter. The generation is expected to start from November 24 onwards progressively. Full restoration of the station is likely by December 3. CGPL would like to reiterate its commitment towards safety in and around the UMPP while ensuring reliable power to all its buyers".
 
According to the official, of the 912 million units, Gujarat, which has 47.5% share in the drawal of power from Mundra UMPP, will have generation loss 433 million units followed by Maharashtra (20% share) 180 million units, Punjab (15% share) 114 million units, Harayana (10% share) 91 million units and Rajasthan (10% share). This apart, the loss of coal due to burning and damage to various equipment and also due to repair and restoration expenses will further increase.

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Waaree Energies plans 6-fold rise in sales; to invest Rs 450 crore...

 

Solar energy solutions provider Waaree Energies, which will be investing Rs 450 crore to up its module capacity, is eyeing over six-fold increase in its revenues to over Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years as the demand for solar projects leapfrogs.

The proposed Rs 450 crore investment over the next six months will double the company's solar module capacity to 500 mw, a top company official said.

The city-based Waaree group manufactures solar PV modules apart from providing turn-key EPC solutions. Waaree Energies, set up in 2007, had clocked Rs 310 crore revenue in FY13.

"There is a huge growth potential in the solar sector. The national solar mission will provide us huge opportunity as we are one of the larger EPC players," Waaree group chairman and managing director Hitesh Doshi told PTI.

"Considering the large potential, we expect to grow more than six times to almost Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years. We have so far executed over 100 mw of solar EPC contracts and have an order book of around Rs 3,000 crore, which gives us a clear visibility for the coming years," he said.

The company has a 250 mw modules manufacturing facility in Surat and plans to expand it to 500 mw soon. Waaree also exports these modules to the US, Middle East, Australia, Europe and Asia.

"We will be investing around Rs 450 crore over the next six months to increase our capacity to 500 mw. This expansion will be funded through internal accruals," Doshi said.

The company also offers a wide range of products and services such as solar rooftop solutions, solar street and home lighting solutions, solar water pumps and water heating solutions and solar portable kits.

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