Bhutan seeks to be India's hydel plant...

 

Giant cranes scoop out mud from deep inside the mountains. Frenetic construction activity is on as a state-run company in this tiny landlocked Himalayan country races to complete one of the crucial hydropower plants.

Workers at the site of the Dagachu hydropower plant are busy giving final touches to the project which is expected to go on stream by the middle of 2014.

The 126 megawatt plant is the first under the public-private-partnership model and has already connected 9,000 rural households in Bhutan. The plant, located in the remote Dagachu river, has been built under the PPP model and is the first foreign direct investment for the Himalayan country.

This is also the world's first cross-border clean development mechanism (CDM) project. The CDM allows emission reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction credits and these can be traded and sold to meet part of the emission reduction targets under the Kyoto protocol.

The state-run Druk Green Power Corporation holds 59%, the Pension and Provident Fund of Bhutan 15% and the Tata Power Company 26% in the project. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the lead financier and has provided $80 million for the project along with funding from an Austrian commercial bank.

Bhutan is banking on hydropower exports to India to revive the fortunes of its faltering economy. Several large projects are underway and companies such as Jaypee, Larsen & Toubro and Gammon India are taking part in the massive construction underway.

"At this stage of development, we are highly dependent on exploiting the water resources of Bhutan," said Sonam Tshering, Bhutan's secretary of economic affairs.

The urgency for building hydropower plants in the picture-postcard country is palpable.

Bhutan is grappling with a large current account deficit estimated at 20% of its gross domestic product. The sale of electricity from these projects to a ready-and-captive market in India will help it earn precious foreign exchange to sustain its economy. New Delhi has lent a helping hand and, in turn, will receive steady supplies to meet its growing energy needs.

"The best part of the hydel power development in Bhutan is that hydro power projects are all funded by the Government of India through a very generous combination of grants and loans," said Nam Dorji, Bhutan's finance secretary.

In 2010, electricity exports from Bhutan to India amounted to 5.579 kilowatt hour, helping the country earn about $223 million, according to ADB data.

India and Bhutan signed a pact in 2008 to develop hydropower projects in the country and about 10,000 megawatt power would be exported to India by 2020.

The development of such projects augurs well for the region. "Regional trade in energy can help send energy from places that have excess, such as Bhutan, to countries in need of energy like India, optimizing the region's energy resources," ADB said.

"The recently established India-Bangladesh transmission line could ultimately allow energy to go from Bhutan to Bangladesh," the multi lateral agency said.

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Debt trips discoms in Rajasthan...

 

Around two decades back, reforms in the power sector were initiated in the country at the instance of World Bank. But in Rajasthan, the reforms have failed to realise their objectives and it is high time to find a sustainable alternative.

That the reforms have failed was further evidenced by the central government's decision to restructure the debt which Rajasthan's power companies are facing. With their total debt burden of around Rs.70,000 crore, they top the list of debt-ridden companies in the country.

However, their debt burden is not reflected in the borrowings of the government as shown in the state budget.

So, the total debt burden of Rs.1,30,000 crore - as shown in the state budget - does not reflect the real fiscal deficit. One wonders why the debt burden of these power companies should not be reflected in the budgetary figures, especially because state stands as guarantor in the rescheduling of debt repayment to the Indian commercial banks.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/debt-power-distribution-companies-rajasthan-vasundhara-raje-ashok-gehlot/1/334614.html

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Toshiba to close acquisition of T&D Business from Vijai Electricals Ltd....

 

Toshiba Corporation has completed the acquisition of Vijai Electricals Ltd.'s power transmission and distribution businesses.

The acquired assets include power transformer, distribution transformers and switchgear businesses.

A new Toshiba subsidiary, Toshiba Transmission and Distribution Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. ("TTDI"), will run the acquired businesses and provide them with Toshiba's latest design, development and production capabilities in order to supply a wide range of T and D products globally as well as in India.

TTDI will also deploy businesses in other areas, such as EHV and high voltage direct current power transmission, static var compensators for high voltage networks and railway power supply system, in India.

The acquisition allows Toshiba to make a full-scale entry into India's T and D market, where the company aims to capture 20% share in five years.

By 2015, Toshiba targets building a 700-billion yen global T and D and smart-grid business that will utilize TTDI and established T and D manufacturing facilities in Japan, Brazil, China, Russia, Malaysia and Vietnam, along with the global sales channels of Toshiba subsidiary and Landis + Gyr AG.

Source: Business Standard

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50-MW Gas based power plant to come up by ONGC in Cachar of Assam...

 

A gas-based power plant with a capacity of 50 MW is being set up at Sidubi locality in Assam's Cachar district.

An official of the Central Assam Power Distribution Company said the company has come to an understanding with the Oil and natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) for supply of the gas necessary for the project. He said the ONGC will supply gas for its Sonabarighat well near Silchar.

He said work has been started for the project, which is to come up on an area of 10 acres of government land. Work on the project will be completed within the next three years, the official said.

He said once the project is completed, the gap between demand and supply of power in Barak Valley will be substantially reduced. While the valley needs 100 MW of power daily, it gets less than half of this amount, causing a lot of inconvenience to people.

At present, Barak Valley has practically no source of power of its own. Private real estate company DLF had earlier started two power projects with the help of gas supplied by the ONGC from its nearest fields. But, after a few years, gas supply was stopped at both the projects, causing the power plants to shut down.

In 2009, BHEL, the Power Finance Corporation and the state government had signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up of a 250-MW thermal power plant at Digarkhal in Cachar district on an investment of Rs 1000 crore. But, the project is yet to see the light of the day as work is yet to start.

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Cloud powered rooftop solar PV power estimation tool from TERI...

 

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has announced that it is presently developing cloud computing based open-source Web-GIS Tool for estimating Rooftop Solar PV power generation potential particularly for Chandigarh area.

There is significant scope for installing solar rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems in many Indian cities. This tool is getting designed to help people to investigate their locations of interest and perform pre-processed analysis.

Tool provides visual reference – a map of the entire city showing the buildings those have solar PV installation potential. This tool was demonstrated during the workshop entitled “Promoting Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Systems in India” organized by TERI.

Mr. Amit Kumar, Director, Energy Environment Technology Development said “TERI started working on development of this tool realizing the felt need for the same, especially given the ambitious programmes on solar rooftop systems under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission as well as under States’ policies. While similar tools were available in countries like Germany and USA, nothing of sort was available in India. Going further, TERI aimed at a tool that can be used by anyone rather than only those having access to proprietary software”

.This tool designed to estimate the rooftop solar power potential of selected area or, buildings for a particular location w.r.t. various SPV technologies such as, crystalline, thin-film etc.

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India expected to sign an initial deal to export around 500 MW per day of power to Pakistan this month...

 

India is expected to sign an initial deal to export around 500 mega watts (MW) per day of power to Pakistan this month when the trade ministers of the two south Asian neighbours meet.

Sources said the initial wheeling of power would be around 500MW but could be increased.

There are indications that Pakistan will increase the import to 2,000-2,500MW to meet the power shortage impacting its economy.

The wheeling of power between the two nations is expected to energise trade ties, resulting in Islamabad lowering the number of items on the negative list — a step towards granting most favoured nation status (MFN) to India.

The grant of MFN status means the two countries can trade on equal terms, giving each other low tariffs and high import quotas. India granted Pakistan the MFN status in 1996.

India’s Central Electricity Authority and Power Grid Corporation of India will be the nodal technical agencies. Pakistan will have the National Transmission and Despatch Company and Chief Engineering Advisor as its nodal agencies.

Officials said there was a broad agreement that cross border trading would be done through HVDC (high voltage direct current) coupling, as is being done with Bangladesh, ensuring that both the grids operate independently.

As Lahore is near Punjab, it will be economical to transfer power through Amritsar, officials said.

The project will require 45 kilometres of 220 kV transmission lines on both sides of the border — 25 kilometres in India and 20 kilometres in the neighbouring country.

The tariff is likely to be around Rs 8 per unit, which is almost similar to the rates in Pakistan, sources said.

Pakistan faces a 37 per cent, or 5,000MW, energy shortage and is desperately looking for ways to bridge the huge shortfall. Power shortages, along with endemic violence, have resulted in its textile mills moving to Bangladesh.

At present, Islamabad imports 35MW from Iran, which it plans to increase to 100MW. It is also considering importing another 1,000MW from Tajikistan.

Power production in Pakistan is only about 10,000-16,000MW against an installed capacity of 20,800MW. The sector is plagued by old plants, poor maintenance and high debt.

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Banks, cash-rich PSUs keen to buy Government stake in BHEL...

 

Public sector banks and cash-rich Government-owned companies are keen to pick up a stake in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). This will help the Government in its disinvestment programme.

The Finance Ministry has written to the Heavy Industries Ministry seeking its views on selling BHEL’s shares to other Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The Government aims to sell 5 per cent of the shares of the power generation equipment maker.

“After the Finance Ministry’s letter last week, BHEL has been asked to consult with market intermediaries. Accordingly, we will revert to the Finance Ministry about the plan for selling stakes to different entities,” a senior Heavy Industries Ministry official told Business Line.

The ‘Maharatna’ tag has prompted many banks and cash-rich companies to show interest in BHEL. Selling shares to institutions will help in two ways. First, the Government will get the money it is aiming for, and second, BHEL’s already-subdued shares will not be affected.

Cabinet approval

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved 5 per cent disinvestment in BHEL. This was to be done through an auction or offer for sale through bourses. However, the Heavy Industries Ministry vetoed the proposal saying the current market situation is not favourable and offloading would depress the share price further.

Following this, in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on December 3, BHEL was asked to provide options.

The options before BHEL were: pay a special dividend, buy back shares, or sell part of the Government’s stake to other companies. The official said that the first two options have been ruled out and work is in progress on the third option.

Cash mobilisation

The Government aims to mop up Rs 40,000 crore through divestments in various CPSEs and Rs 14,000 crore by selling residual stakes in various non-PSUs, such as Hindustan Zinc, Balco and Axis Bank. Thus far, it has managed to mobilise less than Rs 3,000 crore through disinvestment, while the residual stake sale plan is yet to be formalised.

BHEL’s shares closed at Rs 166.10 on Friday. At this price, the Government can get over Rs 1,300 crore. It may be noted that when the CCEA had decided on offloading the shares on August 30, 2011, the face value of the share was Rs 10 and its closing price on the BSE on that day was Rs 1,767. Later, each share was split into five shares of face value Rs 2. At this face value, the share price in October 2011 was Rs 318. Since then, it has dropped.

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With national grid, South to have access to 1,500MW additional power...

 

Providing succour for the power starved South, the region is expected to have access to additional electricity flow of about 1,500 MW once the all India national power grid becomes fully operational.

In a major step, the Southern power grid was synchronised with the rest of the national grid on December 31, 2013, and it is expected to be fully operational in a few months.

A government official said that once the new grid is fully operational, it would be able to carry an additional of about 1,500 MW electricity to Southern region.

In the absence of grid connectivity, Southern region was unable to utilise excess power available in other regions.

South witnessed peak power deficit of 6.8 per cent in November last year, the highest among the regions, according to latest official data.

Peak power deficit refers to shortage of electricity when demand is at the maximum.

During November last, while Southern region's electricity demand touched 34,118 MW, the availability was only around 31,786 MW.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Lakshwadeep make up the Southern region, as per power sector's planning body Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

The country's power system is operating through five regional grids. Till December 31, the Northern, Eastern, Western and North-eastern regions' grids were connected synchronously while Southern grid was connected through HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) links.

"Synchronous integration of Southern grid with rest of the national power grid shall not only augment the inter- regional power transfer capacity of Southern region but also relieve the congestion being experienced in few transmission corridors," the Power Ministry had said on January 1.

"This will be a great boost for further economic growth of the country. It is likely to take a few months before power flow over this line is stabilised," it had said.

Out of the country's total installed generation capacity of 2,32,164 MW, Southern region accounted for 57,529 MW at the end of November 2013.

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Adani Power fully commissions 1,320-MW Kawai project in Rajasthan...

 

Adani Power has fully commissioned the 1,320 MW coal-fired power project in Rajasthan taking its overall electricity generation capacity to 7,920 MW.

Adani Power, part of diversified Adani Group, aims to increase its total generation capacity to 9,240 MW by end of this fiscal.

The Kawai project has two super critical units, each having a generation capacity of 660 MW. While the first unit is operational since last year, the second one was commissioned this month.

"Adani is committed towards nation building and reducing the gap between demand and supply of electricity in India. We are confident of achieving our target of 9,240 MW by March 2014," Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani told PTI.

According to the company, Kawai project is the largest private power plant in Rajasthan and its work was completed in three years.

"Power produced from this project will be supplied to the state of Rajasthan under the existing long term PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements)," Gautam Adani said.

Adani Power, the country's largest private thermal electricity producer, plans to add another 1,320 MW generation capacity in the current financial year ending March 2014. Its current capacity is 7,920 MW.

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CERC hearing on draft power tariff rules for 2014-19 on Jan 15...

 

Electricity regulator CERC will hold a public hearing on the draft tariff regulations it has prepared for central government-owned power generation utilities on January 15.

The draft regulations, released by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission last month, had stated that generation incentives should be linked to actual power produced instead of a plant's installed capacity.

It proposed that incentives for thermal power projects should be based on plant load factor (PLF) and not plant availability factor (PAF).

PAF, the declared generation capacity of a plant, remains the same. PLF is the actual generation and may vary depending on demand.

State-run power producers had said that under normal circumstances, PAF is generally higher than PLF and therefore incentives should not be linked to PLF.

State-owned NTPC, the country's largest generator of electricity, is likely to respond to the draft regulations.

"Public hearing on draft CERC (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations, 2014 for the tariff period from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019 will be on January 15," according to information on the regulator's website.

The CERC revises tariff regulations every five years. The existing regulations expire on March 31, 2014.

Source: Business Standard

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