Researchers finally harness solar energy during day for use at night…

 

A team of researchers has built a system that can be used to harness sun’s energy during day- when its rays are strongest- for use at night.

The researchers led by Tom Meyer at the Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have built a system that converts the sun’s energy not into electricity but hydrogen fuel and stores it for later use, allowing us to power our devices long after the sun goes down.

Meyer said that the system offers a solution to how to store energy for nighttime use by taking a cue from natural photosynthesis.

“Our new findings may provide a last major piece of a puzzle for a new way to store the sun’s energy – it could be a tipping point for a solar energy future,” the researcher said.

In one hour, the sun puts out enough energy to power every vehicle, factory and device on the planet for an entire year. Solar panels can harness that energy to generate electricity during the day.

The new system, known as a dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cell, or DSPEC, generates hydrogen fuel by using the sun’s energy to split water into its component parts. After the split, hydrogen is sequestered and stored, while the byproduct, oxygen, is released into the air.

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MMTC, Adani in fray for NTPC coal tender…

 

State-owned MMTC Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd and Knowledge Infrastructure Systems Pvt. Ltd (KISPL) are among the firms in the fray for supplying 7 million tonnes (mt) of imported coal estimated to be valued at around Rs. 4,500 crore to NTPC Ltd.

The tender for the largest such package in the current fiscal year was called by NTPC, India’s largest coal consumer, which has a coal requirement of 166.7 mt in the year to March.

Of this, 150 mt is to be supplied by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd; the balance 16.7 mt is to be sourced from overseas. NTPC has already ordered for 9.7 mt with the price bids opened for the balance 7 mt this month.

“This 7 mt is being sourced through four separate tenders for which the price bids have been opened. They are under evaluation,” said a senior NTPC executive requesting anonymity.

Another NTPC executive confirmed that MMTC, Adani Enterprises and KISPL were in the fray for supplying fuel to India’s largest power generation utility.

The utility has the capacity to generate 42,454 megawatts (MW) of electricity with 17 coal-fuelled projects. The demand for coal will increase with the utility setting a target of becoming a 128,000 MW power producer by 2032. Of this, 56% or 71,680MW will be coal-based.

“Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for imported coal procurement was notified in newspapers and is currently under evaluation therefore the information sought can not be shared at this stage,” an NTPC spokesperson said in reply to emailed queries.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of MMTC and Adani Enterprises on Wednesday remained unanswered as of press time on Monday.

“We are one of the participants in the recent NTPC tender for imported coal,” a KISPL spokesperson said in an emailed response. “We are awaiting formal announcement and award of contract by NTPC.”

Analysts said NTPC must improve procurement efficiency.

“The negotiated route with coal miners in select geographies such as Indonesia, South Africa and Australia may have greater procurement efficiency given that the volumes are large and the miners may favour long-term contracts in view of uncertainties ahead, but these need to be weighed against the established procedures and objectives of transparency,” said Dipesh Dipu, a partner at Jenissi Management Consultants, a Hyderabad-based resources-focused consultancy.

“In future, adopting a globally accepted standard contract of coal trade may also enhance procurement efficiency,” said Dipu.

NTPC, India’s largest power generation utility, has been allocated six captive coal blocks by the government and aims to mine 15 million tonnes per annum in three years. However, it has not been able to make them operational yet.

“India has a strong structural demand for coal, given the country’s reliance on thermal power. We expect the country’s thermal coal-based power capacity to increase from an estimated 123GW at the end of FY13 to ~150GW by FY16,” UBS Global Equity Research wrote in a 18 December report.

“Thereby, we expect the total coal demand to increase from~720 mt in FY13 to 920 mt in FY16. However, we expect the domestic coal supply to only cater to 76% of the FY16 coal demand, with rest of the requirement being filled up by imports,” it said.

NTPC’s orders comes at a time when demand for the fuel in the country is expected to grow from 649 mt per year now to 730 mt in 2016-17, and its failure in securing coal assets overseas.

Of India’s current capacity of 227,356.73MW, 58.6%, or 133,188.39MW, is fuelled by coal.
NTPC has an 18.29% share of India’s installed power generation capacity.

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10MW power plant in collaboration with Nabard and JREDA to light up 200 Hazaribag houses…

 

The 10MW mini-power plant, set up in collaboration with Nabard and Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Authority (JREDA) at Bengwari village under the Keredari block of Hazaribag district, was launched on Monday.

The chief general manager of NABARD, K C Panda, inaugurating the plant, said: "Nabard provided Rs 6 lakh and JREDA Rs 1 lakh, apart from technical assistance for setting up the plant. With this, more than 200 houses in the village will be electrified."

Residents of the remote village expressed their gratitude to NABARD and JEDA, an NGO for providing power, denied to them since Independence.

The plant will generate power with the help of coal and wood, which are available in plenty in Keredari. It may be mentioned here that the coal blocks in Keredari and Chatti Bariatu in Keredari block have been allotted to NTPC for the production of coal to generate power. But the company is yet to start its work due to a long-standing dispute with the villagers over land acquisition as well as payment of compensation.

Panda said: "Nabard is willing to provide financial assistance for setting up of more such mini-power plants if villagers come forward to be trained in running such plants." A team of villagers led by M K Mahto of Bengawari were sent to Rajasthan to obtain technical knowhow on running and operating the mini-power plant. The technical expert of JREDA, P P Verma said: "Now the villagers will have to ensure that the plant is run by trained villagers." He, however, added that whenever the villagers require any technical assistance, JREDA will provide it to them.

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Power deficit falls as slowdown trips companies' usage…

 

India's peak power deficit hit a record low of 4% for the quarter to December 2013 from 9% a year ago, according to an estimate by experts. They attribute the decline partly to the increase in generation capacity, but mainly to the worrying fall in industrial demand amid the economic slowdown.

The trend is likely to continue as manufacturers in auto, metals, and cement sectors may continue to run at low capacity due to poor demand, resulting in lower demand for power, experts said.

"Growth in energy consumption in the eight months to November 2013 has been less than 1%, as against an estimation of 7-8% for the 12th Plan period. This is unprecedented and reflects the severe slowdown in economic activities," said Debashish Mishra, senior director-consulting at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India.

Power deficit falls as slowdown trips companies' usage India's peak power deficit or the shortage of electricity supply when demand is maximum during the day, was as high as 13-14% during the 10th Plan period (2002-2007).

The figure came down to 10% as new power units started generation and stayed around this level over the past few years. But it has been consistently declining since May 2013, plunging to its lowest level of 2.9% in November.

Although, government officials attribute this to capacity addition and delayed winter, industry experts warn that the decline is mainly on account of slowdown in industrial demand.

This is corroborated by the data on industrial production, which contracted 2.1% in November compared with the year-ago period. The manufacturing sector reported a year-on-year decline of 3.5%, its worst since March 2012, triggering worries that the worst might not be over yet.

"The November data indicates the depth of the current macro slowdown. We expect that the production data will continue to be weak for another three months since we do not see any recovery in manufacturing," said Tirthankar Patnaik, director and India strategist and economist at Religare Capital Markets.

According to data from the Central Electricity Authority, India added 6,963 MW of power generation capacity during April-November 2013. The authority is yet to release the data for December but expert estimates indicate that demand for power may have declined in the quarter ended in December.

Brokerage Sharekhan estimates that India's power requirement during the quarter declined to 4% year-on-year to 239.4 billion units, while power availability is expected to have grown by 2% to 230 billion units.

"During this quarter, we also observed that the power demand has fallen sharply compared to the growth in power availability," Sharekhan said in a report. Experts also believe that demand for short-term power from power distribution companies would remain low as the loss-making units resort to load-shedding over buying expensive power.

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Wind turbine maker Gamesa bucks the trend, projects sales of 600 MW…

 

The Indian wind industry is headed for a tepid close to the year 2013-14. Capacity additions in the year may not exceed 1,700 MW — the same as last year. Nor is there much hope for 2014-15, as the wind season begins in early summer and with the elections round the corner, not much action is expected to take place.

As is typical in India, everybody speaks of the ‘long term future’ of the wind industry in the country, what with the recently-launched National Mission on Wind.

Spanish wind turbine major Gamesa seems to have done well in this dull environment, going by the figures provided by the company.

Till December 2013, Gamesa had sold wind turbines worth 145 MW, but since 455 MW are under ‘advance stages of implementation’ — activity typically picks up in the last quarter of the year — the company expects to close the year with 600 MW of sales compared with 115 MW in 2012-13.

Gamesa India’s Chairman and Managing Director Ramesh Kymal told Business Line that the company expects sales of 800 MW in 2014-15, given that it has under its control sufficient land to install 4,000 MW more.

“We do not own all the land, but we have agreements in place that give us rights to put up projects,” Kymal said, adding that the lands are in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The company has also stepped up indigenisation to 85 per cent of its 2 MW turbine launched two years ago. All components, except control panels and brake systems, are bought locally.

This localisation, Kymal said, does not give Gamesa an immediate cost advantage, but would serve the company well in the long run.

Gamesa’s production has just moved from a manufacturing unit north of Chennai to a recently-built factory south of the city in the village of Mamandur. There is scope to develop a vendor park near the new location. Gamesa, one of the top five wind turbine manufacturers in the world, has invested Rs 1,500 crore in India in the last four years it has been here.

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Two Pennar Industries' subsidiaries bag projects along with 50 MW Solar PV Projects from NTPC…

 

Pennar Enviro Ltd and Pennar Engineered Building Systems, subsidiaries of Pennar Industries, have bagged new projects worth Rs 70 crore from various companies including construction of a 50-MW solar power plant for National Thermal Power Corporation.

The company has bagged an order for setting up a 50-MW solar power plant for NTPC in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, Pennar Enviro said in a BSE filing.

Similarly the company has bagged an order from JSW Dolvi and also received another order for commissioning of a demineralisation plant of 5.5MLD capactiy in Mangalore.

An order from Texspin Bearings for construction of a factory in Ahmedabad and another order from Frontier Sales, Guwahati and for construction of plant in Odisha for Saraf Agencies was also received, it said.

"We are confident that these subsidiaries will continue to increase orders in next few quarters..", Pennar Industries Chairman, Nrupendar Rao said.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 23.35 apiece, up by 5.92 per cent over previous close in afternoon BSE.

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Reliance Power commissions boiler at Sasan plant…

 

Reliance Power  has announced that the equipment for the third 660 MW unit at the 3,960 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh has started functioning.

"The boiler, for its third 660 MW unit at the 3,960 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, has been commissioned," the company said in a statement. The first 660 MW unit of the Sasan UMPP had been commissioned in March 2013 while the second unit was synchronised to the grid in December 2013.

Meanwhile, coal production has already commenced from the 20 million tonnes per annum capacity Moher and Moher-Amlohri coal mines, allotted for the Sasan plant. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 67.50, up 1.43 per cent on the BSE. Reliance Power stock price On January 13, 2014, Reliance Power closed at Rs 67.35, up Rs 0.80, or 1.20 percent.

The 52-week high of the share was Rs 98.50 and the 52-week low was Rs 58.55. The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 1.75 per share as per the quarter ended September 2013. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 38.49. The latest book value of the company is Rs 59.98 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.12.

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Odisha to extend MoUs of 10 IPPs by month-end…

 

The Odisha government has decided to extend the lapsed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 10 independent power producers (IPPs).

"Based on the progress made on their projects, we have decided to sign fresh MoUs with 10 IPPs. The new pacts will be signed by the end of this month”, said a senior government official.

The IPPs whose MoUs are to be extended are GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, Lanco Babandh Power, Monnet Energy, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL), Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd, CESC Ltd, Visakha Power, Mahanadi Aban Power Ltd, BGR Energy Systems and Maa Durga Power Company Ltd.

The IPPs have to retain at least 51% stake in their power projects for a minimum of three years from the date of commissioning of their plants, as per the new MoU framed by the state government.

Also, any stake sale beyond this lock-in period will need prior permission of the state government

According to the terms set in the new draft MoUs, the IPPs have to comply with the mandatory clause to promote employment among locals.

The clause stipulates that industries setting up their projects in the state have to reserve 90% jobs for locals in the unskilled and semi-skilled category, up to 60% in skilled category and 30% for the supervisory and managerial cadre while giving them the option to fill up the post of senior executives from the open market.

The IPPs also have to take steps to develop ancillary and downstream units around the mother plant.

It may be noted that the lapsed MoUs were impeding the progress of power projects since the banks and financial institutions were reluctant to provide funds to the developers.

So far, two IPPs- Sterlite Energy and GMR Kamalanga Energy have commissioned their units. While Sterlite Energy has fully operationalized its 2400 Mw coal-based plant at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda, GMR has put on stream two 350 Mw units of its plant at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district.

The rest eight IPPs were in advanced stage of commissioning their projects.

The state government had entered into MoUs with 29 developers for establishment of coal-based projects. Together, these projects have a generation capacity of over 37,000 Mw with the state share about 6000 Mw.

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GVK Power: Hopes of debt reduction priced in…

 

GVK Power & Infrastructure has gained investors’ interest recently following news of the company’s plans to monetise assets in the coal and airport verticals.

The recent completion of the new terminal at the Mumbai airport has further fuelled hopes that the company’s debt burden will ease. Though a lot of this is driven by hopes, analysts are cautious because at present there are many issues and its resolution may not happen soon, which could have a bearing on GVK’s share price.

"Notwithstanding improvements in operating performance of airport and road assets, GVK’s cash flow concerns are expected to exacerbate due to incremental funding needs for financing cost overruns. High debt burden and the need to retire acquisition debt are other issues which GVK has to face," said Shankar K, who tracks the company at Edelweiss Securities in a research note.

In fact, analysts are not falling for the stock’s cheap valuations at this point in time as they believe some of the issues are far more risky from the investors’ perspective. "We highlight that higher leverage, Hancock (coal business based in Australia) and overhang in power vertical would continue to weigh on the stock despite attractive valuations," said Deepak Purswani, who is tracking the company at ICICI Securities.

After the completion of terminal 2 at the Mumbai Airport, the market has started to look for the monetisation of the adjourning land bank. Monetisation of the land bank would be crucial for retiring some of GVK’s debt, which has been the biggest concern for the investors for quite some time now. Earlier, the company received interest from about 23 parties for the monetisation of the 1.8 million square feet of land of Mumbai International Airport (MIAL). The analysts are expecting this monetisation to fetch around Rs 1,200-1,500 crore, which may not be sufficient given the huge debt of over Rs 18,500 crore in the company’s books. However, it could kick-start the monetisation programme and would provide the much required liquidity in the interim.

The company had earlier said that it plans to monetise assets in the coal, power and airport businesses. However, looking at the issues in the power and coal businesses, the Street is banking on the monetisation of airport-related assets, which now should be easier given that the asset has become operational. Also, this vertical is currently making profits and that will enable the company to get good valuations. The book value of GVK's stake in the airport business alone is estimated to be worth over Rs 3,000 crore, including Rs 2,200 crore for the Mumbai Airport. How much the company is able to command from investors for these assets will determine the quantum of debt reduction. Analysts though are still cautious.

"Even in airport business, considering the current valuations, it would not fetch much money and if the company sells a large stake, it will have nothing in its portfolio to talk about," said an analyst with the leading broking house.

The issue of debt reduction is crucial, especially in the light of tight liquidity and weak cash flows from the operations. In the September quarter, the company incurred interest cost of Rs 213 crore on an operating profit of Rs 299 crore indicating very less leeway in terms of disposable profits for repaying debt. Even then, the Street was worried about how the company was going to repay its debt and service interest cost in the light of losses in the power business and constraint cash flows.

The power segment employs Rs 10,755 crore of capital and generates quarterly sale of Rs 96.06 crore. It’s over 900 mw of gas-based power generation capacity is currently operating at about 20-30%, and is not even able to recover the costs and service the debt. The market has written off the equity invested in these projects, which are suffering due to the lack of gas availability and because of the losses. In fact, analysts worry if the problem of the gas availability is not resolved, the debt taken for the power projects could have their bearing on the overall business of the company. However, with news about a possible increase in India’s gas availability doing the rounds, there is a ray of hope. If things improve for GVK, these assets should see better output and consequently also see an improvement in financial performance and valuations.

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Solar power initiatives in Rajarhat New Town…

 

Rajarhat New Town is slowly inching towards becoming a solar city. The New Town Kolkata development authority (NKDA) is planning to introduce net metering system to encourage consumers to install solar panels and is also planning to procure electric scooters to be run in short distances in the township.

Officials of the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) came at the city recently to participate in a workshop organised in New Town on the issue of net metering system in context of solar energy use. Officials of the bureau of energy efficiency, West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority (WBREDA) and others were present at the workshop.

It was discussed in the workshop that to meet the energy demands and for climate reasons, solar energy should be used as much as possible. For this purpose, solar panels in roof tops, on the canals and on specific designated points on the ground can act as virtual distributed and decentralized powerhouses to generate additional energy which is clean and non conventional.

The consumers may pay only the net electrical power consumed and the solar power used will be put into the electricity grid which will result in savings in the power bill. This will further encourage consumers to invest in rooftop solar panels. NKDA officials said that this concept will be most attractive in new townships like New Town since the cost of roof top solar panels will be only marginal to the cost of construction of a new home.

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