Power producers seek rejig of MoEF panel on Uttarakhand disaster...

 

Private power producers have requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reconstitute the Environment Ministry's committee on assessing the impact of Uttarakhand disaster, saying that it lacks the state's representation.

Heavy monsoon rains and landslides wreaked havoc in the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and flooded parts of Haryana on June 16 and 17, leaving close to 1,000 people dead.

The disaster affected power generation at many hydel plants in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

"Water is one of the precious and critical resources of the state of Uttarakhand, and contributes to the state's economic growth and development. Therefore, the representation and participation in such critical study would be paramount," Association of Power Producers said in a letter to Singh.

"We request you to take up with MoEF ( Ministry of Environment and Forests) the matter of reconstituting the body with inclusion of appropriate domain experts without a stated position on the matter in order to avoid personal biases and prejudices and also to ensure a balanced and outcome of the proposed study," APP Director General Ashok Khurana said.

APP is an industry body representing the private power producers in the country.

The letter said that MoEF will need to conduct social, ecological and economical impact of the projects along with the benefits and then give a balanced view aimed at promoting sustainable growth in the region.

It added that appropriate level of representation and participation from Government of Uttarakhand is not there in the presently constituted committee by MOEF.

"Equally important is the need to maintain objectivity in the findings of the committee, which might prove to be a difficult task if the committee consists of members with a very strong and stated position on the matter to be examined," APP said.

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Coal India arm BCCL to enhance output to 36 MT by 2017...

 

Coal India arm BCCL, which made a turnaround following a revival package from the government, plans to increase output by 15.3 per cent to 36 million tonnes (MT) in the next three years with a capex of Rs 2,100 crore on various projects.

Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), a Dhanbad-based Coal India subsidiary, had achieved its highest ever production of 31.21 MT in 2012-13.

"We plan to take our production to 36 MT by 2016-17 with a capex of Rs 2,100 crore on new projects," BCCL CMD Tapas Kumar Lahiry told PTI.

He said the company was committed to implementing the strategic plan, approved in 2008, to achieve a growth of 7-10 per cent per annum and reach a production capacity of 36 MT by 2017.

"BCCL plans to incur Rs 2,100 crore on various capex projects," the CMD said.

The company plans to modernise underground mines taken up through Mine Developer and Operators (MDO) to enhance underground production, he said.

The process is also on for developing high capacity underground mines with global technology, Lahiry added.

BCCL is the only company with substantial resources of coking coal in the country and accounts for almost 50 per cent of the total prime coking coal requirement of the integrated steel sector. It operates 66 coal mines and runs six coking coal washeries and two non-coking coal washeries.

Lahiry said the company's plans include setting up of six new washeries with a capacity to wash 18.6 MT coal per annum.

The government had infused funds worth over Rs 4,300 crore to revive the then sick company in 2008.

After marking its turnaround, the company posted profits for three years in a row. It clocked net profit of Rs 1,093 crore in 2010-11, followed by Rs 822 crore in 2011-12 and Rs 1,498 crore in 2012-13.

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ACME Group plans Rs 9,000 cr investments in solar power space...

 

Embarking on an ambitious business expansion, energy solutions provider ACME Group plans to invest as much as Rs 9,000 crore to develop solar power projects in the coming years.
 
The group, which already has significant presence in the telecom space, aims to set up solar power projects having total capacity of 1,000 Mw in the country.
 
"In the next four to five years, we will be building around 1,000 Mw of solar power projects. The investment will be about Rs 8,000 to 9,000 crore," ACME Group Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Upadhyay told PTI.
 
At present, the group has about 18 Mw of installed solar generation capacity.
 
"By March (next year), we will have around 100 Mw of solar power generation capacity," said Upadhyay, who is also Founder of the group.
 
Primarily focused on energy generation, management and conservation areas, ACME Group has presence in 16 overseas geographies including Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia.
 
The group's activities are spread across telecom, solar and defence segments, among others.
 
Against the backdrop of rising energy demand, solar segment provides good opportunities for power generators.
 
The government's Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), launched in 2010, aims to add 20,000 Mw of grid-connected solar power by 2022.

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APTransco mulls open access power to industries...

 

Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APTransco) is contemplating allowing open access power purchases (1 Mw and above) by industries from third parties to meet their energy needs.

It is planning to soon hold a high-level meet with the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry,   Confederation of the Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry to take their suggestions.

“Utmost priority will be given to the power infrastructure development of the industrial sector to ensure adequate power supply to the industry to the extent possible,” Suresh Chanda, chairman and managing director of APTransco, said in release.

In spite of several constraints due to fuel shortage like coal and natural gas besides transmission constraints, the state power utilities are very keen to provide adequate power supply to encourage the industry for economic development of the state and in order to provide large-scale employment generation, he added.

After taking the approval from the state Electricity Regulatory Commission (Aperc), APTransco had already introduced an expensive power scheme (EPSS) from February 2013 to June 2013, to safeguard the interest of the industry. Around 400 industrial consumers purchased power under this scheme.

APTransco officials said the pattern of electricity consumption in the industrial sector in the state had increased to 34.93 per cent in 2012-13, as against 14.99 per cent during 2001-02.

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Default in payment of Unscheduled Interchanges (UI) charges for the energy drawn in excess of the drawl schedule by UPPCL....

 

CERC directed the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited to submit payment plan of outstanding UI charges to NRLDC including interest due on affidavit by 11th November 2013.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited submitted to CERC that it has paid 50% of the outstanding Unscheduled Interchanges (UI) charges by 31.10.2013 and the remaining 50% would be paid by the month of March, 2014 in equal monthly installments.

NRLDC has also confirmed the payment of 50% of the outstanding UI Charges by UPPCL. 

In response to the Commission’s query on the stay by the Hon`ble High Court of Allahabad of 40% UI charges, the representative of NRLDC clarified that stay is still continuing and an amount of ` 371 crore is covered under the stay order.

UPPCL submitted that pursuant to the Financial Restructuring Plan, UPPCL has arranged loans from the banks and made payment for 50% of the outstanding UI charges.

They further submitted that the balance outstanding UI charges would be liquidated in equal monthly installments by 31.3.2014. He further submitted that the outstanding UI charges contained the surcharge of an amount of Rs. 114 crore. As per Commission's direction, a meeting was held with NRPC and the constituents of Northern Region for waiver of late of payment surcharge.

However, none of the recipient constituents has agreed to waive the interest on late payment of UI charges.

UPPCL further submitted that the surcharge of Rs. 114 crore may be waived by the Commission in exercise of power of relaxation under Regulation 12 of UI Regulations and argued that in the past, the Commission has exercised its power of relaxation in other cases and has granted relief to the aggrieved parties.

However, the Commission observed that the request of UPPCL is against the provisions of the UI regulations and would set a precedent for others to make similar requests. The Commission further observed that since the surcharge is payable to the other constituents of the Northern Region, UPPCL has the liberty to take up the matter with the constituents to reimburse the interest portion after the payment dues are cleared by UPPCL with interest.

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MERC's order for migration of 8 Lac R-Infra consumers to tata power postponed till December 10...

 

Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has deferred the hearing of Reliance Infrastructure's petition regarding MERC's order for switching over of RInfra's consumers to Tata Power.

RInfra-D earlier had filed an Appeal before the Hon’ble Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) seeking for interim stay on the operation of the MERC Order dated 30 October, 2013. The Hon’ble APTEL has admitted the Appeal and in its Order dated 31 October, 2013, has directed as under:

“After hearing the parties, we are of the view that instead of granting stay of the Impugned Order, it would be better to direct the Appellant to approach the Commission to seek for the extension of time for the implementation of this impugned order. Accordingly ordered.

The Learned Senior Counsel for the Applicant also submits that the Applicant will file the application for extension of time tomorrow itself before the State Commission. In view of the fact that the Appellant will approach the Commission seeking for extension of time, we deem it appropriate to direct that implementation of the Impugned Order be postponed till the order is passed by the State Commission in the Application for seeking extension of time to be filed by the Appellant tomorrow i.e. on 01.11.2013.
The Commission may entertain the said application and consider the extension time for implementation and pass an order accordingly.”

RInfra-D has then filed an application to MERC requesting to postpone the implementation of the Order beyond 13 November, 2013, i.e., the date on which RInfra-D’s appeal is scheduled for hearing before the Hon’ble APTEL.

However, TPC-D submitted that RInfra-D has to justify its prayer for postponement of the migration of 8 lakh consumers from RInfra-D to TPC-D before the Commission. But neither the present application nor the Interim Application filed by RInfra before the Hon’ble APTEL discloses any specific issues or operational difficulties in the implementation of the directions.

During the hearing, the Commission asked RInfra-D to justify its request for extension of time and RInfra submitted that they will submit their say in writing to the Commission.

Considering the importance of the matter, the Commission hereby grants additional time till 30 November, 2013 to RInfra-D to make a detailed submission on affidavit on its request for extension of time for implementation of the Order.

The next hearing in the matter shall be held on 10 December, 2013. The date for implementation of the Commission’s Order has been postponed till 10 December, 2013.

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Andhra Pradesh seeks Centre’s backing for renewable energy projects...

 

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has agreed to consider a proposal of Andhra Pradesh Government to support its efforts in strengthening the evacuation network for renewable energy projects, including wind farms.

During a meeting held here between State Special Chief Secretary Energy, M. Sahoo, and Ratan P Watal, Secretary, MNRE, the latter agreed to consider the request State’s request to provide matching grant in aid for a comprehensive evacuation network of about 3150 mw wind power plants in Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur and Rangareddy districts.

Responding to the State’s request for support, the Union Secretary promised all possible help would be extended to arrange the funds after consultations with the Planning Department, Government of India.

The Energy Coordination Cell, in a statement said, the State informed that about 1000 MW of wind power generating capacity is expected to be commissioned by 2013-14. The State Government is planning to add around 6900 MW of non-conventional energy projects during XII Plan. Of this, 5000 MW is expected to come from wind power farms and about 1200 MW from solar eneregy.

According to a study, the State has potential for 14,497 mw of wind power generation. While the wind power installed capacity is 564.09 MW, feasibility clearance on the existing network has been issued for evacuation of 1098 MW. The State has issued feasibility for evacuation on the proposed network for about 1970 MW.

While the State now has an installed solar power generation capacity of 61.24 MW, it expects fresh capacity addition under the Solar Policy. Of the recently concluded bidding process for 1000 MW of solar power generation capacity, distribution companies have entered into power purchase agreements for 147 MW and Letters of Intent for another 142 MW have been issued.

The Union Secretary was informed that certain clarifications are awaited from Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission with regard to third party sale. Once this is sorted out, there is potential to set up another 1483 MW of solar power generation capacity, the statement said.

Source: The Hindu Businessline

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Grid integration set to boost power supply in South

 

South India is likely to get a boost in electricity supply as the integration of the southern grid to the national grid, scheduled for January next, will allow the region to tap into the other grids.

Work is apace on the 800-kV circuit between Raichur in Karnataka and Sholapur in Maharashtra. At present, the inter-region transfer capacity between the western and southern regions is 1,500 MW.

The new transmission lines between Karnataka and Maharashtra would push it up to 5,500 MW, boosting the power-starved southern region, the only grid that remains isolated from the rest of the nation.

In the past few months, there have been instances of the northern grid or the western region having had surplus power that, however, could not be transferred to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The reason: the southern region is not plugged into the national grid. But the situation will change as the integration work is likely to be completed by early next year. “We are hoping to make the integration happen by January 2014. We have completed the majority of the work and are hopeful that things will work according to plan,” a senior (Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) official said.

At present, all regional grids, except the southern region, are synchronously interconnected and run at one frequency.
However, the southern region is linked asynchronously to the northern, eastern, north-eastern and western region grids through the high-voltage, direct current transmission system, which has a different frequency.

The synchronisation gained pace after large parts of the country suffered blackouts for almost three days from July 31 last year. The southern grid is being connected by two 765-kV lines, linking Sholapur of the western region to Raichur of the southern region.

Source: The Hindu

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Power crisis looms large in Punjab as supplier set to stop sending coal...

 

Power crisis is staring at Punjab as all three thermal electricity plants of the state have failed to meet the generation target set by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in October, after the main coal supplier drastically cut down fuel supply to these.

The supplier has also expressed inability to continue sending the fuel after mid-November, citing political agitations at the mine site in Jharkhand.

Anticipating stoppage of coal supply for the state's thermal plants, the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) had shut down seven of its 14 units in phases during the last month, leading to a drop in the power output, sources said.

Against the target of 267 and 624 million units, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat, could generate only 161 and 451 million units respectively. Both plants met only 60% and 70% of their generation targets respectively.

Only Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar had performed better by managing to achieve 98% of the CEA target.

Senior PSPCL officials revealed that the problem arose after Panem Coal Mines Ltd, a joint venture of PSPCL and a Kolkata-based company EMTA, drastically reduced coal supply from its Pachwara (central) mine in Pakur district of Jharkhand since the past one year, citing agitations led by state's former chief minister Babulal Marandi.

Officials revealed that while the company had supplied 70 lakh tonnes of coal to Punjab against the approved mining plan of 90 lakh tonnes in 2012-13, coal supply had reduced to a meagre 32 lakh tonnes during the first seven months in 2013-14.

Citing the "adamant attitude" of PSCPL authorities, Panem Coal Mines Ltd authorities had recently sent a letter to the Powercorp, asking it to take charge of the mine after November and urging it to deal directly with the agitating parties at the mine site.

Panem authorities said that coal, currently lying extracted, would be dispatched to Punjab's power plants by mid-November after which, it would be the responsibility of PSPCL to run the mine.

Panem had supplied 2,216 rakes in 2011-12, 1,820 in 2012-13 and 849 rakes till October this year for thermal plants of the state.

On the other hand, authorities maintained that the thermal units had been shut down due to availability of cheap power from other sources. However, officials revealed that PSPCL was purchasing power at higher rates than the cost at which it was being produced by its own plants.

"Average cost of power purchased during October 2013 is Rs 3.6 per unit. However, Lehra plant produces power at Rs 2.2 per unit, Ropar at Rs 2.5 per unit and Bathinda at Rs 2.65 per unit approximately," said a PSPCL official.

Chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) K D Chaudhuri and director (generation) G S Chhabra of PSPCL could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts.

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BHEL: Order flows may improve, but concerns remain...

 

BHEL’s performance for the September quarter has been disappointing. Even after adjusting for the Rs 191-crore one-time cost (predominantly wage-related expenses) on merger of Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels Plant, net profits have almost halved from the levels (Rs 1,274 crore) achieved during the same quarter last year.

Besides, forex translation gains to the extent of Rs 365 crore, arising from deferred debts in overseas projects have also boosted the existing profits.

OUTLOOK

Though the company received about Rs 3,000 crore worth of orders during the quarter, orders in its power segment were predominantly only from the spares and services group, reflecting the weak investment scenario in the country.

The slower execution is visible in the lacklustre operating margins, which came in at 4.5 per cent, compared to 17.9 per cent a year ago.

The order flows may be slightly better in the months to come.

In the power segment, after a lull, the company has bagged an order worth Rs 2,569 crore for steam generators from Neyveli Lignite Corporation in October

With the Cabinet Committee on Investments speeding up clearances in power projects in recent times, the company could stand to gain on two fronts.

It could help speed up execution of stalled projects for which the company has already bagged the equipment orders, for instance, the 4,120-MW boiler package from Jindal Power.

Secondly, it could also help the company bag orders for newly cleared projects such as the Tilaiya UMPP.

The company expects tenders for 15,000 MW to get finalised from now onwards to March. Besides, orders for the 13th Five Year Plan is also expected to come in from FY-15 onwards.

But the risk of slowed execution, payment delays from customers and stretched working capital positions remain.

 

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