India will need 2,100 aircraft in 20 years: Boeing
Boeing estimates that India will require 2,100 aircraft in next 20 years valued at $290 billion. Almost 85 per cent or 1,780 aircraft of 2,100 aircraft will be single aisle such as Boeing 737. Boeing officials said the latest forecast of 2,100 aircraft is the highest ever for India. Boeing was upbeat about the regional connectivity scheme. At a press conference on market outlook, Boeing said that if RCS works out it would be a beneficiary. Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific and India, Boeing, said the company was in talks with Air India Express for Boeing 737 MAX. Pierre Turgeon Womens Jersey
IndiGO to start using ATRs by year-end
IndiGo plans to start commercial operations with ATR 72-600 aircraft by the end of this calendar year, said the company’s President and Whole-time Director Aditya Ghosh at a conference call with financial analysts soon after the company declared its Q1 results here on Monday. “Documentation work with the aircraft and engine manufacturers continues towards finalisation of the purchase agreement (for acquiring the ATR aircraft),” Ghosh said. IndiGo had told the BSE in May that the airline had signed a term sheet with French-Italian aircraft maker ATR for purchase of 50 ATR 72-600s, with the flexibility of reducing the number of aircraft based on certain terms. A term sheet means that the airline has now identified the aircraft that it plans to buy. IndiGo currently only operates Airbus A-320 aircraft. Meanwhile, the airline said it continues to have operational issues with the Airbus A-320 New Engine Option (NEO), more popularly called the 320 NEO, due to engine issues. Ghosh said there have been days when the airline has had to “ground as many as nine NEOs due to lack of spare engines.” He added that the airline continues to have a high number of engine removals and sufficient spare engines are not available. “Based on what we know today, it may be another year or so before the design changes are implemented by Pratt and Whitney, which should allow these engines to have the on wing flight hours that we expect from them,” he said. Drew Kaser Womens Jersey
Bangladesh boom: Why South Asia has emerged as the new global LNG hotspot
South Asia, long a backwater for energy markets, is emerging as a hotspot for liquefied natural gas (LNG), with Pakistan and Bangladesh set to join India as major consumers, helping to ease global oversupply that has dogged this market for years. Only India and Pakistan currently import LNG in South Asia, taking in a combined 25 million tonnes, or 8 per cent of global demand last year. But with a fast growing population, strong economic growth and soaring energy demand, more import projects are being developed, lead by Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Both countries already have extensive gas infrastructure due to legacy production from domestic gas fields,” said Chong Zhi Xin, principal Asia LNG analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “As domestic production has failed to keep up with demand, both markets are a natural fit for LNG imports.” Pakistan only started importing its first LNG in 2015, and surprised some in the industry by developing its first terminal within schedule and budget. A second is about to become operational and a third is expected to be completed next year. With Bangladesh set to join the club of importers next year, the region could import 80-100 million tonnes a year by the mid 2020s, analysts said, making it the world’s second biggest import region, ahead of Europe. Bangladesh Boom Bangladesh, a country of over 160 million people, could import as much as 2,500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG, equivalent to around 17.5 million tonnes per year, by 2025, said Nasrul Hamid, Bangladesh’s state minister for energy and power. With its own gas reserves depleting and seeking to almost double power capacity to 24,000 megawatt (MW) by 2021, Bangladesh is tapping cheap and plentiful supplies on world markets and investing heavily in LNG. Several floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), the first developed by private U.S. company Excelerate Energy, are due to begin importing cargoes starting in 2018. “We are working on two FSRU’s from which gas will start flowing (by) next July,” Hamid told Reuters. Both FSRUs will be deployed off Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, in the southeast of the country. They will have a combined capacity of 7.5 million tonnes a year. Two more FSRUs are planned, though no exact dates have been finalised. In addition, state-run Petrobangla signed a preliminary deal with India’s Petronet in December to set up an onshore terminal to regasify a further 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG on Kutubdia Island, just to the north of Moheshkhali, at a cost of $950 million. “By 2025, depending on our national demand, we will import anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 mmcfd gas,” Hamid said. Those imports would add to plans from India and Pakistan to buy 50 million and 30 million tonnes of LNG per year, respectively, by the mid-2020s. “LNG imports in South Asia are expected to rise four-fold from 22 million tonnes per year in 2016 to over 80 million tonnes per year by 2030,” said Mangesh Patankar, head of Asia/Pacific business development at energy consultancy Galway Group. Should all plans in the region go ahead and Sri Lanka also start imports, this figure could rise to 100 million tonnes, industry project data shows. That would push South Asia’s demand ahead of Europe as the world’s second biggest LNG import region by 2020, though it would still lag North Asia’s 150 million tonnes of annual imports. The boom in demand will help ease oversupply in LNG markets, which have resulted in a more than 70 percent price fall from their 2014 peaks to $5.75 per million British thermal units. Supply Talks Hamid said Bangladesh was in talks with Qatar’s RasGas and Indonesia’s Pertamina for long-term deals, while it also planned to import significant amounts of its future demand via the freely traded spot market. “We are looking for a mixture of both long-term contracts and the spot market,” Hamid said. Rupantarita Prakritik Gas, part of Petrobangla, in June posted a notice looking for LNG suppliers for spot cargoes from 2018. Not everyone believes Bangladesh and Pakistan will achieve their LNG ambitions. “It is likely to be an overly ambitious target… China took more than 10 years to reach 20 million tonnes of LNG imports. In India, it took 13 years to reach the same amount,” said Chong Zhi Xin. Low domestic gas prices also required LNG imports to be subsidised in Bangladesh and Pakistan, he said. “As LNG imports increase, so does the subsidy bill. Without pricing reforms, it would be a challenge for Pakistan and Bangladesh to fulfil their LNG import ambitions.” Hamid, however, is confident. In order to meet surging demand, he said LNG was part of an even bigger plan. “The solutions are FSRU, land-based LNG, deep sea exploration in the Bay of Bengal, and transnational (gas) grids,” he said. Paul Postma Jersey
‘Solar tariffs at Rs 3 a unit may be the new normal’
NTPC chairman Gurdeep Singh said Rs 3-3.20 a unit tariff for solar power may be the new normal and can be achieved without the support of “cheap funds or cheap panels“, which have been a concern for the industry. Solar and wind energy units generate less than 10% of the global electricity output and have remained on the side-lines historically as these projects were taken up to fulfill a social responsibility towards clean energy. But these green energy sources have seen a decline in prices making them comparable to conventional energy and causing a disruption in the power sector. India too has rapidly scaled up its renewable energy capacity , led by solar power in the last few years. But the steep fall in tariff has triggered concerns over project viability. “We should be happy with lower solar bids, especially when the process is done in such a transparent manner. In the current environment, solar power tariff would be Rs 3-3.20 a unit without relying on cheap funds or compromising on quality ,“ Singh said. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on energy gave critical feedback on the solar energy sector, asking the government to help developers raise funds but has also raised concerns over the viability of these projects given the steep fall in tariff as a result of aggressive bids by developers. The solar power tariff plummeted to its lowest level in May at Rs 2.44 per unit energy in the auction for 500 megawatt (mw) of projects in Rajasthan. The tariff was about Rs 11 seven years ago. While Singh did not comment on the viability of project that are offering solar power at Rs 2.44, he said solar energy would play an important role in incremental capacity addition in the country but coal based-power would continue to be necessary to ensure cheap and continuous power supply to consumers. “We are aligning our business such that our incremental capacity is more in renewable and less in coal. We are quite confident of adding 25 gigawatts for renewable energy,“ Singh said. NTPC has commissioned 847 MW or renewable energy capacity , has 73 MW under execution and another 1,275 MW under tendering process. The company’s target is to develop 10 GW of renewable energy as a commitment to the government. It is also developing another 15 GW under National Solar Mission (Phase 2). NTPC is the only power generator investing in conventional energy and its orders are being chased by power equipment majors like BHEL and L&T. Marcel Dionne Womens Jersey
In line with govt decision to raise rates every month, subsidised LPG price hiked by Rs 2 per cylinder
Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was today hiked by over Rs 2 per cylinder in line with the government decision to raise rates every month to eliminate all subsidies by fiscal end. A subsidised 14.2-kg of cylinder now costs Rs 479.77 in Delhi as against Rs 477.46 previously, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had yesterday told Lok Sabha that the government has asked state-run oil companies to raise subsidised cooking gas (LPG) prices by Rs 4 per cylinder every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year. The government had previously asked IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) to raise rates of subsidised domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 2 per 14.2-kg cylinder per month (excluding VAT). Now, the quantum has been doubled so as to bring down the subsidy to nil, he said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. Every household is entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year. Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at market price. According to IOC, a non-subsidised LPG or market priced cooking gas costs Rs 524 per cylinder in Delhi, down from Rs 564 till yesterday. Simultaneously, the oil companies also raised price of aviation turbine fuel or jet fuel by 2.3 per cent in line with rising global oil rates. ATF now costs Rs 48,110 per kilolitre, Rs 1097 per kl more than Rs 47,013 previously. State-owned oil firms revise rates of LPG and ATF on 1st of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the previous month. Today’s hike in the LPG price is third since the May 30 order of the oil ministry to raise rates by Rs 4 per cylinder every month. The last hike was on July 1 when rates were up by a steep Rs 32 per cylinder — the steepest increase in six years. This hike was because of the May 30 order as well as reflection of hiked tax rates under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include 2.6 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna. There are another 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas. Alex Erickson Womens Jersey
Jewar Airport: UP govt to give Rs 4,000 crore under first phase
The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) will be the nodal agency to set up the international airport in Jewar, Greater Noida. The decision has been taken at a high-level meeting held in Lucknow on Tuesday. “YEIDA will work on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government and start acquiring land for the airport. Funds amounting to nearly Rs 4,000 crore for the first phase of the project will be provided by the state government,” Prabhat Kumar, chairperson, YEIDA, told TOI from Lucknow. Chief secretary Rajive Kumar; director, civil aviation department, UP, Devendra Swarup; principal secretary, industries Alok Sinha and Prabhat Kumar attended the meeting.. “Turning down the formation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to generate money for land acquisition, it was decided that YEIDA will start the land acquisition with money provided by state government,” said Kumar, who is also the divisional commissioner, Meerut. “The airport project is proposed to be developed in three phases on a 3,000-hectare land. In the first phase, we need nearly 1,250 hectares (3,000 acres). To acquire this land, we will require Rs 4,000 crore. However, at least four runways will have to be readied in the first phase itself to accommodate aircraft. Considering this, it will be feasible to acquire the entire 3,000-hectare in the first phase itself,” he said. “For undertaking this mammoth task, we will need at least Rs 9,000-10,000 crore for land acquisition. These funds will be generated by the state government,” he added. “Nearly, 3,000 rural homes will have to be shifted from the path of the proposed airport and these families will have to be rehabilitated,” he said. In the meeting, it was also decided that a techno-economic feasibility report (TEFR) shall be readied along with the land acquisition process. “A TEFR for the project has already been compiled in 2007-08. However, this report will either have to be taken up afresh or the old one updated. We will soon appoint a consultant for this purpose,” he said. “Once the TEFR is done, environment clearances for the airport will also be sought. This work will be undertaken parallel with land acquisition,” he said. The move comes close on the heels of the state government getting preliminary nod from the Union ministry of civil aviation and also a site clearance certificate from the ministry of defence (MoD) for the proposed project. The UP civil aviation department has also sought clearance from the ministry of home affairs and would soon be approaching the ministry of finance and department of customs. Once it gets the requisite clearances, the state government will have to approach Union ministry of civil aviation for final approval. The airport is proposed with a view towards easing the burden on Delhi’s IGI international airport. Bill Barber Authentic Jersey
NTPC has no plans to acquire stressed power projects: Government
State-owned NTPC has no plans to take over stressed assets in the power sector, the government said today. “Currently, NTPC has no proposal to acquire stressed power projects or enable their lenders to operate on a contract basis,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. Neyveli Lignite Corporation of India Ltd (NLCIL) has identified Damodar Valley Corporation’s Ragunathpur thermal power plant for acquisition, the minister said. Neyveli Lignite has also shortlisted two suitable stressed power assets for a possible takeover to increase its electricity generation capacity, he added. The recovery of non-performing assets, he said, is an ongoing process that depends on various factors, including the resolution plan. Jason Kasdorf Womens Jersey
Draft Energy Policy: Several unanswered questions
The 2017 National Energy Policy (NEP), drafted by the NITI Aayog, takes the baton forward from the 2006 Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) in setting the trajectory of growth for the energy sector. The value proposition of the NEP is to present a broad framework for the overall energy sector, taking into account the multiple technology and fuel options. However, the NEP draft comes at a time when the energy sector is seeking clarity. In the face of claims of surplus power, even as rampant energy poverty continues to plague the country, the sector needs clear signals of the future pathways. This need has become particularly pronounced with the rapid decline in renewable energy tariffs, and an associated and projected scaling up of grid-connected clean energy. Highlighting the difference between the IEP and NEP, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, lauded the NEP for taking the sharp decline of crude oil prices, change in solar energy technology, heightened concern of climate change issues, and the government’s rural electrification agenda into account. However, apart from this, there is a stark difference in the broad approaches adopted by the erstwhile Planning Commission in framing the IEP and the NITI Aayog in framing the NEP. The IEP laid out a roadmap and provided a basket of specific measures to meet specific objectives. For instance, the section in the IEP on the advancement of renewable energy recommended the conversion of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) into a national refinancing institution on the lines of NABARD, specifically to advance clean energy. The NEP, however, contains a list of general courses of action for the government — identified objectives that could be considered for implementation. Going by the broad strokes of the NEP, credit is due to the NITI Aayog for recommending some revolutionary reforms, such as the opening up of the entire power sector value chain to private investment in order to create an efficient electricity market. However, it fails to provide an adequate framework for a number of issues that have arisen and intensified over the course of India’s ongoing energy transition, which is still in its nascent stage. On the renewable energy front, the NEP disappoints by failing to address the rampant uncertainties, specifically on issues around renewable purchase obligations (RPO) and renewable energy certificates (REC). The only half-hearted consolation on offer is targeted at the distribution companies (Discoms) which have been assured of government support for implementation of RPO and REC obligations. The RPO system has perhaps already served its purpose in nudging states with renewable energy potential to incorporate clean energy into their energy mix. As renewable power becomes more commercially viable, states could be left to decide how, when and what source of power to integrate into their system, as no clear measures are being adopted to provide the much-needed enforcement of the obligations. Policy uncertainty is further highlighted in the NEP’s focus on utilising coal powered thermal plants for securing the base load requirement to meet rising energy demand. The NEP’s reliance on thermal power fuels scepticism about India’s commitment to clean energy, and could distort investor confidence in the renewables sector. From both an air quality and a climate leadership perspective, it would not be ideal for India to stress on expanding its thermal power capacity to 441 GW in 2040 from 125 GW in 2012, as proposed in the NEP, without having adequate technology in place for improving the efficiency and reducing the emissions from these plants. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had come down hard on coal-fired thermal power producers in 2015, setting a December 2017 deadline for meeting revised norms on emissions. However, with developers being reluctant to absorb the high cost for retrofitting their projects to meet the new standards (around Rs 1 crore or $1.56 million per megawatt), the government is likely to push the deadline for compliance to December 2019. The NEP makes broad recommendations on how India should work towards developing and acquiring technology needed for the energy sector. However, it does not recommend consistent and strong policy and budgetary support for technology development. The NEP prescribes grid-based supply to all households to be India’s primary endeavour, with renewable energy implemented to address the access issue only in cases where grid power is unavailable. The NITI Aayog in this instance has used the term renewable energy interchangeably with decentralised renewable energy. A rationale for this position has not been indicated, even as the government continues to promote decentralised electrification programmes. Rather than promoting a particular means of electrification, the NEP could encourage context-specific electrification approaches, by considering economic viability, consumer demand and aspiration, affordability, as well as reliable provision of electricity. As India’s importance and role in the global energy markets continues to grow, it needs to be strategic in its energy planning. Josh Doctson Authentic Jersey
Loss of power supply from private companies won’t hit Gujarat, says state’s power utility chief
Gujarat will be able to withstand any loss of generation from the three stressed electricity plants of Tata Power, Adani Power and Essar Power that run on imported coal, the managing director of the state’s power utility said. The state has a diversified generation portfolio with a balanced fuel mix, Pankaj Joshi of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) told ET in an interview. “Non- or less availability of generation from a particular fuel may have a marginal impact. However, there is no threat to the financial position of distribution utilities,” he said. GUVNL, the umbrella company managing electricity supply in Gujarat, is exploring blending of domestically produced coal with that imported from cheaper sources and increased purchase of the fuel from the spot market to insulate consumers from fluctuations in international coal prices, he said. In June, Tata Power, Adani Power and Essar Power each offered a 51 per cent stake in their Gujarat plants that use imported coal for Rs 1. These plants are under financial stress as they are unable to increase electricity prices to offset higher cost on imported coal. The reason for the higher cost on the fuel is changes in laws in supplier countries. The Supreme Court in April ruled that increase in coal prices due to such a reason cannot be cited for changing the terms of power purchase agreements. While SBI is drawing up various options, GUVNL is in the process of completing its due diligence. “State has received the proposal from generators offering stakes. State has yet not done detailed technical, financial and legal due diligence. Further, other states are also involved in the matter and their view also needs to be taken into consideration,” Joshi said. “Once it is done, it may enable the state government to take a suitable view in the matter.” Tata Power operates the 4,000 mw Mundra ultra mega power project that has power supply pacts with five states. Adani Power’s board has already approved hiving off its 4,620 mw Mundra plant and is exploring offering a majority stake in the resultant subsidiary to GUVNL that buys 2,000 mw from the project. Essar Power offered its 1,320 mw Salaya plant to Gujarat after the adverse ruling from the court. Tata Power has said lenders to Mundra project have suggested selling a stake to power procurers from the plant. He said Gujarat has adequate power capacity tie-ups on a long-term basis. “It is making constant efforts towards cost optimisation and may pursue purchase under long, medium and short term to optimise the cost,” Joshi said. D.J. Fluker Authentic Jersey
Ramp up capacity to achieve 100GW solar target by 2022: Study
India will need to add over 15,000 MW solar capacity every year to achieve the target of 1,00,000 MW by 2022, a study has said. The country’s installed solar capacity fell short of target of 17,000 MW by the end of the financial year 2016-17, according to the joint study undertaken by NEC Technologies and industry body Assocham. “The country will need to significantly ramp up the pace of solar capacity additions by 10,000 MW this fiscal and over 15,000 MW per year to meet the 2022 target of 1,00,000 MW (100GW), which the government set up in 2014,” it said. The biggest technological issue in terms of solar is the efficiency of solar cells, the study said. “Currently, the efficiency ranges from 12-20 per cent, though this continues to improve. The rest of the energy striking the panel is either reflected or is wasted as heat. The main issue with efficiency is that higher efficiency solar panels cannot be commercially mass produced,” it said. To achieve the 1,00,000 GW target by 2022, the focus has slightly shifted from indigenous manufacturing as policies to curb the imports from other countries are not benefiting the domestic manufacturing. Furthermore, the increase in taxes in the GST structure in solar from zero per cent to 5 per cent, coupled with reduced taxes in coal from 11.69 per cent to 5 per cent, may lead to slow adoption of solar in the Indian energy sector, the study said. Lack of uniform policies across sectors and implementation issues is also an area of concern, it said. “In India subsidy structure is complex and there are involvement of multiple agencies. Land allotment is a long procedure in India, which requires approvals at different levels from authorities.” Currently, the foreign investment in Indian solar industry is less than 20 per cent, the report said. Even 100 per cent FDI under automatic route and 74 per cent through foreign equity participation in a joint venture (without approval) have not paved the way for significant foreign investments in this sector, it added. Herman Edwards Womens Jersey