Big utilities try to tilt solar energy market in their favor
Indiana’s energy utilities want state lawmakers to pass a law that critics say would muscle out smaller companies from the emerging solar energy market. Solar power provides only about 1 percent of the country’s energy, but it is growing rapidly, with U.S. Energy Department figures showing solar industry employment grew 125 percent since 2010. Much of the growth has come from homeowners or businesses taking advantage of its bill-lowering potential. That could eventually eat away at the business of the big utilities — in Indiana Duke Energy, Vectren and Indiana Michigan Power — which have a powerful voice and donate handsomely to political campaigns. Indiana legislators started debate Thursday on a proposed law that in five years would eliminate much of the financial benefit Indiana homeowners, businesses, schools and even some churches reap harvesting the sun’s rays. Republican state Sen. Brandt Hershman’s bill would overhaul a practice called “net metering,” which allows solar panel owners to feed excess energy into the power grid in exchange for a credit on their power bill. Hershman’s bill would lock in a substantially lower rate of reimbursement than what is currently guaranteed — a move that solar advocates say would make it difficult to break even during the useful life of a solar panel. “I have nothing against solar. I’m simply trying to reset the marketplace,” said Hershman, who says solar panel owners are reimbursed at too-generous of a rate. But the measure comes as investor-owned utilities across the U.S. are also looking to take advantage of plunging costs for sun-generated power and carve out a share of the market. And critics say the bill amounts to utilities muscling out small companies, threatening the 1,500 jobs the Solar Foundation estimated in 2015 the industry had created in Indiana. Utilities are also promoting an alternative to installing home solar panels called “community solar” that involves customers agreeing to buy or lease panels from the utilities on large panel farms. “Utilities like solar if they can control those assets,” said Ryan Zaricki, who owns Whole Sun Designs, a solar panel installation company headquartered in Evansville. Zaricki, who employs five workers during busy months, said that if the bill passes “it means that, in the long term, I won’t have a business.” Duke Energy Corp., the largest electricity company in the nation, this year plans to launch a “community solar” program in South Carolina and seek regulatory permission to do so in North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and Ohio, as well as Indiana, utility vice president Melisa Johns said. Indiana is not the first state to consider a solar industry overhaul. Michigan, Illinois and Iowa are phasing out net metering at a gentler pace, according to advocates. In Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage last year vetoed a bill that would have overhauled the state’s approach. Montana also is considering policy changes, according to The National Conference of State Legislatures. Utilities say the current Indiana compensation system is unfair because it requires them to pay solar panel owners for power at retail cost — which is more than it would cost them to produce the energy. They also stress that they own the infrastructure solar panel owners rely on to feed their excess power onto the grid and should be compensated. “The simple logic for us is if you’re using it, you should pay for it,” said Mark Maassel, president of the Indiana Energy Association, which represents the largest power utilities. The solar measure is the latest pushed by Republicans in Indiana, who dominate the Statehouse, which would corner a market, or benefit longtime political allies and campaign donors. A bill last week that would have effectively blocked electric car maker Tesla from selling in Indiana was overhauled after opposition. Last year lawmakers passed vaping industry regulations that created a monopoly for one security firm that became the sole gatekeeper of who could manufacture the nicotine-laced liquid consumed through vaping. GOP leaders pledged to “fix” the law this year after the FBI launched a probe. Over the past three years Duke energy and its affiliated political committees funneled $76,000 to state Senate members of both parties. Hershman has collected $9,000 from the company since 2010, according to state campaign finance records. The utilities also donated more than $1 million to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which helped finance trade missions former Gov. Mike Pence led to several foreign countries in 2014 and 2015, according to data obtained through a public records request. The corporation is a quasi-governmental agency that regularly uses private donations to fund VIP trips for state officials. Luca Sbisa Womens Jersey
Govt released Rs 509 crore for grid connected, small solar plans as on Jan 31: Piyush Goyal
An amount of Rs 600 crore has been allocated for projects under Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme and Rs 508.84 crore has been released as on Jan 31, Piyush Goyal, power, coal, mines, renewable energy and mines minister today said in a written reply Lok Sabha. As per the figures given by the government, Tamil Nadu has been approved to set up the highest capacity of 312 Megawatt followed by Maharashtra at 100 MW and Gujarat at 81.75 MW. The Solar Energy Corporation of India has been sanctioned to set up projects of total 899.6 MW capacity, railways 502.5 MW, and government and PSU offices 482 MW. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has been promoting ‘Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme’ with a central financial assistance (CFA) of up to 30 per cent of benchmark cost in general category states and up to 70 per cent in special category states, north eastern states, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Residential, institutional and social sector are covered under this CFA pattern. For government sector, achievement linked incentive up to Rs 1,8750/KW in general category states and Rs 45,000/kW in special category states, north eastern states and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep is available under the programme. In a separate reply, Goyal also said a total of 852 projects (based on Solar PV) have been operational under Decentralized Distributed Generation (DDG) of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) implemented by Ministry of Power as on Jan 31. Emmanuel Lamur Authentic Jersey
UP Election 2017: Akhilesh Yadav promises 24 hours power supply after polls
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said rural areas of the state will get round the clock power supply after the Assembly polls. “At present, power supply in urban area is 22 to 24 hours and in rural area, it is 14 to 16 hours. However, after the Assembly election, 22 to 24 hour supply would be ensured in rural areas as well,” he said at an election rally in Kosi town of Chhata assembly constituency here. He said 108 ambulance type services would be introduced for cattle. The Samajwadi Party leader also promised opening up of more sugar mills and milk plants in the constituency. Akhilesh hit out at the Modi government over demonetisation and its “failure to rein in black money hoarders”. “No compensation was announced by the Centre for those who lost their lives while standing in serpentine bank queues in the wake of demonetisation. Nevertheless, the SP government has given Rs 2 lakh each to the deceased’s families,” he said. The first phase of the crucial Assembly polls will begin on February 11. The ruling Samajwadi Party has entered into an alliance with Congress for the state polls. Rod Smith Womens Jersey
NSE pulls plug on power exchange ahead of IPO
In what could potentially disturb the power trading market in the country, National Stock Exchange (NSE), with the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has voted to shut down their power trading platform, the Power Exchange of India (PXIL). NSE-NCDEX collectively own 61 per cent stake in the power exchange. They said at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) dated January 25, they’d decided to shut the “loss-making” bourse. Sources say there was strong dissent from stakeholders in the power sector. “We recently advised PXIL to consider taking immediate steps to close down its business as early as possible and in any event not later than February 28, since PXIL has been incurring heavy cash losses,” said NSE in the draft prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its upcoming initial public offer of equity. Persons close to the development said NSE put this statement to a vote during the EGM. “Other shareholders, all of which represent the power sector, voted against it. Tata Power Trading Company, with 5.16 per cent holding in PXIL, was not even present when voting took place,” said an executive. Other shareholders are GMR Energy, Tata Power, JSW Energy, state-owned Power Finance Corporation, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company. An NSE spokesperson declined to comment. Sources in NSE said the decision was because of the losses at PXIL. “The business of PXIL is very limited and the market is not growing. NSE decided to come out of it. There are extraneous factors responsible,” said a source privy of the matter. PXIL’s losses widened to Rs 2.45 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 1.8 crore a year before. Under power sector regulations, approval from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is also required for closing down an exchange. Section 36 of the latter’s Power Market Regulations state: “Power exchanges shall have their exit scheme approved by the Commission during the registration process, detailing the manner in which the running contracts on the exchange shall be closed or the succession plan for all transacted contracts in case of closure of a power exchange, cancellation or withdrawal of registration under these regulations.” NSE will be seeking CERC approval. India Energy Exchange is the only other power trading marketplace in the country. PXIL has only two per cent in the power trading market, with average daily traded volume of close to three million units. However, in the Renewable Energy Certificates market, its share had risen to 49 per cent in 2015-16, from 23 per cent a year before. Bo Jackson Womens Jersey
12,033 un-electrified villages provided power, says power minister Goyal
As many as 12,033 villages out of 18,452 un-electrified villages have been provided with power till last week and the remaining ones would be electrified by May 2018, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said. The Power Minister told the Lok Sabha that 4,220 Decentralised Distributed Generation (DDG) projects costing Rs 1,354.60 crore have been sanctioned till January 2017. These projects cover 3,285 un-electrified villages in different states. DDG comes under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) — which is meant for providing electricity access to villages and habitations. “As reported by the states, there were 18,452 un-electrified villages in the country as on April 1, 2014. Out of these, 12,033 villages have been electrified as on February 6, 2017. Remaining villages are targeted to be electrified by May 2018,” the Minister said. Answering to a separate question, Goyal said the government is working to reduce coal imports and reduction in it has helped in foreign exchange savings. To reduce import of coal, coal companies have been advised to improve domestic coal production. Further, to reduce import of high grade coal, Coal India Ltd has been asked to take steps for import substitution, he added. Among others, state-owned Coal India is offering higher grade coal through various types of e-auction. “In the current year (2016-17) till December 31, 2016, indicative import substitution by Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) holding consumers of Coal India Ltd has been to the tune of 12.8 MT,” Goyal said. Conor Sheary Womens Jersey
Solar power rate touches record low
Solar power rate touched a record low in Madhya Pradesh with per unit tariff coming down to as low as Rs 3 per unit. Auction for world’s biggest solar power park in Rewa district of the state, which began at 10 am on Thursday, was going on till the time of writing this story. The lowest bids received for all three units till 11.30 pm was Rs 3.13 per unit. Eighteen bidders, including 5 foreign firms, are participating in auction. The project will be given to developer that offers lowest bids. The unit-wise base prices at which the auction started are Rs 3.59 for first unit, Rs 3.61 per unit for second unit and Rs 3.62 per unit for the third unit. Within hours, the rates became lower than Rs 3.23 per unit. The entire team of officials of Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam was present at meeting hall of Nigam since 10 am, keeping a close eye on auction on a big screen. Sources said as the auction did not stop and bidders continued to bid. The auction is expected to continue till late in night. Arrangements for taking rest were also made . Earlier 20 bidders, both national and international, submitted proposals for developing the park. The bids closed on January 23 and the proposals were evaluated and two of the bidders were dropped. The park is being developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited, a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam (MPUVN). The 750-MW park being developed in three segments of 250 MW each is spread over 1,500 hectares of land in Gurh tehsil of Rewa and is to cover five villages of Barseta. Once completed, it will generate clean energy, overtaking 648 MW solar power plant at Kamathi in Tamil Nadu, the largest plant in the country so far. Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey
Gas exploration to continue despite tough pricing scenario: ONGC
Dinesh K Sarraf, Chairman of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), said on Thursday that while the state-run firm would continue to invest in gas exploration, it was getting increasingly difficult owing to the “tough” pricing scenario. Speaking to CNBC-TV18. Sarraf said gas prices were displaying a downward trend and that he had asked the government to revise gas prices upwards. On the government’s Budget proposal to merge all state-owned energy firms into a consolidated giant, Sarraf said the combine will have economies of scale. He said while there are a number of ways in which a merger can be undertaken, a vertical integration would be best as it would ensure that the companies perform better irrespective of pricing trends. A horizontal integration, on the other hand, would lead to monopolies, Sarraf said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech last week had announced a proposal to merge state-owned oil companies to create an integrated oil behemoth. The creation of an oil giant will also allow it to actively look at mergers and acquisitions in a proactive manner. Earlier, Indian Oil Corporation Chief B Ashok said the proposal of merging oil companies into one big public sector undertaking was a welcome move, but may not be an easy task. He said integration across the value chain will bring stability to the industry and mergers can lead to creation of a world-scale company. James Harrison Authentic Jersey
Phase I of Strategic Petroleum Reserve programme has capacity of 5.33 MMT: Govt.
Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question yesterday that Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facilities set up at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur under Phase I of the SPR programme have a total capacity of 5.33 MMT. Mr. Pradhan said that, on January 25, 2017, a Definitive Agreement on Oil Storage and Management was signed between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for filling up one of the two caverns at Mangalore SPR facility. The other cavern at Mangalore has already been filled up by the Government, he said. He also said that the ISPRL, which is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for construction of SPR facilites, had invited preliminary Expression of Interest (EoI) from reputed international parties for filling up of the Padur SPR facility. Mr. Pradhan said that there was 63 days of existing storage, based on estimated commercial reserve of crude oil, petroleum products and gas. The total 5.33 MMT reserve of Phase-I of the SPR programme is currently estimated to supply approximately 10.5 days of India’s crude requirement according to the consumption during 2015-16, he added. Chicago Blackhawks Womens Jersey
Cairn India Q3 avg gross oil & gas production across assets firm at 182 kboepd
Qtrly average gross oil and gas production across assets firm at 182 kboepd, in-line with expectation. .Says in active discussions with world class oil field services companies to partner for end to end outsourcing of certain projects. .Proposed merger of Vedanta Limited and Cairn India expected to complete in the first quarter of CY2017. .Says commencing exploratory drilling in February for Palar-Pennar project .Says gas sales in Rajasthan temporarily suspended due to technical issue between transporter and buyers .Says production from appraisal wells expected in Q1 FY18 for Aishwariya Barmer Hill project .Satellite field Guda stage-1 is expected to start production in Q1 FY18. .Says the drilling programme in palar-pennar block is planned to be completed in April 2017 Charles Woodson Jersey
ONGC halts naphtha exports from Hazira
India’s Oil and Natural Corp (ONGC) will not export naphtha from Hazira in western India as it supplies the fuel to a cracker operated by ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL), four sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. OPaL, promoted by ONGC and co-promoted by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) and gas company GAIL (India) Ltd, operates a cracker which has a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene a year. “We are supplying all of the naphtha to OPaL… we will export if our laycans do not match with that of OPaL’s,” said a company source, adding that OPal is working out its strategy to source some quantity from the market as well. A cracker of this size typically consumes more than 3 million tonnes of naphtha a year, based on Reuters calculation, but OPaL cracker is able to run on gas and naphtha. “OPal did not run full until recently,” said a second source, explaining why ONGC only stopped halting exports this year. ONGC is the key supplier of feedstock to OPaL, with the raw material coming from Hazira, Uran and Dahej in western India. ONGC Hazira was exporting one to two 34,500-tonne cargoes a month in 2016 but this stopped this year, based on Reuters data. ONGC was also exporting an average 35,000 tonnes of naphtha a month from Mumbai in 2016. It last sold a cargo for January 2017 loading. Patrick Eaves Authentic Jersey