No need for landowner’s nod to lay power line: Supreme Court
Removing roadblocks in reaching electricity to every village, the Supreme Court has ruled that no prior consent of landowners was required to lay overhead power transmission lines and erect towers to support these lines. Through the judgment, the SC settled the issue which gave rise to conflicting judgments from various HCs. The SC’s top priority was to enable the government and its agencies to get electricity to the last household in the remotest areas. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi said, “It is well known that India is an energy deficient country. There are many households where lighting even an electric bulb is a dream.” The issue was filed by a cement manufacturer from Chhattisgarh and Power Grid Corporation. The cement manufacturer challenged Power Grid’s decision to erect towers for transmission lines on its limestone mine lease area without its consent. The bench said, “As per the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, unobstructed access to lay down telegraph and/or electricity transmission lines is an imperative in the larger public interest.” Rollie Fingers Authentic Jersey
Draft proposal boosts India’s chances for entry into NSG
A draft proposal for accepting new members into the Nuclear Suppliers Group may have boosted India’s chances while requiring Pakistan to take additional steps to engage in civil nuclear trade with the 48 member states. As per the draft, circulated by India’s point person, former NSG chairman Rafael Mariano Grossi, at the group’s meeting in Vienna last month, India’s commitments on nonproliferation to the NSG in 2008 that won it an exemption for civil nuclear trade will suffice for its entry into the group, people familiar with the matter said. India got an unconditional waiver from SG in 2008. India is seeking membership of the NSG on the grounds that it is already doing business with the members of the group and that it has an impeccable nonproliferation record. India had applied for NSG membership earlier this year, with Pakistan following soon thereafter. NSG, a nuclear technology control organisation formed in 1975 in response to India’s maiden nuclear tests, requires countries to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty before applying for membership of the group. However, India remains one of only three countries, along with Israel and Pakistan, not to have signed the NPT. Under the formula described in Grossi’s note, India could theoretically claim that it has already undertaken all of the steps necessary for membership, which could then lead to a decision on membership for India, said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified. At the meeting in Vienna, NSG discussed nine general commitments that India and other countries that have not signed the NPT would need to make in order to receive the fullest atomic trading privileges, according to Grossi’s draft. Grossi was acting on behalf of the current NSG chairman, Song Young-wan of South Korea. Grossi, an expert on nuclear issues, circulated a “revised version of a draft ‘Exchange of Notes’ for non-NPT applicants” among the NSG members. The draft proposes “one non-NPT member state should reach an understanding not to block consensus on membership for another non-NPT member state”, the person said Paul Thompson Jersey
Sale of petrol, diesel grew 9 per cent in Delhi last financial year
The sale of petrol and diesel in Delhi increased to 902,000 tonne during 2015-16 compared to 831,000 tonne in 2014-15 fiscal. As per latest data released by the city government, the sale of CNG also went up from 717,000 tonne in 2014-15 to 738,000 tonne in 2015-16. For LPG, the figures stood at 732,000 tonne and 777,000 tonne for 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. According to the city government’s Delhi Statistical Handbook 2016, number of consumers of domestic light and fans in 2015-16 stood at 40,94,647 while the figure was 42,89,124 in 2014-15. The number of commercial light, fans stood at 8,51,410 and 8,71,330 in the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. Joel Heath Authentic Jersey
BP buys Woolworths fuel business in Australia
Oil company BP says it has agreed to buy the fuel business of Australian supermarket chain Woolworths Ltd. for $1.3 billion as part of its efforts to rebuild itself. The deal includes 527 fuel convenience sites and 16 other development sites across Australia. That adds to the 350 BP-owned gas stations in the country, and some 1,000 other BP-branded outlets owned by independent business partners. The deal, announced Wednesday, is subject to approval from Australian authorities and is expected to be complete over the next year.
Modi strikes gold on Ujjwala Yojana, 30% LPG connections given to UP
Making it one of the most successful social sector projects of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has achieved its target of giving LPG connections to 15 million families in 2016-17 within seven months of its launch in May. The scheme was launched on May 1 this year at Billie in Uttar Pradesh with a target of providing connections to 50 million below poverty line families in three years time, with a government support of Rs 16 billion per connection. Though the target for the current financial year was 15 million connections, Dharmendra Pradhan-led petroleum ministry was able to achieve the target with more than three months to spare. As per the PMUY website, the ministry crossed 1,51,07,561 families on Thursday. Interestingly, about 30 per cent of these connections are given to the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The government has allocated Rs 80 billion for the scheme in which connections are issued in the name of the women in those families. According to industry sources, the minister himself is overseeing Modi’s pet project, along with a team of officials in the marketing division led by joint secretary Ashutosh Jindal and deputy secretary K M Mahesh, with oil marketing companies reporting the developments of PMUY to the team on a daily basis. Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh has got the maximum number of connections with more than 4.5 million people benefitting from the scheme, followed by West Bengal with 1.95 million, Bihar with 1.9 million, Madhya Pradesh with 1.7 million and Rajasthan with 1.45 million connections. The ministry is likely to revise the target for this fiscal now. The government is also looking to invite the participation of private sector and other individuals to the scheme through PMUY Plus. The Pradhan team’s plan is that PMUY is set to get an image makeover, with the participation of private corporates and other individuals through a scheme called PMUY Plus. As per the concept floated by Pradhan, private parties can pay for the subsidy of below poverty line families. According to the plan, the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation – will form a society to run this programme. While companies like Saudi Aramco had shown interest in being a part of the project, even individuals like Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Mahesh Sharma had offered his one month salary for PMUY. The scheme is followed by the success of “Give it Up” campaign launched by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas through which about 10.5 million people gave up their LPG subsidy. Gathering impetus from PMUY scheme, the government has already added more than 20.5 million LPG customers this year. “In last two-and-a-half years, the government was successful in adding 60 million LPG connections, while in the 60 years before that, only 130 million connections were added,” said a source close to the development. According to the petroleum ministry data, India currently has 191.1 million LPG connections, while OMCs added 16 million consumers in 2014-15 and 20 million in 2015-16. Ryan Murray Authentic Jersey
Securing our energy future
In a recently held international conference sponsored by Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Mr. Anders Hasselarger, an energy expert from Denmark pointed out in his keynote speech that the share of renewable energy, mostly solar and wind, in the energy mix in Denmark is 30 percent at present with prospect of raising it to 50 percent by 2030. Many other European countries are also forward moving towards an all renewable energy market. What Mr. Hasselarger tried to suggest based on the European energy sector concept, was that Bangladesh should have a diversified future energy mix with a long term perspective towards renewable energy sources with solar energy as the primary source. However, biomass, wind, hydro and wave or tidal water systems could also be relevant. Denmark and other European countries are not rich in sunlight. Sunlight is abundant in Bangladesh, yet the share of renewables (including solar, wind, hydro) in the energy mix in Bangladesh is only 3 percent, way behind a sun poor Denmark. Bangladesh targets to raise the renewable share in the energy mix from 3 percent today to 10 percent by 2020. This implies an increase of renewable based power to 2,400 MW (10 percent of projected generation capacity of 24,000 MW) from the present 450 MW in just four years. The absence of visible projects to fulfil the target led most observers to be sceptical about its success. Solar energy has very small share in the present energy mix in Bangladesh – less than 2 percent. Yet in one count, solar has a successful story. Bangladesh hosts the fastest growing solar home system in the world with 60,000 SHS units being installed per month. In terms of megawatt this may be tiny (solar produces only 190 MW while the national total power production capacity is 13,000 MW), but its contribution is enormous in socially uplifting millions of people, by raising their standard of living, by providing solar electricity to those who would never have grid electricity. Lighting a remote off the grid house with small solar power is one thing; providing energy feed for a large mass of people aspiring for rapid industrialisation is quite different. This is a bigger challenge. Bangladesh at present is energy starved. Its aspiration for entering the club of middle income country requires an increase in per capita energy use to boost the per capita GNI, a prerequisite for the above transition. The core problem Bangladesh faces is a shortage of primary energy to run the rapidly growing industry and power installations. Being a local gas based mono energy nation for the last four decades, Bangladesh was caught unprepared with an energy crisis when the trend of depleting gas reserve was confirmed. Although good amount of coal reserves are known to occur in north Bangladesh, local coal could not be used immediately as an alternative to gas because of the absence of enough coal mining. This leads Bangladesh to look for energy from outside. In the medium to long term future, Bangladesh plans to source its energy needs through imported fuels including coal, liquefied natural gas, LNG and oil. In one estimate, Bangladesh will have 90 percent dependence on imported energy sources by the year 2030. And this would come at a cost. The present downward prices of oil, LNG and coal are likely to be short lived and will bounce back to their original or even higher positions. Therefore, long term dependence on imported fuel for most of its requirement will introduce stress on the economy and will increase prices of industrial products including electricity and import inflation. Introduction of LNG in the short term future to compensate for the immediate gas supply deficit is perhaps justified, but the merit of a long term supply of large volume of costly LNG may be questionable. A rightful alternative is to launch serious gas exploration. Major exploration for hydrocarbon has not been undertaken in the country for more than a decade and a little gas reserve could be added to the reserve base. The gas exploration in Bangladesh may be called anything but serious with less than 10 exploratory wells drilled in the last 10 years. In spite of the fact that a large ocean area has now been claimed by the government as undisputed following the verdict of the international court, there has been too little activity by Bangladesh offshore. Yet, on the other side of offshore boundary, Myanmar has been registering significant gas discoveries since the boundary dispute was settled in 2012. Interestingly, the offshore Rakhaine Basin of Myanmar, where the late gas discoveries are being made, is a geologic continuation of the SE offshore Bangladesh. Geologists are therefore pointedly suggesting that the latter area would be equally gas prospective as the former. Unfortunately the Bangladesh offshore sees little exploration to prove it right. Bangladesh stands at a cross road of transition from an under-developed power and energy sector to a more developed one with projections of attaining a power generating capacity of 39,000 MW by 2030 and 56,000 MW by 2040. A major challenge for its successful implementation is to secure a cost effective sustainable primary energy supply. The government plans major changes in the way Bangladesh runs its energy business. As per the government’s plan and publicity, an energy mix is forthcoming in the mid to long term future with massive imported coal, large volume of imported LNG, imported oil, significant cross border electricity, nuclear energy, renewables and some local gas. This is likely to visibly change the energy and power scenario in the country, but the impact of such large volume of imported energy sources raises one question: how would the economy react to the price shock that comes with the large scale energy imports? Bangladesh should prioritise hydrocarbon exploration especially in the offshore, optimise renewable prospects especially solar and develop local coal to mitigate the energy crisis in the short to mid-term future. For the long term future (beyond 2030 or even 2040)
Solar power, green corridor blip on energy radar for 2017
Green seems to be the catchword for the government heading into the next year as it gears up to achieve 175 gigawatt of clean energy by 2022 through auction of 1,000 MW of rooftop solar power, Rs 13,000 crore investment in solar parks and a Rs 21,000-crore package to boost local manufacturing of panels. By all yardsticks, 2016 remains a watershed year when solar tariff slumped to Rs 4 per unit and wind projects received a major thrust. The government is set to switch gears in 2017 to make India a hub for one of the largest installations of clean energy sources by 2022. Minister for New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal offered a glimpse of things to come while speaking to PTI. Scaling up of rooftop solar programme, scheme to encourage domestic manufacturing of solar panels and making wind power affordable through auction of sites all fill up a packed 2017. His ministry has in its sight Rs 1 lakh crore investment for the sector and is looking at 20 GW of power generation from non-conventional sources in 2017-18. Beginning with speeding up the tempo for solar panel installation at homes, schools and hospitals through subsidies in 2016, plans are afoot to expand the rooftop programme to government buildings by providing target-based incentives. In the November auction of 500 MW, subsidies for installation of as much as 432.7 MW of rooftop solar capacity were lapped up by 122 developers. A fresh tender for one gigawatt (1,000 MW) is now in the works. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is eyeing generation of 100 GW from solar power alone by 2022. Rooftop solar capacity almost doubled to 1,000 MW in 2016 and the aim is to take this to 40 GW. Also on the table is a green corridor to transmit 2,000 MW of power from 34 solar panels across 21 states. For good measure, Goyal said, a scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of solar panels will become a reality in 2017. The Rs 21,000-crore module aims to create 5 GW of photovoltaic manufacturing capacity by 2019 and 20 GW by 2026. India’s renewable energy generation capacity stands at 45 GW. According to Goyal, wind power is up next after successful reduction in solar tariff through transparent auction of sites. A mobility scheme is on the anvil to achieve 100 per cent electric vehicle-based transportation for India by 2030, he said without giving out specifics. Early next year, the ministry will organise Global RE- Invest 2017 India-ISA Partnership, the second edition of the bi-ennial Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo to bring in investors. The event will build on RE-Invest 2015 and explore the advances to help meet India’s ultimate target of adding 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022. The ministry is keen on fostering competition among players, particularly in the wind energy space, to bring down tariff and make it a viable source of electricity for consumers. The Global Renewable Energy Investors meet is the world’s largest renewable energy investors gathering to be organised in 2017, Goyal said. He spoke of launching renewable energy fund under the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The ministry has been working on this USD 2-billion fund to make private players invest in the sector. In 2017-18, the government is eyeing 20,450 MW power capacity addition from renewables, including 15,000 (solar), 4,600 MW (wind), 750 MW (biomass) and 100 MW from small hydro power (of up to 25 MW). A total of 7,518 MW of grid-connected power generation capacity from renewable sources has been added this year (January to October 2016). In 2016-17, a total of 1,502 MW capacity has come on board till October-end this year, making a cumulative realisation of 28,279 MW. Now, in terms of wind power installed capacity, India is placed at the 4th rank after China, the US and Germany. As for solar power, a total of 1,750 MW capacity has been added till October-end this year, making it a cumulative 8,728 MW. After bringing solar tariff to a record low of Rs 3 per unit, the minister indicated making wind power affordable. He said, “There will be a wind auction to transparently reduce the tariff.” The government has planned solar energy from every roof in the country and there will be expansion of rooftop solar programmes next year. It has envisaged 40 GW of solar power from rooftop alone out of the total 100 GW planned to be added by 2022. This flows from the need to push rooftop solar in a big way against the backdrop of a target of 40 GW grid connected solar rooftops by 2022. So far, about 500 MW of rooftop solar has been installed and about 3,000 MW has been sanctioned for installation. All major sectors like the Railways, airport, hospitals, educational institutions, government buildings of central, state and PSUs are being targeted, besides the private sector. A massive Grid Connected Solar Rooftop Programme will be launched with 40 GW target. State Electricity Regulatory Commissions of 30 states/UTs notified regulations for net-metering and feed-in-tariff mechanism. Besides, funding of Rs 5,000 crore was approved for solar rooftops. A total sanction of USD 1,300 million has been received from the World Bank, KFW, ADB and NDB which will enable SBI, PNB, Canara Bank and IREDA to fund such projects at an interest rate of less than 10 per cent. The ministry has tied up with ISRO for geo-tagging of all the rooftop plants using ISRO’s VEDAS portal. To reduce import of solar equipment from other countries, particularly from China, the ministry is keen to encourage domestic production to meet the huge power demand. The minister said there will be focus on Make in India for solar power next year and a scheme to this effect may be launched. The government has also planned launch of founding conference of International Solar Alliance. About use of renewable in farm sector, he said, “We will focus on Prosperous Farmer — Pollution Free India. There
2016: High growth, maiden policy propelled aviation sector
A maiden integrated policy and over 20 per cent month-on-month traffic growth gave wings to the country’s civil aviation sector in 2016. The sector reaped benefits out of a rise in domestic disposable income, lower jet fuel prices and enhanced services to the non-metro cities, which accelerated India’s passenger traffic growth in 2016. According to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), passenger traffic during January-November 2016 zoomed by 23.10 per cent to 90.36 million. This rise and other contributing factors have led global airlines’ industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA) to estimate that India will displace the UK as the third-largest aviation marketplace by 2026. It is currently at 9th. Recently, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha elaborated that the sector has “dramatic headroom” for growth as India has only 150 million passenger trips a year as compared to China’s 450 million and the US’ 800 million. In the backdrop of such high growth, the sector finally got its maiden integrated National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP). The long-awaited policy envisages a roadmap to support 300 million air travellers in five years and steps to make flying affordable and convenient. Broadly, the policy dwells on upgrade of airports, regional connectivity, easing of norms for flying abroad, liberalisation of the open skies regime, development of cargo hubs, chopper services, attracting investments in maintenance and ground-handling and security. The ambitious policy did away with one of the most contentious rules of the sector known as ‘5/20’ — five-years operation and a 20-aircraft fleet — to qualify for flying abroad. The five-year wait was done away with, but airlines will need 20 aircraft or fly 20 per cent of their capacity on domestic routes. The policy may be far away from achieving its intended target, but its showpiece sub-segment — the ‘UDAN’ (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) — is expected to become a reality from early 2017. According to Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the first flight under the RCS is expected to be operated by January 2017. The Udan scheme, meant to enhance air passenger traffic in the country by stimulating demand on regional routes, will be in operation for a period of 10 years, provide air connectivity to unserved and remote routes with airfare being capped at Rs 2,500 for an hour’s journey of around 500 km. The RCS is expected to support airlines by providing direct financial support namely VGF (viability gap funding), which would be given to the interested airlines to kick off operations to an un-served or underserved airport, and also keep passenger fares affordable. The central government is expected to provide concessions in the form of reduced excise duty and service tax, whereas state governments will have to lower the VAT (value added tax) on ATF (air turbine fuel) to one per cent or less. Besides, the state governments would not charge on security and fire services while electricity, water and other utilities would be provided at concessional rates. Minister of State Sinha elaborated that through Udan, the central government is also working to expand the aviation map of India from 75 to 150 airports, adding that the Kanpur and Bhatinda airports have become operational under the scheme. Among other highlights of 2016 — the government has initiated a trial run for “non-stamping” of passengers’ baggage tags at the time of boarding the aircraft at six airports to facilitate hassle-free movement of passengers with hand baggage. In other major developments, the government appointed B.S. Bhullar as chief of the country’s civil aviation regulator, DGCA. Mario Addison Jersey
Government okays Rs 11,000 crore road projects for Left-wing hit areas
The government has approved an over Rs 11,000-crore project to construct all-weather roads and improve connectivity for security reasons in nearly 40 districts worst hit by the Left-wing extremism and violence. Approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the ‘Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas’ will provide connectivity in 35 worst affected LWE districts – which account for 90 per cent of total LWE violence in the country – and 9 adjoining districts, critical from security angle. To be implemented as a vertical under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, more than 5,400 kilometres of road would be constructed/upgraded and 126 bridges/cross drainage works would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore. The roads will be operable through the year, irrespective of weather conditions. The fund sharing for the LWE road project will be same as the PMGSY – in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and states for all states except for North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10. Finance Ministry will allocate Rs 7,034.72 crore to the Ministry of Rural Development for the project during the implementation period 2016-17 to 2019-20. Ministry of Rural Development will be the responsible for sponsoring and implementing the project. The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgrading of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs), that are critical from the security point of view. Bridges up to a span of 100 metres, critical from security angle, would also be funded on these roads. National and state highways have been excluded from the project. The roads to be constructed under the scheme have been identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the state governments and security agencies. PMGSY was launched in 2000 as a centrally-sponsored scheme with the objective to provide all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in the rural areas. Troy Hill Jersey
Demonetisation: NHAI to pay Rs 922 crore for toll loss
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will shell out Rs 922 crore to private highway operators for the toll revenue loss they incurred due to suspension of user charge collection from the afternoon of November 9 to the midnight of December 2. Toll collection was suspended across all national highways in the country following demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8. NHAI has moved a proposal to compensate private highway operators “to boost the confidence of private investors”, give “immediate relief ” to already stressed developers and to provide a safeguard against bank loans becoming nonperforming assets. The proposal needs the nod of the Cabinet committee on economic affairs for the fund to be released. The NHAI proposal says that the compensation payment has arisen solely on account of the government decision. The highway authority has worked out the compensation based on the average daily collection in October. Though this works out to be Rs 1,212 crore for all the 317 toll plazas, revenue loss of projects on public-privatepartnership (PPP) is estimated around Rs 922 crore. “The balance estimated loss of about Rs 290 crore is in respect of public funded/annuity projects, which vest in NHAI and for which the compensation amount does not have to be paid out,” the highway authority says in its proposal. At present, the contract conditions for each project specify how interim compensation can be paid in case of such loss due to government decision and how the tolling period of a project can be extended. But NHAI said working out such details of each project would be cumbersome and there is a fear that there would be huge claims and litigations by private players at a later stage. NHAI added that all those operators who take the onetime compensation will execute an agreement with the authority stating that they will forgo any other claim, including that for extension of toll period. Nickell Robey-Coleman Authentic Jersey