French spot power prices fell in Q2 despite strong demand
French spot electricity prices fell in the second quarter by an average 6.7 percent year-on-year due to a prolonged slide in oil and carbon prices, and despite a rise in demand, energy regulator CRE said on Tuesday. The regulator said spot prices averaged around 26 euros ($29) per megawatt hour (MWh) during the quarter. The year-ahead contract for 2017 delivery, however, rose during the same period by 23 percent to average 33.13 euros/MWh following the rebound in commodity prices and a French government decision to put in place a floor price on carbon emissions from January next year. Traded volumes for the year-ahead contract also rose by 43 percent year-on-year during the quarter. European electricity prices have tumbled in recent years due to the combined effects of efficient energy policies and rising supplies of power from renewable wind and solar sources. CRE said prolonged cold weather during the quarter boosted demand for heating, pushing consumption up by 2.3 percent. It added a corresponding 2.5 percent fall in power from nuclear sources led to an increase in supply from hydro and coal-fired power stations. France depends on nuclear power for about 75 percent of its electricity needs. Power from hydro stations rose by nearly 5 percent during the quarter, and by 6.8 percent from coal-fired plants despite a 39 percent fall coal power generation capacity, the regulator said. Electricity from gas plants jumped 16.7 percent during the same quarter, boosting French gas consumption by 13 percent during the period. Charles Woodson Jersey
Oracle and Maharashtra partner to launch Smart City Centre of Excellence
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is pretty pleased with the recent announcement of five cities from his state being added to the Smart City mission launched by the Modi government. Currently on a trip to San Francisco, USA, he delivered a keynote speech at the Oracle Open World 2016, a first for any Indian politician, announcing his CEO-like vision for the state he administers. Quick to make a move and deliver on the smart city promise, he signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Oracle Corporation to create a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Mumbai to help connect 29,000 villages of Maharashtra and launch government-to-citizen and government-to-business services in the state. The MoU plans to accelerate the state’s digital transformation initiatives, leveraging Oracle’s Cloud solutions and develop the state’s smart city programme. The Centre will become a research platform to design, develop and test new capabilities and offer a flexible and scalable common framework to run various government schemes and create robust IT infrastructure that aids government utilities and services for citizens. Oracle will use the learnings from this first Centre of Excellence and drive its Smart City initiatives in other states of India and also take the learnings to other countries, said Safra Catz, CEO, Oracle Corp. Making the first move, Fadnavis said the CoE can become a prototype for all other states to emulate and learn from their experiences of building a smart city. Using cloud capabilities, Catz believes Maharashtra can leapfrog to using the latest technology and skip what other cities having legacy technology capabilities have had to go through to bring about the transformation. If Fadnavis’s plan goes through, expect Mumbai city itself to have about 1200 hotspots for instant Wi-fi connectivity; he says 500 of them will be ready by November this year. Using technology and by inviting many other partners on this tech-transformation journey, he also plans to unify Mumbai’s transportation infrastructure and offer its residents a single ticket to hail a ride on the city bus, metro train, mono rail as well as the trusty old Mumbai suburban local trains. Much like the one-ticket for all rides offered globally by cities like London and Paris. He admits it’s not an easy task but he has set a firm deadline to achieve it – end of 2018. The biggest challenge is to take the network to all villages, catering to the 113 million people in Maharashtra. As one of the many solutions to achieve his goal, he plans to use the electricity poles to help spread the tentacles of optic fibre network across his state. The proposed projects to be covered under the CoE initiative include: Smart city in a box, mobile platform to address service queries, unified app development for services like drivers license, renewals or property tax payments, resources to manage transportation logistics, including analytics, asset tracking, fleet management and resources to manage utilities, including water and power Oracle and the government of Maharashtra plan to invest in IT infrastructure, training and skill-set resources to run the CoE. “Cloud computing has changed the landscape of governance. It has the power to enable inclusive growth and to transform the state into a digitally empowered society,” said Fadnavis. “Together with Oracle, we want to build a new, efficient, transparent and inclusive system that benefits our people. The CoE is a step in that direction and will make more government services available with the click of a button.” Catz plans to use this initiative to invite many other technology companies and join hands with them to support the Digital India initiative outlined by Indian government. “We are thrilled to further our commitment in India by working with the Government of Maharashtra and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to help position India as a world-class design and manufacturing epicentre. The Cloud Center of Excellence powered by Oracle will play a key role in improving the lives of the people of this state,” said Catz. “By moving to the Cloud, the government has the opportunity to create a digitally empowered society and a growing knowledge economy. We look forward to making this partnership a success.” Oracle plans to tap the potential business that will emanate from the India over the next few years. She expects Oracle India’s revenue to grow 10 times in near future. On an earlier trip to India, Catz unveiled a state-of-the-art campus centre at Bengalaru. Oracle also has nine incubation centres in India, and has launched an initiative to train more than half a million students each year to develop computer science skills. When Catz joined Oracle Corp, it had 40 thousand employees globally; today Oracle India alone employs about 40 thousand people. She believes India has the single largest growth potential for Oracle and thus is committed to invest in resources that will help it grow the India business 10 times. Evander Kane Authentic Jersey
22 underserved airports ready for operations, says AAI
About 22 airports to get connected under regional connectivity scheme in the first phase, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman G P Mohapatra told media persons today. “In the first phase, there are 22 airports that are already in place and flights can start as and when airlines plan to,” said Mohapatra. About 22 airports include one is in Andaman Nicobar, three in Assam, two each in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. As part of the plan, the government plans to connect these underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost Rs 2,500 for per hour flight. The government plans to provide subsidy to airlines to offer these fares. Mohapatra also said that AAI would invest Rs 17,500 crore in upgrading airport infrastructure over a period till 2019-20. “The amount we will invest will be generated through internal accruals. We may require to need money at a later stage and may raise money from outside,” he added. The money to be spent will be on upgrade in building airport terminals and expanding runways at many existing airports. The money would also be invested in upgrading 30 smaller airports for regional flights. AAI also plans to build 50 no-frills airports across the country. Trey Flowers Womens Jersey
Jharkhand changed power policy to help Adani: Opposition
Jharkhand’s opposition parties have alleged that the Raghubar Das government here has changed the power policy of 2012 to benefit Adani Power in the state. The Jharkhand cabinet had on Monday made some changes in its 2012 power policy. As per the earlier policy, any power company setting up plant in Jharkhand was bound to provide 25 per cent of the generated power to the state. Of the 25 per cent 13 per cent was to be provided at fixed rate by the Jharkhand Electricity Regulatory Commission while the remaining 12 at the production cost rate. Under the new policy, the power company will now provide 12 per cent power at production cost only if the Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation provided coal at cheaper rate. The opposition parties have alleged that the BJP government in the state made the changes to help the Adani group’s power company. Adani Power has refused to provide power to the state at production rate. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya told IANS: “At the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP government here …is formulating policy to grab tribal land and help the corporates. The power policy was changed to help Adani Power …” “Now the state will purchase power at rate fixed by the commission which will be much higher than the production cost,” said Bhattacharya, adding, “the proposed changes in the land acts were also to help the corporate houses”. Congress spokesperson Kishore Sahdeo told IANS that Raghubar Das was giving in to demands of the corporate houses. He said that land acts and power policy were being changed for the same. Sahdeo said, “There should be a high level probe to investigate the circumstances under which the power policy and land acts were being changed.” He accused, “The Raghubar Das government first reduced land rates in Santhal Pargana to help Adani and now they are making policy changes to benefit the same company.” The opposition parties had raised objection over the state’s move to make changes in the power and land policies during the assembly session this year. Adani Power has planned to set up 1600 MW thermal power plant in Sanathal Pargana which will be supplied to Bangladesh. In June the then Energy secretary S.K. Rahate had gone on a long leave as he refused to bow down to make the changes. Rahate had noted that Jharkhand will suffer a loss of Rs 2000 crore if the environment cess was not taken from Adani Power. Alex Lewis Authentic Jersey
ADB clears $631 million loan for Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $631-million loan for construction of industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam and Chennai, part of India’s first coastal industrial corridor running from West Bengal to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. “The fund will help develop the first key 800-km section of the planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor expected to spur development on India’s eastern coast and enable seamless trade links with other parts of South and Southeast Asia,” ADB said in an official statement on Tuesday. The total cost of the project is $846 million and work on it is expected to be over by 2031. The remaining $215 million will be funded by the Andhra Pradesh government. Loans and grants from the Manilabased bank comprise a $500 million two-tranche facility to build key infrastructure and a $125 million two-tranche loan to help in industrial policies and business promotion. The loan is for a period of 25 years at interest rate of 0.5% plus libor. The ADB loan will help the government build state-of-theart industrial clusters, roads, efficient transport, and reliable water and power supplies with a skilled workforce and good business policies. The new infrastructure will be built in the four main centres — Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti — along the corridor. It will include 138 km of state highways and roads, water treatment plants, 488 km of drinking water pipeline, 47 km of storm drains, 10 power substations and 281 km of power transmission and distribution lines. According to ADB’s projections, automobile and electronic manufacturing will grow 24% a year over the next two decades along the coastal corridor districts. During this period, 7-13% growth is expected in plastics, food processing, textiles and apparels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals sectors. Reggie White Jersey
AAI expects bid documents for Jaipur,Ahmedabad airports by November
Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to come out with documents for seeking bids from private players for operating and managing terminals at Jaipur and Ahmedabad aerodromes by November, months after rejecting a proposal in this regard from Singapore’s Changi Airport. Seeking to revive the long pending plans to hand over the terminals of the two airports to private players, AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra on Tuesday said the proposal is to go for public private partnership. “We have to go to the Finance ministry since these are the PPP projects. We are working this out and hope the proposal goes to the Finance Ministry by this month end,” he said here. Mohapatra said that AAI expects to float the bid documents, which would also be open for foreign entities, by November. This year, AAI rejected twice Singapore’s Changi Airport’s proposal to operate and maintain Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports. The proposal to rope in Singapore’s Changi airport for the projects was first floated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation last November. The revised plan from Changi Airport, owned by the Singapore government, also sought a “higher” quantum of revenue in managing Jaipur and Ahmedabad aerodromes. This is “unfeasible” and not commercially viable for AAI, sources had said earlier.
India to ferry more petroleum products to Tripura via Bangladesh
After the first round of shipment of diesel and cooking gas to Tripura via Bangladesh on September 10, India will ferry more petroleum products through the same route over the next two weeks, officials here said on Tuesday. “Twelve LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)-laden trucks would carry the cooking gas from Guwahati to northern Tripura via Bangladesh on September 23. This would be the second consignment of petroleum products being carried through Bangladesh,” an official of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) said. “On September 10, nine tank trucks carrying 108 kilolitres of diesel and kerosene, along with one LPG truck, travelled from Betkutchi near Guwahati via Dawki, Meghalaya’s border point with Bangladesh, to Tamabil and Chatlapur in Bangladesh, and reached Kailasahar and Dharmanagar in northern Tripura, plying 136 km through Bangladesh territory.” Bangladesh had earlier allowed India to ferry heavy machinery of the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and carry foodgrains to Tripura. “The special arrangement of carrying petroleum products was made due to the difficulties faced in carrying petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas through the National Highways linking Tripura,” the official added. To carry these products, IOCL, under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas of India, and the Roads & Highways Department (RHD) of Bangladesh had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Dhaka on August 18. The IOCL official said this route via Bangladesh would save time and cost in carrying petroleum products from Assam to Tripura, as the existing over 400km mountainous route requires many hours to carry these essential items. “Besides, the condition of National Highways in Meghalaya and southern Assam is horrifying. Between May and August, Tripura was almost cut off and road transportation in southern Assam, Mizoram and western Manipur was badly disrupted due to damaged roads in the region,” the official said. Speaking on the new arrangement in Guwahati, IOCL Executive Director Dipankar Ray said: “This move by IOCL not only paves the way for future logistics management but also exemplifies its commitment to ensuring energy accessibility in the country.” A statement from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said Bangladesh has granted permission for the movement of petroleum goods through its territory on humanitarian grounds. The short-term India-Bangladesh deal on the shipping of petroleum products is valid until September 30. The MoU paves way for India to carry petroleum goods (motor spirit, high-speed diesel, superior kerosene oil and LPG) from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh to create a buffer stock in the northeastern state. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has transported 23,000 tons of rice in three phases since 2014 from Kolkata to Tripura via Bangladesh using that country’s Ashuganj River Port, which is about 50 km from Tripura. In 2012, Bangladesh had allowed state-owned ONGC to ferry heavy machinery, turbines and over-dimensional cargoes through Ashuganj port for the 726 MW Palatana Mega Power Project in southern Tripura. There is only a narrow land corridor to the northeastern region through Assam and West Bengal that passes through hilly terrain with steep gradients and multiple hairpin bends, making transportation, especially of loaded trucks, very difficult. Agartala via Guwahati is 1,650 km from Kolkata by road, and 2,637 km from New Delhi. But the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just 620 km. Adolphus Washington Jersey
IOC, GAIL to sign pact to take 49% stake in Adani project
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GAIL India will sign a pact on Wednesday to take 49 per cent stake in Adani Group’s Rs 5,000-crore Dhamra LNG project in Odisha. While IOC will take 38 per cent, GAIL will pick 11 per cent stake in the proposed 5-million ton a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Dhamra by financial year 2018-19. Adani Petroleum Terminal will hold 49 per cent in Dhamra LNG Terminal — the firm setting up the LNG plant. The remaining 2 per cent interest will be held by financial institutions. Sources said a formal agreement signing ceremony is planned on Wednesday where Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who also hails from Odisha, will also be present. IOC had last year signed up to use 60 per cent of the terminal capacity for importing gas for its refineries at Haldia in West Bengal and Paradip in Odisha. GAIL too had signed up for 1.5 million tons of the terminal’s regassification capacity. GAIL and IOC were initially bargaining for 50 per cent stake in the project, but Adani wanted to retain controlling interest. Equity in the Adani terminal follows GAIL dropping plans in March last year to set up a floating LNG import terminal at Paradip. IOC too had in 2012 signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dhamra LNG Port Corp (DPCL) to develop an LNG terminal at the port. After shelving their respective plans, the firms in May last year signed a pact with Dhamra LNG Terminal, a firm owned by Adani Enterprises. Dhamra will be the sixth LNG project announced on the east coast. While GAIL has dropped plans of a 4-mt project at Paradip, Petronet LNG, a firm in which GAIL and IOC are promoters, has shelved plans to set up a 5-mt a year LNG import facility at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh. GAIL, along with GdF and Shell, has proposed a 3.5-mt floating LNG terminal at Kakinada while IOC is building a 5-mt facility at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. Real estate player Hiranandani Group is looking to set up a Rs 24 billion, 4-mt floating LNG import terminal off Haldia in West Bengal. With GAIL, which owns and operates bulk of the nation’s cross-country pipelines, and IOC, whose refineries are a big user of gas, joining Dhamra, the fate of LNG terminals in Andhra Pradesh is uncertain. Dhamra can meet all of the demand in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Dhamra port in Bhadrak district of Odisha is an all- weather deep water port, sources said. GAIL in October 2013 had signed an MoU with the Paradip Port Trust for setting up of the LNG import terminal. While the port was to invest Rs 6.50 billion in breakwater and dredging, GAIL was to invest Rs 24.58 billion for the 4-mt terminal which can be expanded to 10 mt. The plan was, however, dropped in March last year. Brandon Williams Authentic Jersey
Delays cost energy projects Rs 71,000 crore
hat could be the total cost of the bureaucratic delays in implementation of energy sector projects? The cost runs into a whopping Rs 71,000 crore, according to the government’s own assessment of the progress on major infrastructure projects currently being set up in the petroleum, coal and power sectors. According to the latest report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, this includes Rs 48,889 crore from power generation and transmission projects, Rs 5,120 crore from petroleum projects, Rs 11,476 crore from atomic power projects, Rs 4504 from petrochemical projects and Rs 1016 from coal projects. Power As many as 14 power generation projects and six power transmission projects have cost overruns due to delays. The list includes six projects of Power Grid Corporation, four projects on NHPC, four projects of NEEPCO, three projects of NTPC, two projects of DVC and one project of THDCIL. Of these 20 projects that ran into cost overrun, eight are hydro power projects with a total capacity of 3,640 MW. These projects, which have a total cost overrun of nearly Rs 16,000 crore have mostly been stuck due to environmental issues, protests from activist groups and agitation from locals. While some projects were approved as early as 2002 and 2003, NEEPCO’s 60 Megwatt Tuirial Hydro Power project was approved 18 years back in 1998. The project was scheduled to be commissioned in 2006. “However, the project work came to total stop w.e.f 9th June, 2004 on account of agitation launched by Tuirial Crop Compensation Claimant Association claiming payment of crop compensation for the Standing Crops in the Riverine Reserve Forest. Till June, 2004 prior to stoppage of work, 30% of the Project work and 95% of Design & Engineering work were completed,” according to information available on NEEPCO’s website. In terms of cost overrun, NHPC’s 8×250 MW Subansiri Lower Hydro electric project has the highest cost overrun at Rs 11,149.82 crore. The project was approved in 2003 with an estimated cost of Rs 6,285.33 crore and was expected to be commissioned in 2010. However, due to protests from activists and other groups claiming this project could be a harmful to the environment, construction work in this project has been stuck. NTPC, India’s largest power, has two of its thermal power projects and one hydel plant running into cost overrun. The company’s 3×660 MW Barh thermal power plant in Bihar, approved in 2005, has a cost overrun of Rs 6,402.7 crore followed by Bongaigaon thermal power plant in Assam, which has a cost overrun of Rs 2,373.83 crore. NTPC’s 4×130 MW Tapovan hydel project has also been delayed leading to a cost overrun of Rs 867.82 crore. Atomic Power Apart from these, the Kudankulam hydro power project also has a cost overrun of Rs 9,291 crores. The project, being set up by NPCIL, was initially approved in 2001 and was scheduled to commission in 2008. The project was delayed due to protests over the safety of a nuclear power plant. The first reactor of the plant attained criticality in 2013 and the first unit started production. The second reactor became critical in July this year and commercial operation of the unit is scheduled for 2017. Petroleum Four projects of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, two projects of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd and one project each of Oil India Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Of these, BPCL’s Integrated Refinery Expansion Project has the highest cost overrun at Rs 2,279 crore. The project, which was approved in 2012, was likely to be done by this year. The total cost overrun of ONGC’s four projects stand at Rs 1,317.73 crore which include on conversion of rig Sagar Samrat to mobile offshore production unit, Gamji field redevelopment, integrated development of B-127 fields and MH North Redevelopment Phase III. Coal The only coal project which features in the list is Singareni Collieries Company’s Adriyala Shaft Project in Telangana. Initially approved in 2009, the project now has a cost overrun of Rs 1,016.05 rupees. The mine is estimated to have 54.36 million tonne of deep-seated extractable coal reserves in five horizons and the coal would be used for NTPC’s Ramagundam project. Rodney McLeod Authentic Jersey
GAIL’s polyethylene facility in UP goes on stream
GAIL (India) Ltd said on Tuesday the company has started its first UNIPOL PE process line to produce 400,000 tonnes of polyethylene (PE) annually. With this, the total production capacity at the company’s petrochemical plant at Pata, Uttar Pradesh, is now 810,000 tonne per annum. “GAIL’s flexible high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/ linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) swing plant provides access to a full range of resin applications which will allow GAIL and its customers to capture new market opportunities as the PE market’s demands are changing,” the company said in a statement. “Introduction of UNIPOL PE Resin products in the Indian market has started receiving positive feedback from customers. The GAIL team at the project site appreciated the US-based Univation Technologies team for providing good support to the commissioning of the project, right from the hook up and start-up of the new plant,” the statement added. Tie Domi Jersey