What is happening in Telangana power sector?
Telangana Electricity Employees’ JAC Coordinator and TJAC member K. Raghu, on Monday, questioned the wisdom behind Damarcherla in Nalgonda as location for the Yadadri Thermal Power Project and the construction of Bhadradri Thermal Power Station in Manuguru of Khammam district with outdated technology. He said that his reports to the Telangana Government on various decisions pertaining to power sector have been disregarded, which include, among others, the one on the power purchase agreement with Chhattisgarh. Speaking at the release of his book ‘Telangana Vidyut Rangamlo Em Jaruguthunnadi’ (What’s happening in Telangana Power Sector’) – the first ever in a series of analytical reports to be published by the TJAC on various policy decisions since state bifurcation – Mr. Raghu said that he could not find a reason for Damarcherla being zeroed in as the location for the power project. “During Telangana movement, we had argued constantly for pithead projects, close to locations of coal availability. Damarcherla is located away from coal mines and transportation itself will cost Rs. 3,000 crore each year,” he explained. Though Bhadradri project was close to the Singareni coal mines, it was decided to use 50 to 100 per cent imported coal. “Besides, the sub-critical technology being used would add up an additional Rs. 400 crore burden each year, with which the contract employees working in the power utilities could be regularised twice,” he remarked, adding that the biggest disappointment from the Telangana Government has been the failure to regularise contract workers. Power utilities are already under heavy losses, owing to which revenue collection is given the utmost priority. The book intends to bridge the information gap faced by the public which is clueless about the basis for various decisions by the Government. N. Sreekumar, a consultant from Prayas Energy Group, emphasised on the need to bring to a halt the capacity addition in energy sector, as the year 2016-17 is announced as surplus year by the Central Electricity Authority. Across the country, generating stations are being backed down and payment of fixed costs for the backed down capacity would result in huge tariff burden. Patric Hornqvist Jersey
A.P. first to become power surplus in South
The Hinduja National Power Corporation Limited (HNPCL), a part of the Hinduja Group, on Monday commissioned its 1,040 MW power project at Palavalasa near here helping Andhra Pradesh to emerge as the first Southern State to become power surplus. The company commissioned the 2×520 MW coal-fired power plant to meet the increasing demand for electricity due to growth of industrialisation in the State. The commissioning of the plant got affected due to the havoc caused by Cyclone Hudhud in October, 2014. A company communiqué quoted its Managing Director Ashok Puri as saying “we are pleased to announce that we have commissioned both the units of the project. Unit-1 started supplying power to the grid since January 2016. Currently both the units are in operation.” All power to discoms He said the entire power generated by the project was being given to State-owned Southern and Eastern Power Distribution Companies of Andhra Pradesh. It will primarily cater to the growing power needs of the rising industrial demand in and around the city of Visakhapatnam and the Southern Region, which includes some of the fastest growing economies in the country. “We would like to thank Government of India and the Government of AP for supporting the development of the power plant,’’ he said, adding A.P. was the first State to implement 24X7 power for all schemes and pioneer the country in initiating power sector reforms as early as 1998 before the division of the State. The State’s total installed capacity is 15,311.17 MW and it aims to achieve 29,000 MW of installed capacity by 2019, Mr. Puri said. The Hinduja Group has identified power generation as one of its focus areas of business. Vic Beasley Jersey
Power generation increased by 7.04 percent in 2 years: Piyush Goyal
The Minister said that there is presently power surplus in the country and states can be provided as much power as they require. In another written reply, the Minister said more than 13.15 crore LED bulbs have been distributed by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd.( EESL) as on 18th July 2016 and approximately 8.0 crore by other suppliers. The Minister further stated that Ministry aims to replace 77 crore conventional incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs by March, 2019. EESL is playing an important role as a catalyst in replacing these bulbs, while several other suppliers are also engaged in the same. The Minister also mentioned that 1.2 crore domestic consumers have been targeted for distribution of LED bulbs by EESL in Gujarat and about 1.15 crore LED bulbs have been distributed by 19th July, 2016. In view of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s address to nation, on Independence Day, Government of India has decided to electrify remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1000 days i.e. by 01st May, 2018. The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and alsodividing village electrification process in 12 Stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring. 9,134 villages have been electrified till date. Out of remaining 9,318 villages, 497 villages are uninhabitated. 5,860 villages are to be electrified through grid, 2,645 villages to be electrified through off-grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 316 villages are to be electrified by State Govt . Total 1654 villages were electrified during April 2015 to 14th Aug 2015 and after taking initiative by Government of India for taking it on mission mode, 7,480 additional villages have been electrified from 15th August 2015 to 24th July, 2016. Shawn Williams Authentic Jersey
New terminal to be built at Leh airport for Rs 200 crore
A new terminal will be constructed at Leh airport with an investment of around Rs 200 crore which will increase the passenger handling capacity, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said today. With the new terminal, the peak hour passenger capacity is expected to go up to 800 from current level of 250. State-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) is operating the Leh airport, which has been seeing increased flight movements in recent times. “Leh Airport – New terminal to be constructed @ Rs 200 cr to increase peak hour passenger capacity from 250 to 800,” Raju said in a tweet. Leh airport handled little over four lakh passengers in the last financial year ended March 2106. During the same period, there were 3,434 aircraft movements. Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir government had said it would take up with the Centre the issue of land for construction of a terminal building at Leh airport. “As per IAF, they will hand over 11.8 acres of land to Airport Authority of India for construction of Terminal Building (at Leh airport) only after getting No Objection Certificate for the state government’s land of 28 acres,” the government had said. Ka’imi Fairbairn Authentic Jersey
Consultation time on draft RCS extended till July end
Government today extended till July 31 the date for stakeholders to submit their suggestions and comments on the draft Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), a move which is likely to delay its implementation. All stakeholders, including airlines, state governments, among others, were earlier given time till today to send their suggestions and comments on the ambitious scheme, unveiled on July 1, which seeks to provide air connectivity to unserved and underserved areas of the country. “Draft Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) is placed in public domain for feedback from stakeholders … Date for sending the suggestion and comments in the prescribed format has been extended till July 31,” a Civil Aviation Ministry notification said. Mooted in the new civil aviation policy, RCS, which would target 90 aerodromes, was put up for consultations of stakeholders, including state governments, airlines and airport operators, on July 1 with a three weeks deadline. The draft was initially expected to be finalised by August. Under the proposed scheme, air ticket prices would be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights on unserved and under-served routes. There are 394 unserved and 16 underserved airports in the country. As part of the RCS, the government plans to provide a Viability Gap Funding, which would be financed through the Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF). While releasing the draft scheme, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said that RCF would be created for funding RCS “through levy on certain flights”. The Ministry would contribute 80 per cent of the VGF, while respective state governments would chip in with the remaining 20 per cent to the fund, which will have a corpus of Rs 500 crore each year. Jon Weeks Womens Jersey
Nationwide powermen strike on Sept 2 against Electricity (Amendment) Bill
Public sector power employees have announced a nationwide strike on September 2 over the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. In a meeting held yesterday, National Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) flayed the Centre for allegedly failing to address the burning issues of the energy sector even as they labeled the Bill as anti-people. The powermen had earlier sought discussion on the modified Electricity (Amendment) Bill with all the stakeholders for an “amicable settlement of the issues”. The meeting at New Delhi was attended by the representatives of Electricity Employees Federation of India, Indian National Electricity Workers Federation, All India Federation of Electricity Employees, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), TNEB Workers Union, All India Power Men’s Federation (AIPF) and All India Federation of Diploma Engineers. AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said NCCOEEE resolution mentioned that the central government was playing hide and seek on the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. The government claimed it had referred the modified Electricity (Amendment) Bill to the states, but the states were yet to receive the copy of the amended bill, he said. “The government should give a copy of the modified Bill to the major stakeholders, including employees and engineers, so that fruitful discussion can take place.” NCCOEEE maintained the cost of supply of power supply was increasing due to the “conspiracy” of private players, who have established domination in the power sector in the name of independent power producers (IPP), traders, franchisees and contractors for electricity generation, transmission and distribution. The outsourcing of jobs in power sector not only leads to the exploitation of workers, but compromises the quality of work, Dubey noted. He informed NCCOEEE had decided to launch massive campaign against the Bill as it would provide huge profit to private companies at the cost of the exchequer. Kurt Warner Jersey
Cairn-Vedanta merger to happen by 2016-end, says Anil Agarwal
Mining mogul Anil Agarwal today said the merger of his group’s cash-rich oil firm Cairn India with its parent, Vedanta Ltd is likely to be completed by year end to create India’s largest diversified natural resources company. Debt-laden Vedanta Ltd, previously known as Sesa Sterlite Ltd, had on Friday upped its offer to buy out the minority shareholders in its cash-rich subsidiary, Cairn India. Instead of its June 2015 offer of one Vedanta share for each Cairn India share, plus a preference share worth Rs 10 that can be redeemed after 30 days or 18 months, the mining group has offered three more preference shares. “I want to create a true natural resource company out of India that can rival the likes of Bralia’s Vale SA, Rio Tinto of the US or BHP Billiton of Australia,” Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Group told PTI in an interview. The merger of India’s biggest private oil producer with the country’s top producer of aluminum and copper will give India “a natural resources company of its own,” he said. The deal, he said, is likely to concluded by end-2016. “Oil prices have fallen 27-30 per cent and mineral prices have fallen 7-8 per cent. The merger will help balance the risks,” he said. Agarwal, 63, who rose from running a scrap-metal business to become one of the India’s wealthiest tycoons with his business empire spanning across mining and petroleum, said the group will keep investing across its businesses. “It is very important for India to create a very value creating company, risk diverse company and that is what is happening in the world and we wanted to have oil and gas, copper, zinc, iron ore, aluminium to be one company and that is what the merger proposed,” he said. In the sweetened offer announced Friday, Vedanta offered minority shareholders of Cairn India one equity share and four redeemable-preference shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. The preference shares will carry a coupon of 7.5 per cent and tenure of 18 months. While the company said the revised deal implies a 20 per cent premium to the one-month volume weighted-average price of Cairn shares, it translates into 9.1 per cent premium over share’s Friday closing. The bettering of the deferred cash payout translates into giving away about Rs 3,400 crore of Cairn India’s cash to its shareholders. The payout is 15 per cent of Cairn’s cash pile. Vedanta is said to be wanting to use Rs 23,290 crore cash lying with Cairn to pay off part of its Rs 77,952 crore debt. It had in May rolled over a controversial USD 1.25-billion loan taken from the cash-rich oil explorer Cairn India in July 2014. Vedanta Ltd is India’s most-indebted base metals company. For the merger to go through, half of the minority shareholders, who together make up for 40 per cent of the Cairn equity, have to approve the deal. Miro Heiskanen Womens Jersey
Power deficit 0.9% in April-June quarter this fiscal: Piyush Goyal
Overall power deficit during the April-June quarter this fiscal was 0.9 per cent while the peak deficit was 2 per cent, Parliament was informed today. “As per information given by states/UTs to the Central Electricity Authority, the gap between demand and supply of electricity has been brought down to the lowest ever 2.1 per cent during 2015-16 which has further reduced to 0.9 per cent during 2016-17 (April-June, 2016),” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today. According to a statement, against the overall demand of 295.34 billion units in April-June, 292.82 billion units were supplied, a deficit of 0.9 per cent. Similarly, 149.97 billion units were supplied against the peak demand of 152.97 billion units, recording a deficit of 2 per cent in the period under review. The minister said, “As against capacity addition target of 1,18,537 mw (including 88,537 mw conventional and 30,000 mw renewable) during the 12th Plan, i.e. by 2016-17, about 86,565 mw from conventional sources and about 19,500 mw from renewable sources have been achieved till June 30, 2016.” “Construction (target) of 1,07,440 ckm transmission lines and setting up of 2,82,740 mega volt amp (MVA) transformation capacity during the 12th Plan. As against this, 89,813 ckm of transmission lines and 2,66,033 MVA of transformation capacity have been achieved till June 30, 2016.” As per the statement, the highest overall power deficit was recorded at 18.2 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir, where 3.6 billion units of electricity was supplied in April-June as against the demand of 4.4 billion units. Jammu & Kashmir has also recorded the highest peak power deficit of 15.2 per cent in April-June quarter as 2.1 billion units were supplied against the demand of 2.4 billion units. It is the only state which has recorded overall and peak power deficit percentage in double digits. Rasmus Ristolainen Jersey
NoC must if fuel pumps want to switch business
Petrol pumps and LPG retail outlets in Bengaluru and other urban areas may have to seek a no objection certificate (NoC) from the oil marketing companies if they wish to close down the business and switch to another activity. In other words, oil companies too will have to approve any change in land use by the landlord. The urban development department’s circular to this effect to BDA and other authorities in the state follows a letter from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, which wants retailing of petrol, diesel and LPG to be treated as essential activity. RULE FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COS The new rule applies to outlets affiliated to public sector oil marketing companies. The circular does not say anything about the retail outlets of private brands. The ministry’s letter mentions about steep real estate prices coming in the way of availability of plots for retailing activities. The ministry wants the state to treat these outlets as essential public service, and earmark space for setting up outlets in the local planning area. DEALERS’ BODY NOT GAME FOR IT Bangalore Petroleum Dealers Association, however, has expressed anguish at the new NoC rule. The pumps are closing down, according to association president BR Ravindranath, because the landlords don’t want to renew the lease in view of the poor rentals the PSU oil firms pay. “They want to pay peanuts for the land they get. Instead of making rentals attractive, they come up with irrational rules such as this infringing upon the fundamental rights of citizens,” he said. The fuel station next to Forum mall in Koramangala, he added, gets a monthly rental of ` . 6,120 for a plot measuring 20,000 sqft while the market rate could be a few lakhs. “The oil marketing companies are making no efforts to retain the landlords, and as a result, more than a dozen pumps have closed down in the past two years,” the president said. CENTRE’S ORDERS The Centre has also asked the state to notify the facility as allowable use in all non-residential zones and agriculture zones in the master plan. GREEN BELT The urban development department has also asked the planning authorities to earmark a green belt of 300 m around the petroleum and chemical installations in all new master plans, and implement this if the existing plans already don’t have such a provision. Going by the circular, the BDA and other urban bodies will now have to earmark exclusive plots to enable public sector oil marketing companies set up petroleum and LPG retail outlets. The Union government wants the state to revisit the previously-approved master plans and reserve land for fuel outlets by reallocating land reserved for other purposes that are less essential. Josh Ferguson Womens Jersey
GAIL India in talks with Gazprom to renegotiate gas deals
GAIL India Ltd is in talks with Russia’s Gazprom to delay and renegotiate a 20-year gas purchase deal undercut by low spot prices, sources familiar with the matter say, as weak demand at home forces it to stall some contracted supply. Shipments under the deal, initially expected to start in 2018/2019, are linked to crude oil prices which are rising while gas prices are expected to stay subdued for longer as major new production plants in Australia and the United States start up. The price mismatch is injecting tensions into long-term LNG agreements, driving a wedge between buyers and sellers such as GAILBSE -1.04 % and Gazprom’s Marketing & Trading, industry sources say. GAIL is also trying to juggle a rapidly expanded LNG book after embarking on a buying spree between 2011 and 2013 when the fuel was scarce and prices kept hitting new peaks. GAIL is seeking a meeting with Gazprom officials to discuss in greater detail delaying the deal and revising its oil-linked price, a source with knowledge of the matter said. By exploiting what GAIL sees as an inconsistency in its contract with Gazprom, GAIL hopes to revise key terms under the 2.5 million tonne/year deal, according to industry sources. Under the 20-year accord, signed in 2012, Gazprom said it would source its supply from the now-cancelled Shtokman LNG export plant in the Barents Sea, the sources said. The Gazprom subsidiary now aims to source supply from its global portfolio, including a share in the forthcoming Yamal LNG project in the Arctic peninsula, which GAIL claims constitutes breach of contract, industry sources said. A Gazprom source adds that GAIL is not proposing scrapping the entire deal. “The Indians are looking to postpone most deliveries and this is what talks are focusing on,” the Gazprom source said adding that Gazprom gas is not the most expensive in GAIL’s supply mix. “They have over committed,” the Gazprom source said. At current oil prices, Gazprom’s LNG will cost more than $7 per mmBtu while spot cargoes fetch around $5 per mmBtu, a big difference in a price-sensitive market like India, sources said. Apart from a deal with Gazprom, GAIL is also saddled with about 5.8 million tonnes of LNG a year from the U.S. which is expected to begin ramping up within the next two years. The cost of liquefying gas and exporting it as LNG from the United States to India currently turns out at $4.62 per mmBtu this winter, a still attractive level for Indian buyers, but analysts say the trade could be loss-making later this decade. The Indian firm has thus far managed to sell 2 million tonnes annually from its U.S. portfolio, part of which went to Royal Dutch Shell, Gail Chairman B.C. Tripathi has said, as Indian customers struggle to absorb or afford LNG from the United States. GAIL did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment. Gazprom declined immediate comment. Cheap spot cargoes are streaming into India at an unprecedented rate – overall LNG imports are up 40 percent on last year, helping displace demand for inflexible long-term deals. India wants to migrate gradually to a gas-based economy and lift share of the cleaner-burning fuel in its energy mix closer to the world average of 23.8 percent from a current 6.5 percent. Last year India renegotiated a long-term LNG supply deal with Qatar’s Rasgas, nearly halving the price and avoiding a $1.5 billion penalty fee for lifting less gas than agreed as customers preferred cheaper spot supplies. It showed how tumbling oil prices and a global gas glut are compelling exporters to offer better deals to retain their share in global energy trade. India’s biggest LNG importer Petronet is also seeking to renegotiate its costliest import deal with ExxonMobil for 1.4 million tonnes annually from the Gorgon project in Australia, industry sources say. That deal, which is due to start in the first quarter of 2017, is also oil-linked at an indexation level of 14.5 percent to a barrel of crude, or over $7 per mmBtu – a hefty premium to current spot prices. Jaime Garcia Womens Jersey