Shifting NTPC plant not practical, need to run it on LNG: CM
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was not practical to shift NTPC’s sick naphtha-run power plant to Brahmapuram and speedy steps should be taken to convert it to LNG to make it viable. The chief minister was replying to a submission by Opposition Leader, Ramesh Chennithala, on the need to breathe new life into NTPC’s 360 mw plant at Kayamkulam. Chennithala said the plant was non-operational for long, causing a huge loss. “There is a need to protect the plant and it should not be allowed a slow death.” Vijayan said non-availability of LNG was the main problem with regard to the plant and steps are needed to be taken to lay the pipeline from Kochi to Kayamkulam as soon as possible. “We should take steps to bring LNG from Kochi (terminal) to Kayamkulam. The relocation of the plant is not practical,” Vijayan said. State’s Power Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government was not aware if any decision had been taken by NTPC to shift the plant to Brahmapuram in Ernakulam district. Though there was no production from the plant, KSEB was forced to pay a fixed charge of Rs 18 crore every month, as per the power purchase agreement, he said. “We requested the Centre to provide LNG at a lower rate. We also requested for time to meet Union Power Minister to express the state’s demands,” he said. Chennithala said though the plant was initially envisaged to run on coal, it was later shifted to naphtha. However, using naphtha was expensive and to make it viable, it should be converted to LNG, he said, adding there should be coordinated efforts to preserve the plant. The Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (also known as Rajiv Gandhi CCPP Kayamkulam) was fuelled by imported and indigenous naphtha. Kerala is the major beneficiary of the plant, which has been facing problem due to higher power cost. Kareem Martin Womens Jersey
Spot prices up on forecasts for hot weather, less wind
European spot power prices rose on Monday on forecasts for lower German wind power supplies and a brief heatwave that could boost electricity demand for air conditioning. Wind power supplies in Germany will halve to 2.4 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday from Monday, and not exceed 3.6 GW in the period up to July 29, according to Thomson Reuters data. “There’s been a mismatch of wind forecasts and reality while solar supply has also been overestimated,” one trader said. “This outweighs more thermal availability and some demand drops due to the holidays starting in some regions,” he added. German baseload power for Tuesday delivery was 3.75 euros above the price paid for Monday at 34 euros ($37.56) a megawatt hour (MWh). The equivalent French contract was 5 euros up at 41 euros. Demand is expected to rise strongly on Tuesday – by 1.3 GW in Germany and by 2.6 GW in France – as temperatures are forecast to exceed 22 degrees Celsius per day on a 24-hour basis in Germany. In France they are forecast to rise to 25.8 degrees. But they will not increase beyond Thursday and will fall next week, if current predictions materialise. Forward power prices were up, tracking firmer carbon and gas curve levels, while coal and oil lost some earlier strength to turn negative. UK gas reacted strongly to lower than expected supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), higher exports to continental Europe, and the extension of an outage at the Rough gas storage site to next year. German baseload power for next year, Cal ’17, was 1 euro up at 28.2 euros/MWh. The French year-ahead power contract was 1.4 euros up at 33.6. Crude oil was lower after choppy trade in Asia following gains last week. Traders shrugged off the impact of Friday’s attempted coup in Turkey and upbeat economic data from the United States lent some support. European coal prices for 2017 were 0.3 percent down, but held above $60 a tonne. Front-year EU carbon allowances were 0.2 percent up at 4.94 euros a tonne. In eastern European power, the Czech year-ahead position was not traded but was bid 1 euro higher at 29.15 euros, and the next day position gained 1.2 euros to 33.8 euros. Ricky Jean Francois Womens Jersey
Electricity consumption drops in Gurgaon
Apart from a sudden drop in the temperature, the recurrent rainfall has also had a corresponding effect on the electricity consumption in the city. Officials of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have said that there has been a 15% decline in electricity consumption this week. According to the data procured through DHBVN, the total power supplied in the past week was nearly 1,400 mW on an average daily. Following incessant rains, this week the demand was less than 1,200 mW on an average. “The weather and the cold breeze has reduced load on the power transmission system. There have been no reports of transformers overloading because of the low demand,” said Sanjeev Chopra, DHBVN general manager. A senior DHBVN official explained that the decrease on the load implies that residents are consuming less units of electricity. Officials said that over-dependence of consumers on air conditioners during summer leads to overloading and higher power consumption. The dip in temperature means less use of ACs. In addition, high humidity levels leads to AC compressors using less electricity that also contributes to lower power consumption. Last month, during peak summer season, the city’s daily demand was pushing to 1,500 mW. Despite a higher electricity supply, the city was falling short of 300 mW owing to transmission loss through electricity theft and poor infrastructure. This was leading to more than four hours of power outages at several places throughout the city. The India Meteorological Department (MET) department has predicted a high possibility of rains and thunderstorms in the coming weeks that may further bring down the temperature and Gurgaon’s dependence on electricity. Ted Williams Womens Jersey
ONGC Boosts Operations Off India Via New, Expanded Deals Worth $60 Million
Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) expanded the scope of its operational activities offshore India through new and expanded contracts, amounting to approximately $60 million, with two services providers. Subsea services provider Seamec Ltd., a subsidiary of India’s HAL Offshore, said Friday in a company announcement on the Bombay Stock Exchange that the scope of its activities has been expanded to meet ONGC’s tender requirements and it will now deploy additional fleet assets for the contract. The firm will deploy vessel SEAMEC II and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) together with personnel for the three-year long ONGC assignment, which is worth around $33.44 million. Separately, Fugro Survey (India) Pvt Ltd. has bagged a $26 million offshore geotechnical site investigation contract for the KG-DWN-98/2 project offshore the east coast of India, the company said Friday in a press release. Fugro’s workscope comprises the gathering of site specific geotechnical and geohazard data to aid in the design and later installation of wellheads, manifolds, platforms, FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) anchors, umbilicals, pipelines and flow lines within the field. The firm will deploy its deepwater geotechnical vessel, Fugro Voyager, to undertake work in water depths ranging from 164 feet (50 meters) to 4,921 feet (1,500 meters), commencing before the end of third quarter 2016. Upon completion of the fieldwork, Fugro will carry extensive laboratory testing, data analysis, interpretation and integration with previous Fugro-acquired AUV Geophysical and Metocean data to provide site characterization reports. In other development, ONGC is looking for buyers for gas produced from a new deepwater field — the Vashishta & S1 — in the Krishna-Godvari (KG) Basin located offshore India’s east coast. The field is the first to supply gas under a new government policy that permit companies to charge a higher rate for output from fields that are complex and challenging to develop, local media The Economic Times reported Friday. According to ONGC Director (Offshore) Tapas Sengupta, a well at Vashishta & S1 field has been in operations for about a month, producing around 17.66 million standard cubic feet per day (0.5 million standard cubic meters a day) of gas, which is now sold at the government-set domestic natural gas price of $3.06 per unit. While ONGC wants to fetch higher natural gas prices, current global prices may weigh on such hopes. “This is a test case for ONGC. It is a challenge for ONGC to derive a strategy for getting the right price for all future production from deepwater fields,” Sengupta said, as quoted in The Economic Times. Ricardo Allen Womens Jersey
Natural gas share in Indian fuel basket stands only at 6.5%: Petroleum Minister
The share of natural gas in India’s fuel basket is 6.5 per cent as compared to the world average of 23.8 per cent. This is according to the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan who referred to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2015 in a written reply a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Pradhan’s reply also stated that in order to increase the share of gas in the fuel basket, several steps have been taken by the government including approval of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy as well as approval of a policy to auction 67 discovered small fields belonging earlier to ONGC and Oil India. “Marketing and pricing freedom for new gas production from Deepwater, Ultra Deepwater and High Pressure-High Temperature areas subject to certain condition has been allowed,” the reply stated. Pradhan’s reply also stated that Indraprastha Gas Ltd in collaboration with Ituk Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd has launched a pilot programme to run two wheelers on CNG, which will also help promote the use of natural gas a fuel. In a separate reply, Pradhan said that the policy to auction 67 discovered small fields has been notified in October last year. Pradhan also said that in spite of a natural decline from existing ageing mature fields, oil & gas companies have been able to maintain the level of production. Charles Mann Womens Jersey
141 Villages Electrified last week ; 8,960 Villages Electrified till date under DDUGJY
141 villages have been electrified across the country during last week (from 11th to 17th July 2016) under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). Out of these electrified villages, 5 villages belong to Arunachal Pradesh , 56 in Meghalaya, 31 in Assam, 4 in Mizoram, 3 in Jharkhand,9 in Rajasthan ,3 in Madhya Pradesh , 23 in Odisha and 5 in Bihar, 1 each in Himachal Pradesh and Tripura . An update on ongoing electrification process In view of the Prime Minister, Shri 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. 8,960 villages have been electrified till date. Out of remaining 8,995 villages, 497 villages are uninhabitated. 6,009 villages are to be electrified through grid,2,657 villages to be electrified through off-grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 329 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, 7,306 additional villages have been electrified from 15th August 2015 to 17th July, 2016. In order to expedite the progress further, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken on regular basis like reviewing the progress on monthly basis during the RPM meeting, sharing of list of villages which are at the stage of under energisation with the state Discom, identifying the villages where milestone progress are delayed. Cortez Kennedy Womens Jersey
Banks, financial institutions provide over Rs 78K crore for clean energy projects
Banks and financial institutions have sanctioned about Rs 78,830 crore funding for clean energy projects, of which Rs 33,482.83 crore has been released till March end this year, Parliament was informed today. “Banks and financial institutions (FIs) have supported (renewable energy) projects of 30,983.70 MW capacity with sanction and released an amount of Rs 78,829.69 crore and Rs 33,482.83 crore respectively as on March 31, 2016,” Power, Coal, Mines and New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha today. Overall, as many as 23 public sector and 7 private sector banks as well as 4 public sector and 2 private sector non-banking financing companies (NBFCs) have committed for financing renewable energy projects of 76,350 MW in the country with an outlay of Rs 3,72,240 crore. Goyal said the World Bank has also approved a loan of USD 620 million (Rs 4,228 crore) and a grant of USD 5 million (Rs 34.50 crore) from clean technology fund for the grid connected rooftop solar programme in May 2016. Public sector banks have provided Rs 19,639.52 crore finance for 12,619.83 MW renewable projects and have already released Rs 7,333.35 crore. Private sector banks have provided Rs 18,660.01 crore for 6,905.24 MW projects, and have released Rs 8,615.07 MW. Luke Kunin Jersey
Government committed to complete rural road projects by 2019: Ram Kirpal Yadav
Government is committed to complete road projects indentified under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by 2019, Rajya Sabha was informed today. The scheme was envisaged during the previous NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee but the progress slowed down as the UPA government reduced its funding, Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kirpal Yadav said, adding that “we have increased the fund amount for the scheme.” Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, Yadav referred to Bihar and said it had made comparatively less progress under PMGSY and added that the pace at which work should have been carried out by the state government was not maintained. Yadav also said that paucity of funds was not a reason for the slow progress made till now. Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar also shared details relating to Bihar as per which in the last four years, 6,301 road works were sanctioned for the state by the ministry. Of these, 2,942 road works have been completed and 3,359 road works measuring 6917.517 kms are under consideration. The states are responsible for tendering, awarding and executing road projects under PMGSY, Tomar said. In reply to another question on allocation fund for cleanliness campaign, Tomar who also holds the charge of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said the criterion adopted for allocation of funds to various states for ‘Swacch Bharat’ campaign was based on the population and number of families in the state. He was asked on what basis was Himachal Pradesh given Rs 98.3 crore under the scheme, to which he said it was as per the set criteria. In Maharashtra, he said a total of Rs 528.94 crore has been sanctioned for the year of which Rs 264.47 crore released till June this year, assuring that more funds will be released after receiving Utilisation Certificates. Concerns were also raised in the House about the success of the project for constructing toilets especially in hilly areas, with members saying it should be linked with the availability of water, “otherwise it remains a subject of advertisements”. Kevon Looney Authentic Jersey
After Jet’s recent plane order spree, India finds itself hard-pressed to find parking slots
At last week’s Farnborough Air Show, an Indian carrier placed a $7.7 billion order while an additional $72 billion of contracts are in the offing. The next challenge: Finding landing and parking slots for these planes. As air travel heats up in the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, infrastructure has failed to keep pace with traffic growth fueled by rising incomes and affordable fares. The average time an aircraft spends circling before it can land in Mumbai during peak hours is about 45 minutes to an hour, versus 25 minutes for Singapore and zero for Qatar, according to Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC. India plans to invest $5 billion to improve airport infrastructure, which is “inadequate” compared with China’s proposal for $130 billion in 15 years, a June research paper by KPMG and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India said. A proposal for a new airport in the outskirts of Mumbai has languished on the drawing board since 1997 even as Boeing Co. estimates Indian carriers need 1,740 aircraft over the next two decades. Huge Issue “We need to move fast,” Sanjiv Kapoor, chief commercial officer of Vistara, a local unit of Singapore Airlines Ltd., said in an interview. “That’s a huge issue. You cannot have a commercial capital and a political capital that do not have slots available for growth,” he said, referring to Mumbai and New Delhi. Out of the nation’s 450 airstrips and airports, only 75 handle commercial airlines, with the rest remaining idle or rarely used because of weak demand, according to the government. The lack of facilities may force carriers to defer deliveries, hurting planemakers including Boeing and Airbus Group SE. Scores of airlines struggle to manage as many as 2,000 flights a day, and none of the Indian carriers, barring AirAsia Bhd.’s local unit, could touch the 90 percent on-time performance, a key for low-cost models, data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation show. The air-travel market in Asia’s third-biggest economy grew 20 percent in 2015, compared with about 10 percent in China and less than 5 percent in the U.S., according to the International Air Transport Association. Last week, AirAsia group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said he was “very, very bullish” on India. The potential for further growth is spurring operators to scale up their fleets. At least 709 planes are on order for the next few years. Go Airlines India Pvt. said it will buy 72 A320neos from Airbus at Farnborough last week. SpiceJet Ltd. is in talks for 150 aircraft and IndiGo, the nation’s top budget carrier, has ordered 430 Airbus narrow-body jets on top of the 108 it already flies. The problem is not just limited to India. There has often been a gap between intention and infrastructure delivery for Asian airport, according to a 2015 research paper by OAG Aviation Worldwide. “Infrastructure has to catch up as dynamics of aviation have changed,” said Mark D. Martin, founder Martin Consulting. “Countries must make sure that airports are built not just for bigger jets, but also for smaller, 5-10 seater planes to connect its people.” It isn’t the case that India hasn’t done much in the past 10 years. It spent $2.7 billion to upgrade the airport in New Delhi and added a new terminal in 2010, while it plowed $885 million to modernize the Mumbai airport in 2014. Though the facilities in New Delhi and Mumbai were named the world’s No. 1 in the 25-40 million passengers-a-year segment by the Airport Council International for 2015, the nation’s busiest airports don’t even figure in the top 20 globally by traffic. As much as $40 billion in investment is needed in the next 15 years to improve India’s airport infrastructure, according to estimates by Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation. In an effort to attract capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June eased norms for foreigners, who can now fully own existing airports without government approvals. To make the airports more attractive, Modi is promising tax incentives for companies providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services. The government estimates Indian carriers alone generate MRO business worth 50 billion rupees ($745 million) annually, and most of that is spent in countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia as India lacks MRO facilities. Modi is also seeking to revive many of the idle airports to enhance regional connectivity. Weak demand have made many of them unviable for commercial single-aisle jets. His government last month said it would compensate for losses if states cut taxes on jet fuel and offer free parking and landing, in a step that may encourage carriers to fly to the so-called “ghost” airports. “Ghost airports are ghosts for a reason — not enough business potential currently,” Vistara’s Kapoor said in a Twitter post on July 12, “Yet hundreds of A320s on order. Where will they all fly, am really curious!” Russ Grimm Jersey
Government doubles down on solar parks after SunEdison setback
India will double the target for energy to be generated from solar parks by 2020, a top government official said, as roof-top installations progress slower than anticipated and U.S. company SunEdison’s projects are threatened by its bankruptcy. The solar parks are sought after by companies because the Indian government acquires land for the installations and sets up transmission lines, major attractions in a country notorious for red tape and public opposition to land transfers. Debt-heavy SunEdison was one of the first companies to be drawn into the programme to encourage solar use, bidding aggressively to win a 500 megawatt (MW) project in Andhra Pradesh state in India’s south last November. But after its bankruptcy, SunEdison has been forced to initiate stake-sale talks with companies like Adani Group and Finland’s Fortum Oyj for funds, according to sources. “We are adding 25 more solar parks to create a buffer for exigencies like SunEdison,” Upendra Tripathy, secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, told Reuters on Monday. “Solar parks are a hit with companies. A lot of them are interested.” Tripathy declined to name any companies. But the new generation target of 40,000 megawatts for solar parks was likely to be approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in two months, he said in an interview in his office. Pashupathy Gopalan, president of SunEdison Asia Pacific – which focuses mainly on India – did not immediately respond to calls for comment. He has previously said the company would stick to its India growth plans. Analysts said it was doubtful any rival would pick up the Andhra Pradesh project at the aggressive power prices promised by SunEdison. Once the fastest growing renewable energy developer in the United States, SunEdison beat out 29 other bidders for the solar park with a record-low tariff of 4.63 rupees per kilowatt-hour. Japan’s Softbank Corp, Taiwan’s Foxconn and India’s Bharti Enterprises have pledged to invest a total of about $20 billion in India’s renewable sector. Global solar giants like First Solar Inc, Trina Solar Ltd and Fortum are also expanding their presence. Modi wants India’s solar capacity to jump nearly 30 times from 2014/15’s levels to 100 gigawatts by 2020. Last month India secured a loan of more than $1 billion from the World Bank for its ambitious solar programme. Total investment needed for the solar goal is around $89 billion, according the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. India wants renewable energy, excluding hydro-electricity, to contribute 8 percent of the energy mix by 2022, up from 5.7 percent early this year. Kelvin Beachum Jersey