GST rate on solar panel indicates grid parity: VP, Schneider
In lieu of the tax rate on solar panels being fixed at five percent under the forthcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST), industry players believe that solar being placed at par with coal indicates that the country is moving towards grid parity. “The fact that coal and solar has been placed at par with one another augurs well for the long term energy security of the country. This, quite rightly, addresses the unique energy dilemma that India faces considering that close to 18,000 villages do not have access to energy, but, at the same time, the country has a strong commitment to reduce its carbon footprints,” said Anurag Garg, Vice President – Solar & Energy Storage Business, Schneider Electric India. Furthermore, Anurag said a five percent tax being levied comes as a big reprieve to the solar sector, as against the earlier classification of 18 percent. In the 15th meeting of the GST Council held here on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that a five percent tax is chargeable on solar panels under the new tax regime. Among other commodities, prices of gold and biscuits are set to surge, with a tax rate of three percent and 18 percent levied on them respectively. Footwear, being one of the major items of discussion in the meeting, will be charged a five percent tax, if less than Rs. 500 and those above this amount will attract an 18 percent tax. Charge on silk and jute will be nil, cotton and natural fibre will be charged 5 percent, and manmade apparel will be 18 percent. Natural yarn will be charged 5 percent. Also, a 12 percent charge will be levied on readymade apparel. A 28 percent tax will be levied on beedis, while a 14 percent charge will be imposed on the tendu patta used in beedis. However, no cess is applicable. The new tax regime is scheduled to be rolled out on July 1. Justin Coleman Authentic Jersey
India’s Power Generating company, NTPC forays into future of power – EV Charging business
India’s power generating company, NTPC has forayed into EV Charging business and set up charging stations at multiple locations. First charging station has been set up at its offices in Noida and Delhi. NTPC is planning to set up many such charging stations across Delhi/NCR and other cities in near future. A 50,000 MW plus power company, NTPC largely produces power from coal but also has hydro, solar and wind power projects. Adding coal production in its business, it has successfully become an integrated energy company with interests diversified across the fuel value chain and in line with global standards. NTPC Limited is already selling coal from its Pakri Barwadih coal mine in Jharkhand to its Barh power project in Bihar. The Pakri Barwadih coal mine has estimated mining capacity of 15 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) and has been allotted to NTPC as basket mine to meet the fuel shortfall of its power stations. Coal mining is integral to NTPC’s fuel security strategies and this greater self-reliance on coal will go a long way in ensuring the sustained growth of generation. Being India’s larger producer of coal based power, NTPC alone consumed about 161 million tonnes of coal in the last financial year. Given its huge dependence on coal, the government allotted some coal mines to NTPC while the latter also bid for some other mines in the subsequent bidding rounds. Winnipeg Jets Jersey
Developers see solar tariff at Rs 1.5 a unit
Solar power developers are bullish on clean energy and hopeful about tariff coming down to as low as Rs 1.5 per unit on falling equipment cost and cheaper credit with assured purchase pact. Solar power tariff came down to all-time low of Rs 2.44 per unit in the auction conducted for Bhadla solar park last month mainly due to lower equipment and borrowing costs. The new rate of solar power is even below the average rate of coal-based power produced by staterun NTPC at Rs 3.30 per unit. “Developers are bullish on renewables particularly solar energy. They think even Rs 2.44 per unit tariff is high in view of lowering of cost of equipment and avenues available for cheaper funding,” said a source in the ministry of new and renewable energy. Chandler Jones Jersey
Solar energy boom turns to bust for Indian manufacturers
Some of India’s biggest solar equipment makers are facing financial collapse, priced out by Chinese competitors as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prioritises cheap power over local manufacturing despite his ‘Make in India’ push. Though President Donald Trump is pulling the United States out of the Paris accord on climate change, India is sticking to its huge renewable energy programme. That has created a multi-billion-dollar market for Chinese solar product makers, who are facing an overcapacity at home and steep duties in Europe. India’s solar power generation capacity has already more than tripled in three years to over 12 gigawatt (GW) as Modi targets raising energy generation from all renewable sources to 175 GW by 2022. Chinese companies have gained the most from that increase, accounting for around 85 percent of India’s solar module demand and earning around $2 billion, according to industry data. The total annual market could jump to more than $10 billion in the next few years going by the government’s capacity targets. Local companies such as Jupiter Solar, Indosolar Ltd and Moser Baer India Ltd, however, are struggling to win contracts. Orders funnelled through a domestic-content policy have all but dried up after the World Trade Organization last September upheld an earlier ruling that found the move violated global trade norms. As a result, Jupiter said it could shut shop by July after delivering their last orders this month; Indosolar auditors have raised doubts over it remaining as a “going concern”; and Moser Baer says it needs support from its lenders to revive its solar business. “TORPEDOED” Indian solar power plant developers – including companies backed by Japan’s Softbank and Goldman Sachs – are quoting ever-lower tariffs in auctions to win big projects, encouraged by steep drop in Chinese solar equipment prices. That is squeezing out Indian cell and module makers, many of which have inferior technology, depend on imports of raw materials, have limited access to cheap loans and operate below capacity. Chinese modules are 10-20 percent cheaper than those made in India, company and industry executives said. “The WTO ruling has torpedoed everything. It’s not a case of one company – we have the largest cell operating capacity – everybody below us will shut down one after another,” Jupiter CEO Dhruv Sharma told Reuters by phone. Chinese companies were selling solar cells in India at 19-20 U.S. cents, around 35 percent below his production cost, he added. There are more than 110 Indian solar cell and module makers registered with the government, out of which consultancy Bridge to India expects only a handful to survive. Santosh Vaidya, a senior official in the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, said the government was working on several initiatives to promote the domestic solar manufacturing industry. He did not elaborate. GOING THE TELECOM WAY India’s promise, and need, as a market for solar is obvious. It is one of the lowest per-capita consumers of electricity in the world and more than 200 million of its people are still not connected to the grid, making it crucial for the government to aggressively push for cheap power. Despite its low labour costs, it is not alone in buckling under pressure from Chinese competition. Earlier this month, Germany’s SolarWorld, once Europe’s largest solar panel maker, said it would file for insolvency. Indian companies produced an estimated 1.33 GW of modules last year out of the total capacity of 5.29 GW, according to Bridge to India. Total consumption of modules – 60 percent of a solar project’s cost – was around 4 GW. Solar project developer SB Energy, a joint venture between SoftBank, Taiwan’s Foxconn and India’s Bharti Enterprises, said it had discussed the shortage of local manufacturing with the government. “Lack of significant domestic solar manufacturing capacity is a concern, as this is a major gap,” SB Energy Executive Chairman Manoj Kohli said, drawing a parallel with India’s huge mobile phone market but negligible local production. Several company executives said a lack of scale, absence of raw material supply chains and rapidly changing technology were some of other reasons Indian firms were unable to compete with Chinese manufacturers such as Trina Solar and Yingli. “The government is busy bringing power prices down … but you can’t build castles on graves,” Gyanesh Chaudhary, CEO of module maker Vikram Solar told Reuters. “Without a domestic manufacturing ecosystem, no public policy can last for a long time.” Markus Golden Authentic Jersey
Power generation target for FY18 is 23m units: NLC India
NLC India’s (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation) Q4 earnings beat estimates on all parameters as power generation margins improved. Lignite margins however contracted in the quarter. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, SK Acharya, Chairman of NLC India spoke about the results and his outlook for the company. He said that production efficiency led to Q4 earnings performance. According to him, the current performance is sustainable. Speaking about targets, he said that the target for FY18 electricity generation is at 23 million units and lignite production will be around 273 million tonne. He expects lignite capacity to go up to 56 million tonne by 2020. He further said that they have not signed any new power purchase agreement (PPA) yet. Blake Comeau Authentic Jersey
Boosting renewable energy sources requires gas too -Con Edison
Shifting more U.S. energy production to renewable sources such as wind and solar power is doable but will require greater use of natural gas and overcoming opposition to building pipelines, a senior executive of a U.S. utility said on Thursday. Consolidated Edison Inc no longer defaults to the traditional utility solution of building more infrastructure to meet growing demand for power, said Craig Ivey, president of the company unit serving New York City and nearby suburbs. Con Edison believes in clean, low-carbon energy, but a balance must be found to satisfy environmental goals, he told an audience of New York real estate brokers. Boosting the production of wind, solar and other alternative sources to meet a goal of generating half of New York’s energy needs by 2030 cannot be done without natural gas, Ivey said. “It is simply not possible to provide all the energy we need for our residents and businesses with wind, solar, battery storage and other alternative methods,” Ivey said in a speech to the Real Estate Board of New York. Con Edison would need tens of billions of dollars in transmission and distribution system upgrades beyond the levels needed to meet the state’s Clean Energy Standard, Ivey said. The company has reduced its carbon footprint since 2005 by 48 percent and in the past six years, 6,600 large buildings in New York City have converted to natural gas. A debate has simmered in New York and New England about whether more pipelines are needed to enable natural gas to be the bridge fuel from coal and oil-fired power plants to cleaner renewable sources like wind and solar. Environmentalists and New York state have taken the position that new pipelines, like Williams Cos Inc’s proposed Constitution gas pipe from Pennsylvania to New York, are not needed. They would invest more in renewables and energy efficiency. The gas industry argues that more plants are needed to replace retiring coal and nuclear plants, such as Indian Point just north of New York City, before more wind and solar projects can be built. Indian Point will close in 2020 and 2021. Tyler Thornburg Jersey
Power sector lender PFC allays fears on stressed assets
Power Finance Corp (PFC) on Thursday tried to allay fears of rising stressed assets on its books, saying that it was caused by the lender’s decision to apply new central bank rules and not because of any sudden deterioration in asset quality. The company will expand into refinancing and launch special financial packages for power transmission projects won through competitive bidding, chairman Rajeev Sharma told ET. The state-run company, the largest financier of the power sector, posted a net loss for the fourth quarter and a sharp drop in fiscal 2017 profit as it made a huge retroactive provision against the stressed assets. Sharma, who is also PFC’s managing director, said it would have posted a profit comparable to the previous year of about Rs 6,240 crore in fiscal 2017 had it not made the provision, the impact of which was Rs 3,786 crore. PFC shares have fallen sharply since it announced a quarterly loss for the first time in history. On Monday the company reported a net loss of Rs 3,409.49 crore for the fourth quarter against a net profit of Rs 1,259.65 crore a year earlier. The scrip ended 2.17% down at Rs 130.60 Thursday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The provisioning was against loans to power generation projects sanctioned before April 2015, Sharma said. PFC has been applying the guidelines spelt by the power ministry for treatment of loans sanctioned to electricity generation projects before April 2015. After a communication from the Reserve Bank last month, the company decided to align with the RBI’s loan restructuring rules with effect from April 2015, following which Rs 23,309 crore of additional assets were declared nonperforming and Rs 35,995 crore were classified as restructured, from the earlier classification as standard. PFC’s gross NPAs shot up to 12.5% of the loan assets at close of the last financial year from 3.15% the previous fiscal year. Sharma said all the additional assets classified as NPAs after the RBI directive belonged to state-run companies which have been servicing debt without default. “We do not see any stress in these loan assets of Rs 59,304 crore affected due to RBI norms as the borrowers have demonstrated 100% recovery rate; they are likely to turn standard over the next few years,” he said. As much as 58% of the restructured assets are commissioned and are expected to be reversed next fiscal year, he added. Had it not applied the RBI guidelines, the company’s NPA position would have improved to 3.01% with the upgrade of four stressed projects to the standard category, he said. PFC’s disbursements grew 35% in the past fiscal year to Rs 62,798 crore, while loan sanctions increased 55% to Rs 1,00,603 crore. The company will expand into refinancing and is developing small tenure loan products for transmission projects bid under tariff-based competitive bidding, Sharma said. Cassius Marsh Womens Jersey
Adani Power ‘not cooperating’ with Crisil for rating action
Rating company Crisil Ltd accused the Gautam Adani-led Adani Power Ltd (APL) of not providing it with details of operations while reaffirming its stable outlook and double B minus rating, three notches below investment grade, on Rs 6,559 crore of credit facilities. Crisil said investors shouldn’t take this at face value. The company has total debt of about Rs. 54,000 crore, which includes short and long-term loans. “The investors, lenders and all other market participants should exercise due caution while using the rating assigned/reviewed with the suffix ‘issuer not cooperating’,” Crisil said in a release late Thursday. “These ratings lack a forward-looking component as it is arrived at without any management interaction and is based on best available or limited or dated information on the company.” Repeated attempts to get data from the company did not elicit any response, Crisil said, adding. “The issuer continues to be non-cooperative.” Adani Power, which couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, reported a net loss of Rs 4,960.53 crore in the March quarter against a profit of Rs 1,012.19 crore in the year earlier. The Supreme Court recently turned down a proposal seeking compensatory tariff hikes for higher fuel prices, forcing the company to write off about Rs 3,620 crore in the March quarter. The court’s decision has been taken on board in the rating, Crisil said. “The reaffirmation factors in the order of the Supreme Court in April 2017, disallowing relief in the form of compensatory tariff due to change in Indonesian coal regulations, leading to continued under-recoveries in APL’s revenue,” Crisil said. In the past month, Adani Power’s stock has slumped by more than 17% compared with a 4.5% drop in the BSE Power index. It closed at Rs 26.95 on the BSE Thursday, down 2.5%. With a stable outlook, APL will continue to benefit from the support it receives from the promoter group, the rating company said. Crisil’s mention of non-cooperation has led some market participants to believe it could be the prelude to a downgrade. In the past two weeks, rating companies have issued a string of downgrades, citing weak financials, on Reliance Communications, IDBI Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce. That has in turn spooked investors, sending their stocks lower amid a bull run. APL’s performance is expected to improve with commencement of the 440MW PPA at Tirora, better coal supplies at Kawai and an uptick in the Udupi’s plant load factor, according to a Edelweiss research report. “However, given the company’s high leverage, revival of cash flows is critical, which is not in sight and a key monitorable,” said the report, recommending a ‘hold’ call on Adani Power shares. Robinson Chirinos Authentic Jersey
Wind power competitive bidding will reduce tariffs, squeeze returns: CRISIL
Competitive bidding in the wind power sector would change the market landscape leading to a sharp reduction in tariffs, pressure on returns across the value chain, and consolidation of the market towards independent power producers, according to research and ratings agency CRISIL. According to its report released today, under-construction capacities without Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are the most at risk. “To compete in bids, developers are likely to put pressure on wind power original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), denting their profitability. Also, developers would go for the self-development model, piling more pressure on OEM margins as the premium charged for value-added services like clearances, wind resource assessment and grid connectivity would come down,” said Prasad Koparkar, Senior Director, CRISIL Research. He also stated OEMs having land banks with high wind potential and proximity to the central transmission utility will be less impacted because these would fetch a premium. The report notes that while deployment of latest technology and lower financing charges would reduce generation cost, aggressive bids by developers to scale up their portfolios will mean suboptimal equity internal rate of return. ”However, the market for wind power would expand with more active participation by the central government, which reduces the risk for developers. Higher offtake from power distribution companies with lower tariffs will also support capacity additions, “the report said. Crisil also said that eventually, overall compliance with the renewable purchase obligation is expected to increase due to bidding, particularly by non-windy states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Mike Remmers Authentic Jersey
India to be first in world to run all government ports on green energy
All 12 major domestic ports will soon switch to renewable energy to meet their entire power requirements, making India the first country to have all government-owned ports running on solar and wind energy. The government plans to install almost 200 megawatt solar and wind power generation capacity at the ports by 2019, officials said. Almost 150 mw of this will be solar power and 50 mw wind power generation capacity. The capacity could be ramped up to 500 mw in the next few years. On Tuesday, a high-level conference attended by shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, top officials and chairmen of several port trusts was held at JNPT in Mumbai to discuss the road map of implementing the green ports project. “Total initial investment in the project is expected to be Rs 500 crore. These renewable energy projects will help in reduction of carbon emission and lead to improvement of environment around the ports,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified. The government has also decided to meet the power requirements of smart port industrial cities coming up at Kandla Port and Paradip Port to be met though green renewable power sources. “All our ports are cash-rich and we made total profit of Rs 5,000 crore in the last fiscal. The ports have started the process of setting up renewable energy projects from profits,” the official said. The wind energy projects will be executed at three major ports – Kandla, VO Chidambaranar Port and Kamarajar Port. The total capacity of the wind energy projects is estimated to be 70 mw. “These projects will also help reduce cost of power purchased by utilisation of renewable energy for power generations,” the official said. A total of 7 mw of solar projects has already been commissioned at Vishakhapatnam Port, Kolkata Port, New Mangalore Port, VO Chidambaranar Port and Mumbai Port. The remaining solar power projects will be commissioned in phases and are expected to be completed by 2019. These projects are part of the green port initiative launched by the shipping ministry. Separately, Indian Railways has sharpened its focus on undertaking renewable power projects. The national transporter plans to install 1,000 mw of solar plants, which will be installed on signalling panels and rooftops of rail stations. There’s another plan to install 200 mw of wind energy in the next five years. Jerry Rice Womens Jersey