Surplus power in India: Now heavy users to pay lower tariffs
Major reforms of power tariffs are on the horizon as an official committee has recommended lower tariffs for heavy users to encourage electricity consumption as the country moves from a deficit to surplus situation. In India, power consumers have always been paying higher bills for higher consumption. Slabs are fixed and if you fall in the higher consumption range, you pay more. It’s time the country doles out incentives for high power consumption, a committee constituted to advise the government on ways to increase electricity demand has said. “The present tariff structure has been designed for power shortage scenario in states and has not been changed since Independence. Since India has excess electricity generation capacity now, the existing framework needs to be changed to address the capacity generation glut,” said a member of the committee constituted by the power ministry in September last year to suggest innovative schemes for raising power demand. The committee comprises of chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, secretary of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), president of industry body Ficci, energy secretaries of Bihar and Tamil Nadu and principal energy secretaries of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The committee is in the process of finalising its report and is likely to present it to the power ministry by January-end. The official said the committee is of the view that to boost electricity demand, rebates and incentives in electricity bills be extended to consumers. The state electricity regulatory commissions should revise the tariff design for all consumers, particularly industry, commercial and service sectors, the official said. Presently, consumers are penalised by way of higher tariffs for higher consumption. The committee also opines in the draft report that more states can offer power at lower rates to industries during night and off-peak hours. Such system of differential tariff is in place in some states and Madhya Pradesh has seen increase in power consumption. The committee has also explored other short term and long term options for enhancing power consumption. These include promoting manufacturing under Make in India through electricity assurance, encouraging use of electric vehicles and electric equipment in construction activities. ET on December 25 reported that the government planned to introduce a new tariff structure to charge more from large domestic power consumers rather than industrial units that currently share the cross subsidy burden. Most states categorise households consuming more than 800 units of power a month as large domestic consumers. Kroy Biermann Authentic Jersey
25 States Fail to Meet Solar Capacity Target This Fiscal
With six years left for India to achieve its goal of generating 100 GW of electricity from solar projects, 25 states have fallen short of adding capacity by some 2,000 MW so far in 2016-17. The biggest laggards are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, J&K and West Bengal, each of them missing the mark by more than 100 MW. In terms of renewable power purchase obligations during 2015-16, only Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh exceeded their targets, according to the government. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab managed to meet about 60% of their obligation. The remainder achieved up to 59% of their targets, with Manipur and Goa not meeting any. “Considering the actual renewable purchase obligation level specified by the state electricity regulatory commissions for the year 2016-17, it is estimated that 25 states/UTs require over 2,030 MW solar power capacity to fulfil the solar purchase obligation,” the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy said in a recent document. Similarly, it is estimated that 22 states and UTs require over 9,080 MW of non-solar power capacity to fulfil their obligations to purchase energy from other renewable sources. Promotion of renewable generation sources has now been added as an objective of the new tariff policy. The policy has provisions such as 8% solar purchase obligations by 2022 and renewable energy generation obligation on new coal/lignite-based thermal plants. Fully depreciated power plants whose purchase obligations have expired can now bundle their output with renewable energy. Renewable energy has also been exempted from inter-state transmission charges. Jon Halapio Authentic Jersey
Global corporate funding in solar sector falls 64 per cent in 2016
Total global corporate funding in the solar sector, including venture capital/private equity (VC), debt financing, and public market financing, raised by public companies came to $9.1 billion in 2016, compared to $25.3 billion in 2015, a 64 percent drop, clean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital said. “It was a tough year for solar companies in terms of fundraising even though demand was robust. Several factors made 2016 a volatile year for the sector,” commented Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-founder of Mercom Capital Group. “The Chinese module price crash, the slowdown in US rooftop solar, competitive auctions, net metering uncertainty, high debt levels and lack of profits all contributed to a challenging year across the solar supply chain. However, 2017 looks better than expected as lower module prices are expected to boost installation levels,” he further commented. Global VC investments came to $1.25 billion in 77 deals in 2016, compared to $1.1 billion in 83 deals in 2015. Solar downstream companies accounted for 80 percent of the VC funding in 2016, with $985 million of the $1.3 billion raised. Investments in PV technology companies came to $97 million and thin-film companies brought in $95 million. Balance of Systems (BoS) companies raised $37 million. Service providers raised $24 million. In one deal each, the CPV category raised $10 million and the CSP category raised $2.3 million. Among the Top VC deals in 2016, the largest was the $300 million raised by Sunnova Energy, followed by the $220 million raised by Solar Mosaic. Origis Energy and Silicon Ranch each raised $100 million. There were 100 investors that participated in funding rounds in 2016, with five involved in multiple rounds: Energy Access Ventures, ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies, International Finance Corporation (IFC), KawiSafi Ventures, and Neo Solar Power. Public market financing was lower this year with $1.8 billion in 27 deals, compared to the 2015 record of $6 billion in 38 deals. There were three IPOs which brought in $230 million – they were BCPG (a subsidiary of Bangchak Petroleum), Azure Power, and Ripasso Energy. Four yieldcos raised public market financing. There was no IPO activity by yieldcos in 2016. Debt financing in 2016 totaled $6 billion compared to the $18.3 billion in 2015. There were three securitization deals in 2016 totaling $387 million. SolarCity raised a total of $234.6 million in two securitization deals and Shenzhen Energy had one securitization deal for $152 million. Announced large-scale project funding in 2016 came to $9.4 billion in 133 deals this year, compared to 2015 with $11.6 billion in 124 deals. A total of 153 investors funded about 5.9 GW of large-scale solar projects this year. The top investors for large-scale project funding were Santander, which invested in eight projects, followed by Bpifrance, Natixis and NORD/LB which invested in five projects each. There was a total of $4.9 billion raised in 30 residential and commercial solar project funds in 2016 compared to $5.7 billion raised in 24 funds in 2015. SolarCity, Sunrun, Solar Mosaic, Spruce Finance, and Tabuchi Electric were the top fundraisers in 2016. Since 2009, solar residential and commercial firms offering lease, PPA and loans have raised more than $22.5 billion. In the last three quarters of 2016, loans made up almost 47 percent of residential/commercial funds announced. There were 68 corporate M&A transactions in the solar sector in 2016 compared to 81 transactions in 2015. Solar downstream companies were involved in 38 of these transactions. BayWa r.e., DNV GL, Golden Concord Holdings, and Voltalia acquired two companies each. The largest and the most notable transaction in 2016 was the $2.1 billion acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla Motors. There were a record 218 large-scale solar project acquisitions for more than 12.2 GW, compared to 2015 when 12.7 GW changed hands in 204 transactions. Mercom also tracked 133 large-scale project announcements worldwide in quarter four 2016 totaling 5.8 GW and 826 project announcements totaling 40.4 GW for all of 2016. Malcom Brown Authentic Jersey
Shimla hoteliers seek PM’s help to restore power supply
Heavy snowfall has brought a large number of tourists to Shimla but only to face troubles. For the past four days, there is no electricity and water supply and the supply of bread, milk and eggs too has been hit. Those associated with the tourism industry are not happy with the failure of the state government in restoring the essential services. Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association (North India) president Sanjay Sood, through micro blogging site Twitter, has sought the help of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in restoring electricity to the hill town. Sanjay Sood said the tourism industry has been left in the cold and the state government is doing nothing to help the tourists. He said Shimla is in the race to become a smart city, but the city itself is without power for the past four days and even the emergency helpline numbers are not working. Tourism Industry Stake Holders Association president M K Seth said the government machinery has miserably failed to restore basic amenities in the state capital despite their claim to have sufficient arrangements to deal with any kind of calamity. He said hoteliers are compelled to keep the hotels vacant as there is no electricity and water. “It is unfortunate that the road between Victory tunnel and Lakkar bazar was cleared after one-and-a-half day. Hoteliers couldn’t get water through tankers because of slippery roads and tankers could not fill water due to non-availability of electricity,” he said. Attacking the municipal corporation, he said the civic body charges highest water tariff in the state up to Rs 185 per kilo litre, but fails to resume water supply. “The association wants to tell the government that the industry is becoming unviable due to heavy taxation, high water and electricity tariff,” he added. Wendel Clark Womens Jersey
Reliance Infra, Tata Power may face scrutiny by Maharashtra electricity regulator
Reliance Infrastructure (Rel Infra) and Tata Power Company (TPC), the two private discoms supplying electricity to Mumbai, may face a probe by the Maharashtra electricity regulator. The state government is planning to invoke its powers and issue directives to the power regulator for a probe on the two private discoms after the proposed audit by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit is yet to bear fruit. The Maharashtra government had written to the CAG for auditing the two firms, but officials said they were awaiting a reply. Sources attributed the delay to legal issues involved in the CAG, a statutory auditor, examining the accounts of private entities in which the government holds no equity. “We had written to the CAG seeking their opinion and had also sent a reminder. But we are yet to hear from them,” said a senior energy department official. During last year’s monsoon session of the legislature, the state energy minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule announced that the state would issue instructions for a CAG audit of Rel Infra and TPC. This followed BJP MLA Ashish Shelar’s charge that the two discoms inflated their electricity tariffs by showing higher capital costs. Bipin Shrimali, principal secretary, energy, told DNA Money that they had written to the CAG for the audit. “We had asked for their concurrence and issues to be taken up,” said Shrimali, adding that they were awaiting a reply. When contacted, spokespersons of TPC and Rel Infra declined to comment. Bavankule said he had called for a meeting in this regard on January 17. An official said if the CAG audit could not be conducted, they would invoke their powers under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and issue directions to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). The section says that “In the discharge of its functions, the State Commission shall be guided by such directions in matters of policy involving public interest as the State Government may give to it in writing.” “This is an issue involving public interest. We may suggest a technical and financial audit,” he said. Mumbai is serviced by four distribution utilities, the other two being Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MahaVitaran), and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST), which charge differential tariffs. The state energy department officials pointed to how the Delhi High Court in 2015 struck down the decision of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi to get the accounts of three private power discoms (Tata Power Delhi Distribution, BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna) audited by the CAG. This was challenged by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court. In 2009, the state government had directed the regulator to investigate if Rel Infra had “discharged its duties as envisaged in the Act in the most economical and efficient manner so as not to result in unnecessary and avoidable burden on the consumers of its area…” The MERC asked the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) to investigate Rel Infra in three broad areas: power purchase cost, capital investment; and, expenses of regulated business vis-à-vis other business. The ASCI probe said the capital investment was “commensurate with demand growth and other requirements for improving the system performance and reliability and it cannot be said it is an over investment.” “The physical vouchers are verified for substantial transactions and they do not indicate any discrepancy with Books of Accounts,” the report said. Damien Wilson Womens Jersey
Power minister Piyush Goyal wants regulators to work with policy makers
Union Power minister Piyush Goyal said the impact on growth due to demonetisation was temporary and assured that buoyancy would return to the Indian economy soon. Goyal was addressing a seminar at the Vibrant Gujarat summit in Gandhinagar. “We had said this since day one that there will be some problem, and even GDP may go down. In a country where 25-30 per cent of the economy is informal, GDP is bound to be affected,” he said. The Centre has been under constant attack from the Opposition and economists since Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes shall be discontinued from the circulation by the end of 2016. The government insists that the step was taken to control black economy and terror funding in the country. Goyal criticised the Opposition and made a veiled attack on West Bengal. “In the entire country, there is only one state, which despite two years of persuasion by central government, has not yet agreed to join the 24/7 power-for-all,” he said. He stressed on transparency in the regulatory process, insisting that policy makers and regulators must work together. “Regulators should be open about their working. Orders should be available in public domain so that others can benchmark their business processes to whatever is decided by regulators,” he said. He also stressed on the simplicity of regulations so that the common man could understand the process better. Earlier in the day finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a separate event in Gandhinagar that the government has been working towards ease of doing business. Several steps are being taken to ensure that. Many foreign investors have been demanding that the Indian government eases the regulatory environment in the country. To some extent, the current government has been able to do so and big ticket litigation in taxation, especially around transfer pricing, have come down drastically. Lac Edwards Authentic Jersey
Hartek Power doubles solar capacity to 528 MW in this fiscal
Hartek Power has completed solar power projects of 270 megawatts spread across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka in the first three quarters of this fiscal, taking its total solar projects capacity under EPC contracts to 528 mw. The Chandigarh-based company undertakes engineering, procurement and construction projects from independent power producers and specialises in grid connectivity. As of March 31, 2016, it had completed 258 MW of solar projects. The company has presence in 18 states for solar projects. It is focusing in South India and places like Jharkhand to consolidate its position. “At the same time, we are strengthening our hold in states like Punjab where we have traditionally been doing well,” Chairman Hartek Singh said. “In fact, out of the 500 mw solar projects awarded by the Punjab government in the phase-3 auction, Hartek Power has bagged orders for 200 mw projects,” he added. India’s installed solar generation capacity has increased four times to 10 gigawatts from 2.5 gw in less than three years, offering huge opportunities for growth to companies like Hartek Power. Marco Estrada Authentic Jersey
Haryana to offer cheap power for new investors
Haryana government will be soon announce a new tariff policy for manufacturing units that are part of fresh investments, and make it easier for industry to get new power connections and upgrade sanctioned load. Special sops for the mobile phone manufacturing industry are also in the offing. Speaking at a panel discussion on IT and ITes industry at the Pravasi Divas, Anurag Rastogi, principal secretary, power department, said the government is working on the twin goals of improving the availability and reducing cost of power. “It has been decided that a new power regime based on common sense, and actual ground conditions will be introduced,” Rastogi said. The state government is also working on reducing the cost of power to industrial units and new units could be supplied cheaper power. “The cost of power in Haryana is relatively high but this problem would also be addressed by boosting the transmission system. It is being considered to supply power to new units at favourable rates,” he said. A sum of ?20,000 crore has been spent as part of the infrastructure upgrade and Gurgaon would get six 220 kv sub-stations. To boost electronic and mobile phone manufacturing, the government will announce sops for the mobile phone industry too. “Two to three large mobile phone companies have signed agreements with the state. They have asked for specific incentives, which are under positive consideration,” Devender Singh, principal secretary, industries and commerce department, said. The state is also getting a digital upgrade in line with the vision of digital India. Haryana industries and commerce minister Vipul Goel said the optical fibre has been laid in 3,500 villages, and the rest would be connected soon. Mackensie Alexander Womens Jersey
Northeast could feed India up to 1,100 MW of power by year end
The northeastern region, with its huge energy potential — 50,000 MW, by some estimates — could soon become the “power house of India”. And taking a small first step in this direction, it is expected to feed the rest of the country up to 1,100 MW by the end of this year, energy experts say. Seven northeastern states, excluding Sikkim, currently have an installed capacity of 2,690 MW, but as some of the plants are very old, the output is some 100 MW short of the peak-hour demand of 2,200-2,300 MW. However, there is a surplus of 300 MW during off-peak hours, while another 767 MW of capacity will be added by year-end. Sikkim is self-sufficient at 95.70 MW. State-run North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), a mini-ratna company under the Union Ministry of Power, alone generates 1,290 MW from its seven power plants — a mix of hydro-electric, gas- and solar-based units. “NEEPCO’s generation capacity would rise to 2,060 MW by this end-2017 as commissioning of three more power projects would be completed much before the end of this year,” NEEPCO Chairman and Managing Director A.G. West Kharkongor told IANS. “The company is now commissioning three power projects — 600 MW and 110 MW capacity plants in Arunachal Pradesh and another of 60 MW capacity in Mizoram,” he added. “If the government allows NEEPCO, it would supply surplus power to other states of the country,” Kharkongor said. And, to feed the surplus power from the northeast to other parts of India, the state-run Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) has erected 800-kv capacity and 1,728-km-long High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line from Biswanath Chariyalli in Guwahati to Agra in Uttar Pradesh at an investment of Rs 12,000 crore ($1.8 billion). The power ministry has estimated the hydro-power potential of the northeastern region at 58,971 MW, almost 40 percent of the country’s total potential, but only less than two per cent (1,200 MW) has been exploited till last year. Energy expert Sudhindra Kumar Dube said that the power generation potential of the northeastern region must be utilised with proper planning. “The region has not only potential to generate a huge amount of hydro-power but also has scope to set up more gas- and coal-based plants in the region,” Dube told IANS. NEEPCO also plans to generate at least 1,500 MW from non-conventional sources of energy such as solar and wind power in the next five years. With a population of 45.58 million in the northeastern region, the eight states including Sikkim, have a per capita electricity consumption of 257.98 kilowatt hour (kWh) against the national average of 778.71 kWh. State Power and Transport Minister Manik Dey said that Tripura has agreed to supply an additional 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh over and above the 100 MW being supplied since March 23, 2016. “The Bangladesh government has sought more electricity from India to tackle its power crisis in the eastern part of the country. India’s power ministry recently wanted to know whether the Tripura government is ready to provide additional 100 MW of power to Bangladesh. We have accordingly agreed,” Dey told IANS. Cris Carter Womens Jersey
All states except Uttar Pradesh ink pact to achieve 24X7 power
All states barring Uttar Pradesh have inked agreements with the Centre to achieve the milestone of providing ’24×7 Power For All (PFA)’. “With the signing of the ’24×7 Power For All (PFA)’ roadmap document with the state (Tamil Nadu yesterday), the roadmap for all the 28 states, except one, and all the 7 Union Territories in the country have now been finalised and is under implementation,” Power Ministry said in a statement today. A source said, “Uttar Pradesh has not inked 24×7 PFA roadmap document with Power Ministry.” The ministry said it is the most significant milestone in this initiative founded on the principles of cooperative federalism. This milestone was achieved yesterday when the Power Ministry also signed the MoU for Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) with Tamil Nadu here. UDAY scheme is meant for revival of debt stressed discoms. The ministry said that providing access to reliable and quality power supply to all citizens/establishments by 2019 is at the core of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for the nation. The Power Ministry’s 24×7 program is aimed at delivering on it. The Program has been instrumental in mainstreaming the Ministry’s focus on energy efficiency and demand side management interventions and has resulted in increased participation with speedy rollout of the UJALA/ DELP and other EESL led schemes. UJALA has emerged as the world’s largest and most successful LED bulbs program, it said. Increased role of central sector agencies such as NTPC in addressing sector’s operational viability in the case of proposed acquisition of state owned generation assets in Rajasthan and in fast-tracking capacity addition in the case of Patratu project in Jharkhand are outcomes of the comprehensive approach adopted under 24×7 PFA Program to resolve state specific problems, the ministry said. Besides, development of segment wise coordinated physical rollout plans and rigorous analysis on financial viability of state utilities under the 24×7 PFA program in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, the plans for which were made in first 100 days of coming of this government, led to the formulation of the UDAY, it said. Looking at the balance sheets of these states, it was found that unless the states are taken out of the debt trap which they were in and made financially sustainable, all plans of 24×7 power would remain unfulfilled, it said. The PFA Program has also benefited several states in addressing funding gap for the investments required to ensure 24×7 power access to all. Jake McCabe Womens Jersey