Shell sees rising investment in renewables
Royal Dutch Shell will be spending up to $1 billion a year by 2020 on projects within its new energies division, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told an industry conference on Monday. Shell set up the division to focus on renewable energy and new technologies to help lower carbon emissions. “Shell is determined to find solutions and will be spending up to $1 billion a year on our new energies division by the end of the decade,” van Beurden told the conference. Aaron Donald Womens Jersey
China tops in renewable energy production: BP Statistical Review of World Energy
China surpassed the US as the top producer of renewable energy in 2016, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy released on Monday. Renewable power, excluding hydro power, in the world grew by 14.1 per cent in 2016, the biggest increment on record, Xinhua news agency cited the report as saying. Although the share of renewable power within primary energy was just 4 per cent, its strong growth meant it accounted for one-third of the increase in primary energy, the report indicated. China continued to dominate renewable growth, contributing about 40 per cent of global growth — more than the entire OECD — and surpassed the US as the largest producer of renewable power last year, said BP chief economist Spencer Dale. China also provided the main source of world growth for both hydro and nuclear power. Global hydro power rose 2.8 per cent in 2016 from a year ago, with more than 40 per cent of growth from China. In the meantime, global nuclear power went up by 1.3 per cent or 9.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent, with China contributing almost all the growth. Carbon emissions were essentially flat over the past three years, Dale said, with China again the key player. The BP data showed carbon emissions in the world rose slightly by 0.1 per cent in 2016, while in China, the emissions fell 0.7 per cent from a year ago. “China’s carbon emissions are estimated to have actually fallen over the past two years, after growing by more than 75 per cent in the previous 10 years, and some of the improvements reflects structural factors that are likely to persist,” Dale said. Jimmy Graham Authentic Jersey
UP nudges solar companies to cut power tariff on older pacts
Following a steep fall in solar tariffs in the last two years, Uttar Pradesh is pressuring solar power project developers to cut rates of electricity agreed upon in earlier contracts even though the pacts were signed when equipment prices were high. Winners of an auction conducted in September 2015 have been urged to voluntarily lower power tariff of plants nearing completion. Uttar Pradesh’s nodal agency for renewable energy New Energy Development Agency (NEDA) declared results of the auction in 2015, after which contracts were signed with 15 developers at tariffs ranging between Rs 7.02 per kwH and Rs 8.60 per kwH. The biggest winners were Adani Green Energy which bagged a 50-MW project at a tariff of Rs 8.43 per kwH and Essel Infra Projects which also won a bid for 50 MW at a tariff of Rs 7.02 per kwH. However, they have all recently received the pro-forma of a letter the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) wants them to sign by which they would voluntarily agree to lower solar tariffs to Rs 7.02 per kwH, the price that was proposed by the lowest bidder during the auction. “Subsequent to approval of the tariff quoted by the firm by the UP cabinet, PPA [power purchase agreement] was executed by the firm with UPPCL [Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd],” the suggested letter says. “On adoption of tariff, UPERC directed for reducing the quoted tariff. As per the direction of UPERC, we give our consent for tariff of Rs 7.02 per kwH.” This has put the project developers in a fix. “The project was won at a particular price but now they are asking winning bidders to lower it and match the price of the lowest bidder,” said a source close to the development. “Bidders have been given a standard letter on a piece of blank paper and told to sign or else quit the project. How can they quit? Most of the plants have already been built.” The PPAs are for 12 years, not 25 years as is the usual practice. Officials of UPERC and UP NEDA were not available for comment. Solar tariffs have fallen drastically throughout the country due to improved technology for solar module manufacturing as well as excess production in China, from where most Indian developers source solar equipment. The lowest solar tariff reached so far has been Rs 2.44 per kwH in an auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan in May. The solar tariff compares well with the price of power supplied by coal-fired plants. Bhadla has the highest solar radiation in the country. Though solar radiation in UP is weaker in comparison, tariffs have fallen there too. The last solar auction of 125 MW conducted in the state in March 2016 by SECI saw winning tariff of Rs 4.43 per kwH. UPERC thus seems reluctant to adhere to PPAs where the state discom will have to pay almost double for solar power. Jung-ho Kang Womens Jersey
Renewable energy boost: 4 Indian solar, wind power firms plan to raise $2.5 billion in offshore bonds
Four Indian renewable power producers are planning to raise up to $2.5 billion via dollar bonds offshore because of caution among domestic lenders, banking sources said. In addition to the four solar and wind power firms, a fifth company that invests in renewable projects, Adani Group, has raised $250 million via a loan but has yet to publicly announce the borrowing, the sources told Reuters. A source working with one of the bond issues said foreign borrowing was attractive because state banks were reluctant to lend due to existing bad loans to the power sector, while domestic banks worried about falling tariffs for solar power. Foreign investors have been attracted to the sector by India’s commitment to expand renewable power capacity, with plans to invest close to $150 billion to meet its 2022 targets, analysts and bankers said. New York-listed Azure Power Global Ltd, which has projects in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and elsewhere, planned to raise $500 million via a dollar issuance, two bankers said. Continuum Energy, a firm backed by U.S. bank Morgan Stanley that has projects in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and western state of Gujarat, planned to raise $400 million, the two bankers added. Wind and solar power firm Greenko Group, backed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), planned a $1 billion issuance to refinance a dollar bond raised three years ago, three bankers said. IL&FS Energy, which has thermal and solar power projects, was considering a dollar bond issue worth $500 million, said a source with knowledge of the deal but not involved in the process. The fifth firm, Adani Group, which is controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, has already raised $250 million via an offshore loan to invest in its solar power project in Karnataka, one of the bankers said. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Solar tariffs hit a new low in May when SBG Cleantech, which has SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son as one of its promoters, bid 2.44 per unit for building a solar park in the western state of Rajasthan. Solar power players bid for the right to build projects on parcels of land that are set aside by the government. The player agreeing to sell the power it generates at the lowest price per kilowatt hour, are leased the land at a nominal price. Despite the decline in tariffs, overseas investors scouting for higher yields are keen on such dollar bond issues, the bankers said, adding many were drawn by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to boosting renewable power output. India, a signatory to the Paris climate accord, has an ambitious plan to raise renewable energy capacity to 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022 from a current capacity of 57 GW. Abhishek Tyagi, senior analyst at Moody’s, said India would have to invest “close to $150 billion to meet its 2022 renewable energy targets”, adding much of that was expected to come from foreign financing due to constraints among domestic lenders. Ndamukong Suh Authentic Jersey
Power utilities can save up to Rs 20,000 crore through improved scheduling: Piyush Goyal
Power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal today launched an app that provides information on availability of cheaper electricity to state power utilities allowing improved scheduling and optimum utilization of coal. The app named Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency (MERIT) can help distribution utilities achieve savings of upto Rs 20,000 crore annually, Goyal said. “With 1,20,000 crore units of electricity being consumed in the country now, which will go up to 2 lakh crore units in five years, this app, at a conservative estimate, can help save 10 paise per unit…which makes for a straight saving of Rs 20,000 crore a year for discoms,” news agency IANS quoted Goyal as saying. The app has been developed by the power ministry in association with POSOCO and Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The app is designed to display information regarding the merit order which includes daily state-wise marginal variable costs of all generators, daily source-wise power purchases of respective states with source-wise fixed and variable costs, energy volumes and purchase prices. “The initiatives launched today will reflect a government in action fulfilling the promises made to the people of India. It also provides an opportunity to the people and the media to monitor our work and keep questioning what is happening in the power sector,” Goyal said at the launch. The electricity tariff Policy of 2016 mandates the state discoms to follow the merit order for procurement of power and provides that there should be uniformity in the merit order mechanism. “Most states follow merit order operation. However, details in this regard need to be made transparently available. Hence, there was a need to have a mechanism to quantify deviation from merit order and check its reasonableness. The adherence to merit order optimizes the power procurement cost and benefits both utility and ultimate consumer,” the ministry said in a statement. Goyal also launched an e-bidding portal that aims to facilitate states in inviting bids for procurement of power from the prospective Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in a transparent manner by transferring their domestic coal under the scheme of flexibility in utilization of domestic coal. “Few years back, when coal linkage rationalisation was undertaken, it led to huge savings. This portal is again going to bring in improvement in savings. It will also provide flexibility in a transparent method of buying power,” power secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said. The portal has been jointly developed by the ministry of power, along with PFC consulting Ltd and MSTC Ltd. The successful bidder on the app will be selected through the e-reverse bidding process. Phil Esposito Authentic Jersey
Hindustan Powerprojects, Lanco in dispute over bank guarantees
Hindustan Powerprojects has begun to invoke Rs. 500 crore bank guarantees of Lanco Infratech, citing non-fulfilment of a work contract, triggering abitter row between the companies. Lanco, which is already facing the heat from lenders, has written to nine banks urging them not to allow encashment of bank guarantees it had submitted as the contractor for Hindustan Powerprojects’ Annupur power project in Madhya Pradesh. In its note to bankers, Lanco has alleged serious malpractices by Hindustan Powerprojects which it says are worthy of official investigation. Lanco did not respond to ET’s queries but Hindustan Powerprojects has strongly denied the allegations and said it had exercised its legal rights to protect the interests of stakeholders. “Considering the unfulfilled contractual obligations, Hindustan Power exercised the legal remedial action that is available to the company as part of its contract. Lanco Infratech had approached the High court for an injunction against Hindustan Power from encashing the bank guarantee which the Hon’ble court had rejected on Saturday, 01/07/2017,” the company said in an emailed response to ET’s query. Lanco told bankers in its letter, seen by ET, that encashing bank guarantees was discussed at a meeting between Hindustan Powerprojects Chairman Ratul Puri and Lanco Executive Chairman L Madhusudan Rao on June 30 at a hotel in Delhi. Lanco alleges that in the course of the meeting attempts were made to allure its chairman to agree with the encashment of bank guarantees. It further alleged that Hindustan Powerproject’s chairman had said that his company needed money to tide over its own financial difficulties. Hindustan Powerprojects denied these allegations. “Hindustan Power has always followed the highest standards of integrity in the truest spirit and denies the baseless allegations made by Lanco Infratech with an intention to thwart the legal recourse available to us,” it said. “With a view to safeguard the interests of our stakeholders and the operations of the thermal asset, the company had to encash the bank guarantees. To put things in perspective, Hindustan Power has multiple claims against Lanco Infrastructure including large cash advances and unfinished work at the thermal site,” it said. Lanco has demanded a CBI enquiry into the matter and stated that in 2013 Hindustan Powerprojects coerced Lanco to exit bidding process for power supply to Uttar Pradesh by threatening to encash the same bank guarantees. J.J. Nelson Womens Jersey
Discoms save Rs 12,000 crore interest outgo after states take over debt
Power distribution companies have saved Rs. 12,000 crore interest outgo after states took over their debt as part of the Centre’s Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY), the Union power ministry has said. Governments of 16 states have taken around Rs.2.08 lakh crore debt of the distribution companies as per terms of UDAY agreements. These loans were running at interest rates of around 11%-12% per annum and now be serviced by states at 7%-8.5%. A few discoms have also restructured their balance loan portion, reducing the interest burden by another 3%-4%, the ministry said in a statement issued on Tuesday. The average gap between cost of power supply and revenue has decreased to 45 paise in FY17 from 59 paise in FY 16 in the backdrop of reduced interest outgo, tariff rationalisation and improved billing, it said. At all India level, billing efficiency has increased by 2% to 83% in 2016-17 while the average aggregate technical and commercial loss has come down to 20.2%. Power procurement cost has reduced in many states including Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat. The average cost of power purchase has reduced to.`4.16 per unit from .`4.20 per unit in FY16. While 16 states, including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, joined Uday for debt recast, while 10 other states including Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Karnataka, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala joined for operational benefits. Puducherry is also part of the scheme for improving operational efficiency of its discom. As per the scheme, total liability opted for restructuring by 15 states through bond issuances was Rs. 2.69 lakh crore. So far, states have issued bonds of entire .`2.09 lakh crore and discoms have issued bonds worth Rs.23,000 crore. Bonds worth .`37,000 crore are yet to be issued. In all, 86% of the restructurable debt of states has been restructured so far under Uday, the statement said. Evgeny Svechnikov Authentic Jersey
Waste-to-energy plant will be a new problem for Gurgaon, say greens and RWAs
Environmentalists and members of the civil society have declared their opposition to the state government’s decision of installing a waste-to-energy plant in Bandhwari, saying the model is unsuited to Indian cities. According to environmentalists, the system’s major drawback is that it is a centralised one, which discourages the practice of segregation at source. The Union ministry of urban development and National Green Tribunal have been pushing for waste segregation at source, which is also a more environment-friendly garbage management strategy. “Almost 60% of Indian waste is wet waste, with a very high quantity of kitchen waste. This has very low energy and is hence unsuitable for power generation. As a result, ultimately, a large percentage of the garbage will still end up in landfills, beating the whole point of waste management,” said Keshav Jaini, president, RWA, Garden Estate, who has been working on waste management for several years. Another big argument put forward by experts and environmentalists is that by burning waste, the model is likely to cause air pollution. “As per NGT guidelines, waste has to be segregated and detoxified with bio-culture, before it can be burnt. Or else, it will release noxious fumes, polluting the air further,” said a national-level solid waste management expert. She requested not to be named. Gurgaon has seen several examples of schools and residential societies practising waste segregation at source, with many of their residents also involved in campaigning for a more sustainable zero-waste lifestyle. These societies include Garden Estate, Nirvana Country, Vipul Greens, Hamilton Court and Vastu CGHS. “Across the city, so many people and societies are doing segregation and composting the natural and sustainable way. Instead of encouraging this, the proposed model goes on to discourage waste segregation at source and decentralised treatment plants,” said Neelam Ahluwalia, a former environmental journalist. Among other problems involving waste-to-energy plants, the critic’s group has pointed out that such plants have failed in Europe and China. Instead of taking ideas from China, which is itself battling high pollution levels, we should look for suitable models within the country. The waste-to-energy plant, proposed in Gurgaon, is in partnership with a Chinese player. “The NGO Centre for Science and Environment had also published a book, written by Sunita Narain and Swati Singh Sambyal in 2016, Not In My Backyard, on how and why waste-to-energy plants don’t fit India. The government must look into the points they raised. They should work with cities like Warangal and Pune, which have successfully executed decentralised waste management plants,” said Ahluwalia. There are other concerns that remain largely unanswered, such as impact of the model on local flora and fauna, or on garbage workers and rag-pickers? The larger argument among residents and activists is that instead of discarding waste, we must find value in it by treating and recycling it as much as possible. MCG officials said their chosen integrated solid waste management model follows all required guidelines.“The proposed model is approved under all NGT guidelines and rules set by the Centre,” said MCG commissioner V Umashankar. The corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad signed an MoU with a Chinese company on June 30 for the project. Talks for a waste management project in Gurgaon have been going on since the Bandhwari plant closed down in October 2013. In 2016, the government decided that the replacement WTP would be a waste-to-energy plant. Dave Winfield Womens Jersey
NTPC bets $10 billion on coal power despite surplus, green concerns
India’s state-run power utility plans to invest $10 billion in new coal-fired power stations over the next five years despite the electricity regulator’s assessment that thermal plants now under construction will be able to meet demand until 2027. In the first phase, India’s biggest power producer, NTPC , plans to build three new plants with a combined capacity of more than 5 gigawatts (GW), nearly double the capacity of those currently being phased out, five senior company officials said. The company has not made the investment public because it has not yet received government approval. If approved, the plan could set back efforts by the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter to control carbon output and raise questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vow to stand by commitments under the Paris climate accord. The proposal also comes as several coal-fired stations built in the last power boom a decade ago are standing idle due to softer-than-expected demand. State-controlled Coal India is struggling to sell its stockpile as a result. But other indicators indicate demand will pick up, a top NTPC executive said, asking not to be named because the plan had not yet been announced. “I don’t think (the current) electricity surplus will be there for a long time,” he told Reuters. “We should not fool ourselves.” More than 300 million of India’s 1.3 billion people are still not hooked up to the grid, according to NITI Aayog, which makes policy recommendations to the government. As connections improve, the panel reckons, the country’s per-capita power consumption could jump around a third to up to 2,924 kilowatt-hours by 2040 from 2012 levels. In the next decade, the around 50 GW of capacity from thermal plants due to come online by 2022 will meet demand, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) said. Additional supplies will come from sources such as solar and wind, it said. Asked about NTPC’s plan, CEA chairman RK Verma said the commercial decisions of the company were its own affair. “NTPC is a commercial organization and they must be having their own commercial considerations,” Verma said. For its part, a spokesperson at NTPC would say only: “NTPC takes decisions after consulting both the CEA and the ministry of power.” THERMAL VS RENEWABLE Solar power generation capacity in India has more than tripled in three years to more than 12 GW since Modi targeted raising energy generation from renewable sources to 175 GW by 2022, against total installed capacity at the end of May of 330.3 GW. Around 78 percent of generated power in India at the moment still comes from coal-fired plants, however, making it one of the biggest users of the dirty and cheap fuel in the world. Carbon dioxide emissions from India’s thermal plants are expected to jump to 1,165 million tonnes by 2026/27 from 462 million tonnes in 2005, the CEA estimates. Emission intensity, measured in carbon dioxide emissions versus GDP, is likely to fall, however. India is undergoing a programme to retrofit several coal-fired plants to reduce emissions. The plants planned by NTPC are “supercritical”, meaning they are 2-3 percent more efficient than conventional plants and therefore have lower emissions. NTPC’s proposal is likely to be greeted with alarm by environmental activists who are already worried by the CEA’s statement that existing power plants are unlikely to meet India’s emission norms before the Paris deadline of December this year. “Adding more power plants would aggravate health impacts even further,” said Sunil Dahiya, an energy activist with Greenpeace in New Delhi, when asked about the possibility of new coal-fired plants. NTPC’s proposal is to build plants of two 660 megawatt (MW) units each at Singrauli in central India’s Madhya Pradesh and Talcher in Odisha in the east. The biggest plant, with a capacity of 2.4 GW in the eastern state of Jharkhand, was close to getting clearance from the environment ministry, one of many steps in the process of getting government approval, one of the senior company officials said. A plan announced by NTPC last year to generate 10 GW of energy from renewable sources by 2022 was making slow progress due to land acquisition issues, another company official said. Max Muncy Authentic Jersey
Brazil wind, solar projects stall as power demand remains sluggish
Brazil’s government will not award new licenses for wind and solar power generation projects, despite requests from the renewable energy sector, as power markets struggle with oversupply in a sluggish economy, a top official said. Brazil was one of the world’s fastest growing markets for the wind power sector in the first half of the decade with a flurry of farms appearing along the nation’s vast, windy coast. But a deep recession that began in early 2014 and from which Brazil is only now emerging brought the trend to a halt. The last licenses for new wind or solar generation projects were awarded in 2015. An auction for licenses was called off in 2016 and it is unlikely new licenses will be issued this year. “We cannot choose a segment and say it is insulated from the crisis, give it a guaranteed demand,” Deputy Energy Minister Paulo Pedrosa said at a Sao Paulo conference last week. “Strictly considering the technical side, we have to say no.” Pedrosa said the government has received requests from wind and solar equipment makers to resume licensing. He said pressure also comes from governors of states holding the bulk of the wind generation capacity in Brazil. Despite those pressures, Pedrosa said it was impossible to even guess when the government will resume licensing for the projects. When it was booming at the turn of the decade, Brazil attracted global wind turbine manufacturers such as Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems, U.S.’s GE and Spain’s Gamesa, who built plants in the country. Their order books are increasingly thinner, as old projects mature and there is no fresh demand. Newcomers such as photovoltaic panel makers BYD and Canadian Solar are likely to feel the orders’ drought as well. Erik Rego, a power sector consultant at Excelência Energética, agreed with the government’s stance. He said there is no need for new projects unless the government decides to stimulate the industry and build a buffer for when power consumption increases. Since there is no demand from power distributors to buy power forward, one way to create new projects would be to include them in a government plan to build spare capacity as a way to guarantee supply when demand increases rapidly, Rego said. But since this has a cost that in the end would have to be financed by consumers, there is resistance in the government to carrying such a plan out. Kareem Martin Womens Jersey