Country’s first environment-friendly Metro depot constructed in Lucknow
The country’s first environment-friendly Metro workshop and maintenance depot has been constructed at Transportnagar, said Lucknow Metro Railway Corporation (LMRC) officials on Saturday. LMRC general manager (operations) Sushil Kumar said, “For the first time, no vehicles will be allowed outside the premises of the Metro depot and diesel, and petrol works will be prohibited inside.” He further said all employees would have to come on a bicycle and electrical appliances will be battery or electrically operated. He also said solar panels would be installed on the roof of the depot, which would supply electricity to all eight metro stations. Speaking about the LMRC’s workshop, officials said the workshop will be able to maintain around 42 trains, with six coaches each. The depot will repair and test Metro coaches. Officials also said the depot was first of its kind to have been equipped with a hazard-based safety system, wherein different kinds of hazards are identified before installing the depot. Jamie McGinn Womens Jersey
Slow Progress in Commissioning Pvt Sector Hydro Power Projects
Indicating slow progress in commissioning of hydro power projects by the private sector, only 3,269 megawatts of capacity has been operationalised so far out of the overall plans for 38,039 MW across the country. As many as 120 hydro projects with a total capacity of 38,039 MW were conceived by the private sector but unfortunately 3,269 MW could be made operational, a senior official said, quoting data of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The official further said these 20 operational hydro power projects with generation capacity of 3,269 MW include even small hydro power units of above 3 MW. As per the CEA data, 19 private sector hydro power projects having a total capacity of 4,555 MW are under construction while there are 22 projects with 15,058 MW capacity whose detail project reports (DPR) were approved by the authority. At present, the CEA is examining DPR of six hydro power projects having capacity of 3,317 MW while reports of 16 such projects of 5,338 MW capacity were returned to private players for resubmission, the official said. The official also said that private players are still preparing DPR of 31 hydro power projects having a total capacity of 6,502 MW. Earlier in the week, elaborating on reasons for delay in implementation of hydro power projects, Power Minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha, “The reasons for delay in respect of hydro projects under construction in private sector mainly include law and order issues, rehabilitation and resettlement, natural calamities, geological surprises, environmental clearances, financial constraints, etc.” The minister said that against identified capacity of 148.70 GW of large hydro power projects (above 25 MW capacity), 38.32 GW capacity is under operation while projects of 12.01 GW capacity are under construction. Construction of 94.89 GW of hydro power generation capacity is yet to be taken up, the minister had said. Shane Ray Jersey
Demonetisation: Power distribution companies’ coffers swell with old currency
It is a win-win for the electricity department here because of the demonetisation. Since the defunct 500- and 1,000-rupee notes are acceptable until November 24, the power discom is receiving the maximum dues from defaulters. The officials claimed that the number of consumers who have cleared their dues has increased by 20% in the past one week. “There are 40,838 defaulters in the Ghaziabad zone and during the ongoing demonetisation exercise, we are exhorting them to pay off their dues in old currency notes,” said S K Gupta, chief engineer, PVVNL. “The offer is valid until November 24 and in four days we hope to draw in as many defaulters as possible,”Gupta said. “The power dues amount to Rs 509 crore and if these consumers miss out on this we will issue pink slips to them, which will result in automatic power disconnection,” he said. The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC), meanwhile, has announced the acceptance of defunct currency for paying house tax. “In keeping with a government order, the GMC will accept old currency notes from house tax payers till November 22 and we are requesting residents to make good use of the opportunity,” said D K Sinha, Ghaziabad additional municipal commissioner. “Going by data available with us, we have collected house tax to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore in old currency notes in the past four days and we hope more people will avail themselves of this opportunity,” Sinha said. As for point-of-sale (POS) swipe facility at petrol pumps in Ghaziabad, the petrol pump officials are at a loss. They are neither aware of all the relevant details on the government’s announcement regarding the POS scheme nor are the new currency notes available with them. “People are already throinging our petrol pumps to enquire about this scheme and we are turning them away politely,” said N K Garg, who owns a petrol pump near Meerut Mor. “The biggest problem is scarcity of cash and no arrangements have been made so far for implementation of the scheme ” he added.For a person wanting daily amenities, this note is redundant. Introduction of lower denomination notes would have addressed the residents’ needs Darnell Nurse Authentic Jersey
Surcharge waiver on power bills to recover Rs4,000cr dues
The state government and the power discom on Saturday announced a surcharge waiver programme for certain domestic and non-domestic consumers, especially in rural areas, to lure them into paying back dues worth Rs 4,000 crore. The two categories for which the waiver has been announced include domestic and the non-domestic consumers using power up to 2kW in rural areas (connected or disconnected), and domestic consumers up to 2kW in the urban areas (disconnected cases only). “The total amount of dues for the two categories eligible under the scheme is Rs 4,000cr,” said Arun K Verma, MD, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited. The policy will be applicable from November 20 and will cover bills September 30. The surcharge will be frozen as on that date and the scheme is valid till December 31. Under the policy, the consumer can either pay a lump sum amount or six bi-monthly instalments along with the next six months’ utility bills. In case of lump sum payment , an additional rebate of 5% on the principal amount will be given to the consumers. In case of instalments, 40% surcharge will be waived off after one year of payment on six bills, and 30% of the frozen surcharge will be waived off at the end of the second year. The remaining surcharge will be waived off at the end of the third year. In case a consumer defaults while repayment in the first year, 100% surcharge will be revived while 60% and 30% surcharges will be revived if the consumer defaults in the second and the third year, respectively. Connection will be restored after the first payment. Riley Reiff Authentic Jersey
Power distribution reforms: All is not well for states’ tariff revision
The centre’s power distribution reform scheme Ujjwal Discom Assuance Yojana (UDAY) may have spread fast across states but the progress of timely and proper tariff revision in the current financial year seems to have been moderate at best across states. For 2016-17, State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) in 20 states (out of overall 29 states) have issued tariff orders so far, signifying moderate progress. “This is given that utilities are required to file the tariff petitions for 2016-17 by November 30, 2015 and tariff orders are required to be issued by the end of March 2016 as per the terms of the tariff regulations. The recent assembly elections in the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal delayed the tariff determination process for current fiscal,” said Sabyasachi Majumdar, Senior Vice President at ratings agency ICRA. While SERCs in Bihar, Haryana and Odisha have not approved any tariff revision, the SERCs in the state of Gujarat and Punjab have approved a marginal tariff reduction of 1.3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively for certain categories of customers. The state regulator in Chhattisgarh has approved a steep tariff hike of 15.7 per cent for the year in order to provide for the past year true-up and effect of an earlier judgment by the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) on all the state power utilities. Also, SERCs in Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh have approved a nominal tariff hike of less than 1 per cent for the year. In the case of other 12 states, the extent of tariff revision ranges between 3.0 per cent and 8.8 per cent. Similar to the trend in the last financial year, the average tariff hike remained modest at 4 per cent for current fiscal across the 20 states. The process of filing tariff petition by the state-owned distribution utilities in Punjab and UP and subsequent tariff determination has also witnessed delays. While the utilities were required to file tariff petitions for FY2017 by November 2015, discoms in UP filed their petitions in March 2016 as against the Punjab discom, which filed its petition as per schedule. Further, while the tariff orders should ideally have been released by end-March 2016 as per the tariff regulations, the actual issuance happened in July 2016 and August 2016 for utilities in Punjab and UP respectively. Interestingly, both the states are participating in the UDAY scheme, which required a tariff revision in the range of 5-6 per cent for 2016-17. However, the actual tariff revisions allowed by SERCs in both the states were lower — at 3.18 per cent for UP and -0.98 per cent for Punjab for the year. The respective SERCs cited avoidance of tariff shock to the consumers as the primary reason for the modest tariff hikes. “The UP discoms have signed an agreement with the centre and the state government for participation in the UDAY scheme, as part of which, the utilities are required to improve their operational parameters in line with the agreed requirements. The tariff hike of 3.18 per cent approved for FY2017 is lower than the 5.75 per cent assumed in the UDAY scheme. Further, given that the distribution loss level for the discoms continue to remain higher than the stipulated levels, the success of the UDAY scheme will remain contingent on the ability of the utilities to adhere to the targets stipulated,” Majumdar said. Earlier, SERCs in 26 of the 29 states had issued tariff orders for the last financial year signifying reasonable progress. However, delays were observed in the issue of tariff orders for 2015-16 in states such as Assam, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, UP and West Bengal. Also, tariff orders were not issued for last fiscal in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Tomas Hyka Womens Jersey
Power purchase pacts signed through transparent tenders, says Telangana minister
Coming down heavily on AP government for not scheduling Telangana’s share of power from the Krishnapatnam and Hinduja projects, state energy minister G Jagadish Reddy said all power purchases so far were made through transparent tender process. He said that it was AP government’s reluctance to supply power to Telangana that forced the state to go for power purchases from private generators. He challenged TDP leaders to prove their allegations over power purchases by the state. “After AP refused to schedule power to Telangana, we were forced to call for tenders. We purchased power at cheap rates compared to AP, which was buying at a much higher cost. Due to KCR’s vision, the state has come out of power problems and is racing ahead in power generation,” said the minister. Defending the purchase of sub-critical technology boilers from BHEL, the minister pointed that more than 32 thermal units are under construction across the country with similar technology. He said the Union environment ministry gave no-objection for Bhadradi Thermal Power Project, if it is completed during the 13th Finance Commission period. Even the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant is being constructed with same technology, he said. Raising objection to allegations made by TDP leaders, the minister asked them to prevail over AP government to share ‘rightful’ power to Telangana. He also thanked employees of Transco and Genco for “their unstinted efforts to ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers in the state.” Josh McCown Womens Jersey
‘Quantum jump in power consumption in Bihar in past eleven years’
Bihar registered a quantum jump in consumption of electricity during successive regimes in the last 11 years . The annual per capita consumption of electricity rose to 258 units in 2016 from merely 70 units in 2005 when Kumar became CM for the first time. The peak demand of electricity rose to 3,769MW in 2016 from 700MW in 2005. The transmission line almost doubled in Bihar in the last 11 years — from 5,000km in 2005 to 9,696km in 2016. The transmission evacuation capacity went up from 1,000MW in 2005 to 6,772MW this year while the number of consumers increased from 17.31 lakh to 81 lakh during the period. These figures were made officially public at a function at which CM Nitish Kumar launched the state government’s ‘Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar’ (uninterrupted electricity to each home) scheme here on Tuesday. “Electrification work is going on in each district,” he said. The CM said the per capita consumption of electricity was merely 70 units when he came to power in 2005. “It rose to 120 units in 2012 when, addressing the Independence Day function, I promised people I would not seek votes if power scenario did not better. I asked for votes in 2014 general election only when the power sector reported improvement,” he said. Making an oblique reference to PM Narendra Modi’s poll-time rhetorics asking ‘bijli aayee, bijli aayee’ from people at public rallies, the Bihar CM said people, who tried to make electricity an election issue during the 2015 assembly polls, could not succeed because improvement was there for everyone to see. Kumar did not name Modi though. Eddie Giacomin Authentic Jersey
India and US launch $95 million clean energy projects
The US today announced two financial projects worth USD 95 million in India to bring more energy-efficient appliances to rural sector, as part of its efforts to continue the global transition to zero-and-low carbon energy sources. The US has committed USD 70 million in Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) financing for renewable energy projects in India; and announced to launch a USD 20 million partnership this week with the philanthropic sector to bring more efficient appliances to rural Indian villages. The USD 75 million OPIC financing is for a utility-scale PV project in Telangana. It is sponsored by ReNew Power Ventures. This commitment represents the rapid mobilisation of financing under a USD 250 million facility to support up to 400 MW of new solar power projects in India across multiple states, the White House said. Further the OPIC and Indian Government will this week formally launch a USD 20 million distributed solar facility in partnership with leading philanthropies, it said. Known as US-India Clean Energy Finance program (USICEF), it will address a key financing gap in the Indian distributed solar market by funding early-stage project preparatory work, it said. USICEF is anticipated to unlock up to USD 400 million in long-term debt financing from OPIC and private sector investors, the White House said. According to the White House fact sheet, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Smart Power for Rural Development Initiative is also announcing a new partnership with the Clean Energy Ministerial’s (CEM) Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP) to accelerate the deployment and use of energy efficient off-grid devices in rural India. The US Department of State will, subject to Congressional notification, provide funding for Global LEAP to support the development and roll out of a programme to deploy energy- efficient devices such as televisions, fans, and refrigerators at selected Smart Power supported mini-grid sites, the White House said. It will also develop a strategy for a programme-wide scale-up targeted to reduce energy costs for some of the poorest people in India. “When deployed it is expected to reduce energy consumption by over 50 per cent for rural households, increase revenue for mini-grid operators by over 300 per cent per household, and generate rural employment for people involved in distribution and supply chain management of the devices,” it said. Noting that the US President Barack Obama’s leadership has catalyzed a global transition towards a clean energy economy, the White House said from 2010-2015 alone, the US has invested in more than USD 11 billion in international clean energy finance. At the same time, the US has made research and development a top priority. Key achievements include establishing Mission Innovation (MI), with the leaders of 19 countries, to accelerate innovation by doubling public investment in clean energy research and development to USD 30 billion over five years. Tom Glavine Jersey
J&K rejects Central formula, seeks Rs 8000 cr compensation from Punjab
Acting tough after Supreme Court’s verdict against Punjab on water sharing with neighbouring States, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has finally staked claim of Rs 8,000 crores worth losses from Punjab Government for not sharing water of river Ravi with it as agreed upon before construction of Ranjit Sagar dam upstream of Madhopur barrage in Shahpur Kandi town of Pathankot, bordering Lakhanpur in Kathua district of J&K. Official sources told the Excelsior that notwithstanding the Central Government’s recent intervention to strike truce between Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab by calling a meeting of representatives of the two States, the J&K Government has decided to stick to its old position and written to the Punjab Government seeking compensation of Rs 8000 crores on account of losses suffered by it for irrigation and electricity as Punjab didn’t stick to the agreement with the State on release of water from Ranjit Sagar dam. “We have written to the Punjab Government claiming losses, which is our legal position as several previous Governments had decided. There were Cabinet notes since long that Jammu and Kashmir would seek compensation for losses from the Punjab Government. We have worked out the losses and finally staked claim from the neighbouring State,” they said. According to sources, the Government has worked out Rs 6000 crores worth losses on account of irrigation and Rs 2000 crores for power generation and submitted claims to the Punjab Government. The claims have been worked out by the State Government taking into account the water, which Punjab had to release for Jammu and Kashmir from river Ravi for irrigation purposes in Kathua and Samba districts and the power, which was to be given to the State. Ranjit Sagar dam has 600 mw power generation capacity. At the time of agreement reached between Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir which the neighbouring State had terminated in 2004 after adopting bill in the Legislature on water sharing, Punjab had to provide 300 cusecs water to J&K from river Ravi. Asserting that case of Jammu and Kashmir has been upheld as very genuine at various forums including Central Government and other neighbouring States of Punjab, sources said the Supreme Court decision nullifying Punjab’s 2004 legislation that had scrapped water sharing agreements with neighbouring States including Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and New Delhi, has justified the position of J&K. Sources said Jammu and Kashmir Government would wait for some days before Punjab officially communicates its decision to the State Government and then go for legal action if Punjab repeated its old position of refusing to compensate the losses. Though a reply from Punjab is awaited, unofficially the neighbouring State has conveyed to the State leaders and officials that the demand was not acceptable to it. At a recently convened meeting between Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab held at New Delhi at the behest of Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Punjab was not averse to releasing water to the State from now onwards for irrigational purposes to feed Kandi areas of Kathua and Samba districts. Sources said Punjab had agreed to bear full cost of construction of project, giving entire electricity generated from the project to Jammu and Kashmir and some other conditions laid down by J&K Government. However, it wanted Jammu and Kashmir to shelve the demand for compensation of past 30 years, which, otherwise, also Punjab was not going to concede. But, the Jammu and Kashmir has decided to stick to its oft-repeated demand, albeit, without any positive response from the neighbour. The Kandi belt of Kathua and Samba would have been major beneficiary of construction of canal from Shahpur Kandi, which could have irrigated the land of Pathankot, Kathua and Samba districts and changed fortunes of the people of rural belt, who were waiting for this to happen for the past 30 years but continued to suffer. There can be so much irrigation from the project that it would no longer be called the Kandi belt. However, with Punjab Government facing heat from the Apex Court decision that too on the eve of Assembly elections in the State, the dreams of Kandi belt were likely to take much more time to be realized than anticipated. The new project of canal would have also delivered a blow to Pakistan which was getting excess water from river Ravi in Punjab. The flow of excess water to Pakistan would stop once Shahpur Kandi canal project is constructed. Punjab was reported to have kept budgetary provision for the canal project and was ready with tendering work once Jammu and Kashmir conveyed its formal nod for shelving demand for compensation of losses, which Punjab was not ready to consider on the ground that there were procedural wrangles involved in it. Sources said the Union Water Resources Ministry officials too were of the view that Jammu and Kashmir should give up its demand for 30 years compensation in lieu of Punjab bearing construction cost of the canal project and giving entire electricity generated from it from the date the fresh agreement is signed to Jammu and Kashmir. However, Jammu and Kashmir has decided not to accept these conditions and remained stick to its old position that Punjab should first compensate the State for losses before next course of action like construction of canal etc is worked out. Under the Indus Water Treaty water of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers of Punjab had come in the share of India while that of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus (Sindhu), all in Jammu and Kashmir, was to be shared with Pakistan. Colin Wilson Authentic Jersey
PowerGrid to set up energy highways to meet demand growth
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) is planning to build energy highways across the country to meet a projected growth in demand and ease the load on the national grid. The highways include 11 high-capacity corridors, each with a capacity of about 4,000 Mw, and three high-capacity HVDC (high-voltage, direct current) systems (6,000 Mw each). The central transmission utility will also develop eight inter-state transmission systems (ISTS) or green energy corridors to help the renewable energy sector. The ones to come up first would be to connect the solar power parks in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. PGCIL is constructing the first phase of green corridors connecting renewable-rich states. The investment planned for these projects is Rs 1.12 lakh crore, with the energy highways costing Rs 58,000 crore and the HVDC systems Rs 12,000 crore each. The cost of the ongoing green corridors is Rs 18,000 crore. The ISTS for solar parks is about Rs 9,000 crore each. The costs are for the lifetime of the projects and would be invested according to commissioning time lines. I S Jha, chairman and managing director of PGCIL, told Business Standard: “Transmission planning now is on basis of load growth and not just power generation. The government of India has projected per capita power consumption to grow four times to 4,000 Mw by 2030. Along with central programmes, this will give a momentum to household demand. The country’s transmission needs to be prepared for the phenomenal growth of power demand.” The central government has accelerated the development of power transmission networks to match the projected electricity demand in several regions. Along with states, which would offer transmission projects, the Centre is looking to unleash an investment opportunity of close to Rs 1 lakh crore for the sector. However, the award of projects under the bidding route has been growing slowly. Eight projects costing Rs 9,635 crore have been announced to be offered through tariff based competitive bidding this financial year. The power ministry has said transmission corridors would be set up before generation started. “Transmission work for evacuation of renewable energy is in mission mode. Transmission has typically stayed behind generation and led to years of mismatch. But we are doing long-term planning to avoid such a situation. For instance, transmission systems for solar parks would come by the time these generation units come — around 18 months,” said a senior power ministry official. Of the ongoing projects, totalling Rs 1.16 lakh crore, PGCIL is building Rs 16,000 crore worth of projects won through this route; the rest was nominated. Officials said such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana would offer power transmission projects through the bidding route, which forms a part of their 24X7 Power for All plan. Amari Cooper Authentic Jersey