Kerala trans-grid project to be implemented: Govt
The Kerala government today said it plans to implement a trans-grid project that will strengthen the transmission and distribution system of electricity and bring down transmission losses in the State. “Trans-grid Project-2′ would be implemented to strengthen the transmission system. The estimated cost of the first phase of the project was Rs 4,745.77 crore and Rs 1,629.60 crore for the second phase,” Power Minister Kadakampally Surendran said during the question hour in the Assembly. He said that the State incurs transmission losses to the tune of 14.32 per cent. He also said that work has begun on laying Aerial Bundled Cables (ABC) and Under Ground (UG) cables in urban areas to improve the Transmission and Distribution system. “But this is a very expensive project,” he said. Kerala State Electricity Board has a total liability of Rs 6,400 crore which makes it difficult to implement the ABC and UG cable projects immediately. But, it would be implemented in due course, he said. The Minister said that the government plans to set up thermal power stations in the State or in areas where the required fuel was available. The government would approach the Centre to make available natural gas at USD 5 per unit, he said. All under construction power projects, including six hydel ones, would be completed in a time bound manner, he said. On the controversial proposed Aithirappilly hydel power project at Chalakudy river basin in Thrissur district, he said the clearance by the Environment Ministry was valid till July next year. “There is opposition to the project,” he said, replying to a question from P T Thomas (Congress). However, the government would move ahead with the project only after arriving at a consensus among all, he added. Besides environmentalists, the Congress-led UDF is opposed to the project. Alexander Nylander Jersey
CAG finds energy savings worth Rs 570 cr lost to delay
With summer not so far away and another power crisis looming large on Karnataka, Niranthara Jyothi Yojana (NJP), an ambitious project to provide 24/7 power for domestic users, remains a pipe dream thanks to deficient planning, inadequate funding and design flaws in transformers leading to a delay in implementation. The 2016 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, which found several drawbacks in implementation of the project conceived in 2009-10, says: “Planned to be completed by 2012, it is lingering for the last three years with 543 of the 1,748 feeders yet to be completed, resulting in loss of energy savings of 1,128.70 MUs valued at Rs 569.63 crore.” The report points out that the implementation was affected “owing to delays in finalisation of tenders, delays by contractors, delays in completion of load bifurcation works and instances of clubbing of NJY feeders with non-NJY feeders.” Before it was conceived, power supply to both agricultural (IP set) users and non-agricultural (domestic lighting, commercial supply, et al) was through a common 11-kV feeder (rural/mixed feeder). Electricity companies (Escoms), as they still do in many districts, provided a three-phase power supply for a limited number of hours (about 10 hours) and single phase for a few more hours (about 4 hours) with power cuts for the remaining hours (about 10 hours) in a day. The project was to segregate agricultural load and non-agricultural load by bifurcation of feeders (11 kV) at the sub-stations. This was to be achieved by drawing a new independent line (11kV) feeder, called a NJY feeder and shifting the non-agricultural load to this feeder. Design flaws; T&D losses The CAG noted that the Special Design Transformer (SDT) intended to provide power to farmhouses on agricultural feeders “had design deficiencies due to failure to include overload protection.” Two major objectives — reduction in interruption of power supply and reduction of losses — weren’t met. “ESCOMs were able to provide about 20 hours of three-phase power supply to NJY feeders, but the quality of power supply had not improved with the interruptions continuing unabated,” the audit revealed, adding that 40% of test check feeders showed an adverse trend in transmission and distribution losses. “Though there was increase in number of hours of supply of three phase from 10 hours (pre-NJY) to 20 hours (post-NJY), the increased hours of supply was partly owing to increased purchase of power, which was necessitated as the envisaged reduction of distribution losses did not materialise,” the audit points out. Jakub Voracek Jersey
Kerala reports transmission loss of 14.32 percent
The state has reported a transmission loss of 14.32%, minister for power Kadakampally Surendran told the assembly on Wednesday. To strengthen the transmission sector, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has initiated the laying of underground cables in urban areas, he said. But KSEB cannot immediately take up the project to cover the entire state. KSEB has a liability of Rs 6,400 crore, which has been preventing the board from laying underground cables throughout the state, Surendran said. He said the implementation of the trans-grid project was initiated with the support of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. The project’s first phase would cost an estimated Rs 4745.77 crore, and the second, Rs 1629.60 crore. A feasibility study for setting up a thermal plant–either inside or outside the state–depending on the availability of fuel, would be considered, the minister said. He added power projects would be completed in a time-bound manner. At present, six hydroelectric projects were nearing completion and the government has decided to restart the work of three stalled projects. On the contentious Athirappally power project, the minister said a consensus would be reached before rolling it out. Though the project has environmental sanction till July 2017, its work was yet to commence due to opposition. Max Garcia Authentic Jersey
Rooftop solar projects need additional $50 billion to meet 40 GW by 2022 target: Report
In order to meet its target of generating 40 GW or 40,000 MW of solar power by 2022, India would require an additional investment of $ 50 billion, a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance said on Tuesday. India plans to generate 175 GW of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2022 requiring an investment of nearly $100 bn. The small and rooftop solar sector will need another $50 bn to meet its own 40GW by 2022 target. The reporter observed that rooftop solar in particular has become the fastest growing renewable power sub-segment in India’s clean energy market. In terms of policy support for the rooftop solar segment, most states have recently introduced net-metering regimes and are supporting the roll-out of projects. These will likely carry the market forward in the immediate future, although it may not be enough to expand into the still dormant residential market. The rooftop solar industry in India is primarily divided into two models — captive ownership where the consumer owns the PV (photovoltaic) system and the remaining projects are being built and financed by the renewable energy services companies (resco) or third-party investors. Rooftop segment is buoyed by favourable economics due to high power tariffs and cash availability. Financing is arranged either through their balance sheets or through their existing banks. “We estimate that $610 million was invested in rooftop solar segment across the country between FY2013 and FY2016, but the lack of financing for resco projects raises concern as it is a dominant part of other major solar markets. This is a big drawback for a sector that needs almost $50 bn of capital to meet the ambitious government goals,” the report said. Various international agencies are committing new funding for the small solar segment to their partner banks or non-banking financial companies in India but quick loan disbursement still remains a challenge, it added. The following steps can go a long way towards ensuring further growth in the sector: educating loan disbursement agencies and creating standardised loan application review processes, establishing and propagating norms for quality control of products, creating intermediation platforms to raise awareness and reduce transaction costs, and time-bound clearance of subsidy applications. Smart grids, which allow for two-way flow of power, upgraded transformers that can take the added rooftop capacity and smart metering technology with proper IT infrastructure are needed to make rooftop addition to the existing grid easy and enabling, the report further added. Matt Bosher Womens Jersey
50 yrs on, power-full Punjab, powerless in Haryana
Haryana’s distribution companies that are power surplus need a financial turnaround to cut electricity cost and line losses besides checking corruption and improving revenue recovery. Punjab’s challenge is to manage its surplus power and consumption after private players gave a boost to generation in 2014. It also needs to be pragmatic than populist as free power to farmers has already cost the state Rs 42,000 crore in 14 years! Power-packed Haryana reels under outages What do Bansi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manohar Lal Khattar have in common? Besides being chief ministers over the past 20 years, these leaders or their parties promised the people of Haryana 24-hour power. Though the first three were unable to keep their word, Khattar hasn’t been consistent on 24-hour power. Initially, the Khattar-led BJP government said it can’t assure round-the-clock power, but later it talked of gradually giving uninterrupted supply to select villages. Despite power distribution companies Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) claiming to be power surplus, consumers don’t get assured supply. In urban areas, they put up with outages, fluctuations, and deficiencies in customer care. The situation is far worse in rural Haryana. Consumers, particularly domestic, bear the brunt of erratic supply despite promises by successive governments. A bizarre scenario in a state that was not only the first in the country to achieve 100% rural electrification, but where power has always been a politically sensitive sector, especially due to high demand for heavily subsidised agriculture supply. Haryana achieved rural electrification way back in 1971. The state has come a long way from the days when connecting every house was the target. Today, it has 54 lakh consumers, including 41 lakh domestic ones. The quality of power supply remains a concern despite the state’s 10th position with 3.5% of the country’s installed capacity. Empower discoms The two distribution companies, created after unbundling of the erstwhile Haryana State Electricity Board, have adequate power from their generation units, the state’s share from central projects and other sources through long-term agreements. However, supply is hampered by constraints in the distribution system. Poor planning, high line losses, low revenue realisation and corruption have made things worse. “Theft and systemic constraints in distribution are the two biggest challenges. The high rate of theft needs to be controlled and brought down. Deficiencies in distribution network means even paying customers face cuts at times. We also plan to use information technology to improve the quality of supply and services,” says Shatrujeet Kapur, chairman-cum-managing director, UHBVN and chairman, DHBVN. “As not enough attention was paid to distribution, the losses kept mounting for discoms, creating cash-flow bottlenecks at the transmission and generation end also. Commercial losses, including theft, went unchecked, but not much investment was made to improve the operational efficiency and quality of service of discoms. Massive generation capacities were added without commensurate augmentation of the transmission and distribution system and promoting load growth,” says a power expert. Haryana’s own generation capacity has been idle for months and surplus power is sold to other states at a loss. With mounting losses, UHBVN and DHBVN look to the state government for bailouts. The two distribution companies have got a breather with the government taking over 75% or Rs 25,950 crore of their total debt under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY), but this won’t help them forever. The discoms will need a financial turnaround. And that’s possible only if they reduce power cost, cut line losses, accurately bill energy supply, reduce corruption and improve revenue recovery. Problem of plenty, populism in Punjab Surplus, deficit and surplus again: That’s the story of Punjab’s power sector in the last 50 years. The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), which was carved out of the public works department (PWD) on May 1, 1967, soon after the state’s re-organisation, was split into two companies – the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and Punjab State Transmission Company Limited in 2010. The PSEB’s debt-ridden legacy began with the inheritance of a few lakh when it separated from the PWD. In 2010 when it was unbundled, a debt of Rs 16,700 crore was passed on to the PSPCL and PSTCL. In the absence of any major industry in Punjab, the main role of the PSEB, and later the PSPCL, was to feed agriculture, the primary vocation of 70% of the state’s population. The PSPCL provides services to 70 lakh consumers, while the PSEB saw a humble beginning with 6.35 lakh consumers, including 4,600 with agriculture pump-sets. Its revenue collection was Rs 23 crore and it grew to Rs 26,000 crore. Five decades ago, the tariff was 5 annas or 30 paise per unit. Today, a unit costs Rs 4.52. Surge in demand Over the years, Punjab’s power sector has seen a manifold increase in debt, consumer aspirations and political populism. The PSEB saw a sudden expansion in 1968. “Power canvassers were deployed to woo villagers to install tubewells. This led to 2 lakh consumers by 1971,” says YP Mehra, who retired as a PSEB member in 1997. The number of consumers is 14 lakh today, raising the demand from 450 megawatts (MW) in 1967 to 12,000 MW at present. Before the re-organisation, Punjab generated 48 MW from the Joginder Nagar hydel project and 950-MW Bhakra dam. It achieved total rural electrification in 1976. The 440-MW thermal power plant came up in Bathinda in 1969, the 1,260-MW Ropar plant in 1983 and the 540-MW Lehra Mohabbat plant in 1997. The state was reeling under acute power shortage till 2007 and before the assembly elections, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal decided to bring in private players to boost generation. The government appointed consultants and created special purpose vehicles to set up five power plants at Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura, Goindwal Sahib, Gidderbaha and Mansa. The Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal Sahib plants added 3,960 MW of generation capacity. It took seven years and constant follow-ups with companies, PSPCL and other
Bihar:State eyes 4,000MW of power from December
Senior officials in state energy department, while addressing a function to mark the fourth foundation day of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) and its four subsidiaries on Tuesday, said the state would be able to meet its daily power demand of 4,000MW by December this year. “The state requires around 4,000MW of power daily. As of now, the overall power supply in the state stands at 3,769MW. We have set a target to increase the power supply to 4,000MW from all sources taken together based on augmentation of existing power transmission and distribution capacity,” said H R Pandey, deputy general manager (public relations), Bihar State Power Holding Corporation (BSPHC). As things stand now, maximum power allocation from the central sector stands at 3,003MW. The state is also getting 100MW of power from its Kanti thermal power unit. Besides, 1,010MW is purchased from open market for which short-term and long-term agreements have been signed with different power producers. Besides, the state energy department is also working on a proposal to provide electricity connections to all houses in Bihar over the next 24 months. BSPHC is slated to commence work on providing electricity connection to around 48 lakh above poverty line (APL) families in the rural areas in the state from November 15 under the seven resolves programme of chief minister Nitish Kumar. The survey for the electrification work has almost completed, except for around six districts, where it is in the final stages. CM Nitish Kumar has set the target of 2017-end for completion of electrification work under the mission. “The district survey for the electrification work is almost complete and the bidding process is also underway. All APL families, which do not have access to power, would be provided electric connection under the mission,” said Pratyaya Amrit, chairman-cum-managing director of Bihar State Power Holding Company. “We have been able to create an identity of our own through team work and high work ethics and standards,” Pratyaya added. Energy department officials claimed that per capita power consumption in Bihar has increased from 144 units in 2012 to 258 units in 2015-16. Besides, power availability in the state is likely to increase by over 200MW once the two units of 110MW each at Barauni Thermal Power Station, where renovation and modernisation work has been done, become functional. Work is also going on at the same thermal power station for commissioning of two more units of 250MW each. Nathan Peterman Jersey
‘India should scale up, speed up nuke electricity programme’
India should scale up and pace up construction of nuclear plants to meet its insatiable power demand, renewable programme and climate change targets, the head of an international atomic body has said. “Currently, India has five reactors under construction with 3,300 MW capacity. But this is too little for a country with so many people,” said Agneta Rising, director general of the World Nuclear Association. Comparatively, China has 20 reactors under construction with 22,596 MW capacity, having had the first nuclear electricity in 1994. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has planned 16 reactors with 17,000 MW, with first nuclear electricity expected in 2022, according to the association’s Asia Special Update report, which listed the kingdom among the newcomers to nuclear energy. India’s first nuclear electricity plant became operational in 1969. India has the technology, expertise and skill to build its own nuclear plants, Rising said, adding there were no restriction on India importing uranium. But despite the knowledge, India takes about seven years or 84 months to complete a reactor, Rising pointed out. The world average of building a reactor was 73 months in 2015. India needs to speed up construction period for each reactor to 73 months, she stressed. “India has a lot of experience of nuclear science and it has all the technologies. But it must be able to scale up or ramp the nuclear electricity programme,” she told . India’s goal is to have 14.5 GWe of nuclear generating capacity online by 2024, up from 6,219 MW at present, the report said. The government has given in principle approval for new nuclear plants at 10 sites in nine states. “It is important to have (nuclear) infrastructure where you can build prosperity and (take care of) health of the people,” said Rising, stressing the importance of electricity supply reliability and the need to reduce pollution across the country for the people. “India needs to get on to do it (nuclear plants) on a scale and increase the construction pace of the plants,” she said. Anthony Mantha Jersey
Power regulator expected to decide on Tata Power’s compensatory tariff case this month
Power regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is expected to deliver its verdict this month on permitting Tata Power tariff compensation to recover losses suffered by the Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) due to high prices of imported coal. The plant has been under the spotlight after the ouster of Cyrus Mistry from Tata Sons. Mistry had raised the issue of the project’s losses in a note to board members. Following a directive of the Supreme Court, the CERC has completed hearing on the compensatory tariff case of two imported coal-based power plants, including a 1980mw project of Adani in Mundra, Gujarat. “The Supreme Court has given time till mid-November for the verdict. The hearing for the case has been completed and we have reserved the judgment and should come out in the next 10 days,” a senior CERC official said. Experts said the Mundra project became loss making after Indonesia issued new regulations that raised the price of coal, while rupee depreciation added to the woes of the project. Mistry had alleged in his note that the Mundra project was a drain on Tata Power’s finances and carries the risk of considerable future impairment. Tata Power has not stopped operations at the plant but has sought a rise in tariff for electricity it generates. The Mundra plant, being operated by Tata Power subsidiary Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd, is presently operating at 70-80% capacity. Association of Power Producers Director General Ashok Khurana said, “Cost under recovery in case of Mundra is result of flawed design of bidding documents as no amount of human ingenuity can take correct call on movement of coal prices for 25 years and non-recognition of change in law in coal source country as force majeure. The same has been accepted by Aptel in its recent judgement.” The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (Aptel) in April allowed Tata Power and Adani Power’s imported coal-based power plants at Mundra in Gujarat to recover higher fuel costs from consumers under force majeure clause. It directed the CERC to look afresh in the compensatory tariff. Consumers of the project moved Supreme Court against the Aptel order. The Supreme Court has asked CERC to present its verdict by November mid-week. The apex court is set to hear the matter by the end of next month. CERC had in April 2013 allowed CGPL, Tata Power’s unit operating 4,000mw Mundra UMPP, and Adani Power’s 1980mw plant to raise power tariffs from the projects to compensate for an unexpected increase inrecoal cost due to change in Indonesian law. In February 2014, the commission decided 52 paise per unit compensatory tariff for Tata Power’s plant and 41paise per unit for Adani Power’s project. Five procuring states of the two projects moved Supreme Court that stayed the compensation and referred the matter back to Aptel. The tribunal upheld the tariff, which was challenged again by the distribution companies. This time Aptel ruled that CERC cannot alter tariff of projects bid competitively and that the case fell under the ambit of force majeure. Jenissi Management Consultants partner Dipesh Dipu said Tata Power miscalculated the sovereign risk of coal sourcing from another country. “Tata Power bought stake in Indonesian coal mines but that was offset by changes in Indonesia coal regulations and steep rupee depreciation,” he said. Matt Benning Womens Jersey
Promise of 24-hour power on Diwali goes unfulfilled in UP
Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration failed to ensure 24-hour power supply as promised in all localities of Lucknow on Diwali. Local faults and technical problems led to power outages in several places despite maintenance work on various sub-stations ahead of the festival. The control room set up by Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration received 18 complaints of interruptions in power supply on Sunday and Monday. More than 10,000 residents of Gomtinagar Extension went without power supply for nearly five hours on Diwali day and on Monday. It was the fault in the cables supplying power to the area which led to disruption on the festival day. The day after, however, Lesa clamped a shutdown to resolve the problem. Disruption in supply due to excess load was a big reason various localities faced power cut. Aashiana and LDA Colony on Kanpur Road faced short power cuts at least twice on the day of Diwali. Nishatganj faced a half an hour power cut on Diwali day. “Next day, power was cut for an hour,” said resident Ashok Verma. A transformer fault in Rajajipuram led to sudden power cut on the festival day but supply was restored shortly. “We heard the transformer blast but the supply resumed on its own,” said resident Om Prakash Sharma. Vernon Hargreaves III Authentic Jersey
‘India to get electricity from offshore wind energy in 5 yrs’
India will get electricity generated by wind-propelled plants installed in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in about five years as part of the country’s green energy development programmes, an energy expert has said. “We are preparing India for offshore wind (and) providing MNRE a road map for offshore wind for Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,” said Mathias Steck, Executive Vice President and Regional Manager at DNV GL, an international renewable energy group. “It would take three to five years that we see commercial offshore winds projects in India,” said Steck who is an expert in renewable energy at DNV GL, which has a 30-consultant team in India and made its entry into the Indian market in 1989. A 100-megawatt pilot project will likely be installed in ocean off Gujarat in about three years, he said on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week held last week. It is to kick start a new power generating sector under the Facilitating Offshore Wind in Industry (FOWIND) programme funded by the European Union. A FOWIND consortium has done a series of report on wind conditions for wind-generated electricity and its integration into a grid along the coastlines of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. FOWIND is supported by Euro 4 million grant from the Indo-European Cooperation on Renewable Energy programme and Euro 500,000 contribution through the Gujarat Power Corp Ltd (GPCL). The consortium, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), comprises GPCL, DNV GL, the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), and the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE). The project is being implemented in close cooperation with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and National Institute of Wind Energy. “Over the time DNV GL has been in India, we have looked over 50-gigawatt of onshore wind projects,” he said, adding “this is a market leading position” as DNV GL works for a large number of clients in renewable energy projects. DNV GL is also looking at prospects in solar and tidal wave energies in India, Steck added. Aaron Rodgers Authentic Jersey