Assam-Agra transmission line to help north India this summer

A 1,800 km transmission line from Assam to Agra is likely to provide some relief to electricity-starved north India this summer, thanks to a power surplus in otherwise economically backward northeast India, a top official said.

"The 1,800-km-long 800 Kv HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission corridor would be operationalised by May, facilitating the supply of power from northeast India to north India," Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) chairman-cum-managing director R.N. Nayak told IANS.

"The PGCIL erected the vital transmission line from Biswanath Chariali in Assam to Agra for Rs.11,000 crore," he added.

According to the official, the transmission line would be capable of transmitting 6,000 MW of electricity.

The PGCIL, a "Navaratna" power transmission company, also signed a 10-year agreement with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to provide an underground telecommunication cable link in the northeastern region.

The northeast is going to be power surplus and it was an enormous problem to transmit the excess power from the region to the country's power-starved regions. The eight northeastern states' off-peak and peak demand on an average is 1,500 MW to 2,500 MW against the current installed capacity of 4,730 MW.

The installed capacity, according to electrical engineers and government documents, would increase significantly before the next year-end after the completion of several mega hydro-electric, coal and gas-based power plants.

Several mega hydro power projects are now under commissioning in Arunachal Pradesh, which could be called India's power house if its enormous resources could be tapped.

These include the 110 MW Pare project and the 600 MW Kameng project being commissioned by the North East Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO). While Pare is expected to be commissioned this year, Kameng will be commissioned next year. Work on the third one - the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri project - is expected to begin soon.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has commissioned its biggest commercial power project of 726 MW at Palatana in southern Tripura, 60 km south of Agartala, while NEEPCO is setting up a 101 MW project at Monarchak in western Tripura, 70 km south of Agartala and only eight km from the India-Bangladesh border.

According to union power ministry documents, the hydro-power potential of the northeastern region is estimated at about 58,971 MW, which is almost 40 percent of the country's potential. But only about 2.1 percent (1,242 MW) had been harnessed till last May.

The region is home to a 151.68 billion cubic metre reserve of natural gas which is capable of generating 7,500 MW of electricity for 10 years. The region also possesses 864.78 million tonnes of coal against the country's reserves of 186 billion tonnes - enabling about 240 MW of power to be generated for 100 years.

"NEEPCO is also planning to generate at least 1,500 MW from non-conventional sources of energy such as solar and wind in the next five years," its chairman and managing director P.C. Pankaj told IANS.

Pankaj said NEEPCO has also undertaken several other power projects with a generation capacity more than 5,000 MW in Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. "These projects would start generation of power within the next eight years."

The central government, on Tripura's request, has decided to supply 100 MW of power to Bangladesh.

"To take power from Tripura, a new 24-km transmission line would be erected on the Indian side and a 27-km one on the Bangladesh side.The PGCIL would erect the line on the Indian side and the Bangladesh Power Development Board would do a similar job on its side," Nayak said, adding that the company would invest Rs.80 crore on this.

He said that the new line would be ready by this year-end and 100 MW of power from ONGC's Palatana plant can immediately be supplied to Bangladesh.

While erecting the new line from western Tripura's Surjyamaninagar to Comilla in eastern Bangladesh, human habitations, forest and other vital installations would be avoided.

Analysis:

North-eastern states are rich in hydro,natural gas,etc.The demand of electricity is quite low in North-eastern states.We have to utilize the potential of North-eastern states. The transmission line from assam to agra will help to boost power sector of north India.As summer season started,so the demand of electricity will rise.The line will transfer power from surplus state(north-eastern) to power deficit state(U.P).It will help to reduce the transmission congestion.

Overview of Uttar Pradesh Power Sector

Power deficit has been one of the biggest hindrances for Uttar Pradesh (UP) in achieving rapid industrialisation. Successive governments, especially over the past decade, have tried to overcome this hurdles through policy interventions and public-private partnerships (PPPs).

The government has estimated a total investment of about Rs 1,10,000 crore by 2016-17 in the energy sector - this is to come from the sector, private companies and joint ventures - to address the power generation, transmission and distribution issues.

Of the total investment, Rs 65,000 crore will be for power generation, in projects either proposed or underway. The state is aiming to boost power availability from all sources to over 20,000 MW by 2016-17 from 10,000 MW at present.

Transmission projects have a share of Rs 22,500 crore in the investment - much of that will go setting up new sub-stations for increasing capacity. Power distribution projects will get a about Rs 9,100 crore, while rural electrification projects will receive an investment purse of Rs 12,500 crore.

Apart from low availability of power, UP is grappling with high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses, of about 42 per cent. The state aims to bring this down to five per cent by 2017. AT&C losses are the sum of technical loss, commercial loss and shortage due to non-realisation of total billed amount. It includes power theft and losses during transmission and distribution of power.

The government is working on providing 22-hour power supply to district headquarters and 16-hour to rural areas.

In December last year, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated 200 power sub-stations, built for almost Rs 1,200 crore.

Last year, the CM met Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi and sought Rs 15,000 crore for various energy projects. This included Rs 7,000 crore under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana to provide separate feeders for agriculture.

Besides, Yadav demanded Rs 2,000 crore for installation of power meters in rural areas and an additional Rs 6,000 crore for extension of the urban power distribution network under the integrated power development scheme.

The state has been consistently demanding adequate coal linkage to operational and proposed thermal power plants, so that these could work at optimum capacity. In the past few months, UP has alleged that coal supply has been below the allocated capacity to the Anpara, Obra, Harduaganj, Parichha and Panki thermal plants.

The state has also sought new coal blocks against cancelled one (Chandipada), so that adequate coal could be supplied to the Harduaganj (1x660 Mw), Panki (1x660 Mw), Meja (2x660 Mw), Stage-II Jawaharpur (2x660 Mw) and Obra-C (2x660 Mw) power generation units.

Yadav had told Goyal UP was facing serious challenges in meeting coal demand due to non-approval of linkages for MoU (memorandum of understanding) -based power generation plants. As a result, the developer companies were not able to honour their financial liabilities and projects were facing inordinate delays.

The non-availability of coal linkage was also hurting investor sentiment and adversely affecting the state's economy, the state had told the Centre.

Meanwhile, the CM has already directed officials for speedy completion of three thermal power plants, totalling almost 5,000 Mw. These include the Lalitpur (3x660=1,980 Mw), Bara (3x660=1,980 Mw) and Anpara D (2x500 Mw) projects.

While the Lalitpur and Bara (Allahabad) projects are coming up in the private sector and being developed respectively by Bajaj Hindusthan and Jaypee Associates, Anpara D (Sonebhadra) is being developed by state utility UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam.

UP is mandated to get 100 per cent energy generated by the Lalitpur project, while it will get 1,782 Mw of the power produced at Bara.

The state has been grappling with a wide gap in demand and supply of power - a deficit of around 3,000 Mw during summers. With an annual incremental rise in energy demand, the availability has not been able to keep pace which has resulted in power cuts.

UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) gets power from state-owned thermal and hydroelectric plants, central and private-sector plants, procurement from energy exchanges, solar power, and bilateral agreements among states.

The total installed capacity in UP - in both the public and private sectors - stands at about 8,250 Mw.

As power theft and pilferage is rampant in the state, UPPCL is saddled with accumulated losses of Rs 25,000 crore. In recent months, it has been undertaking a massive drive against power theft. Over a million new connections have been given across UP under these drives.

According to a recent Assocham report, the total installed power capacity in UP has improved significantly - by 43.4 per cent over a year ago in 2012, and 12.4 per cent annually in 2013.

The study said the state's power sector attracted 102 investment projects in generation and distribution, worth Rs 2,18,000 crore, as of 2013-14. This accounted for 4.4 per cent of India's power sector investments. However, the primary concern was that almost 68 per cent of the state's power sector outstanding investments were under implementation, the report said.

Analysis:

UP power sector is in deep trouble.UP is the biggest state in India in terms of population.Installed capacity in UP is quite low as compared to other states.The first step that UP should take is to increase the installed capacity.UP government should concentrate more on reduction of AT&C losses.Kanpur is an ideal example of high AT&C losses in India.The condition of SEB's are even worse.SEB's don't have funds to invest.

Welspun to set up 100 MW solar plant in Tamil Nadu

Welspun Renewables has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for setting up a 100-MW solar project in the State.

Welspun’s 100 MW is among the 146-MW worth of PPAs the Government has signed so far under the existing solar power purchase programme.

Under the scheme, the developers who set up projects before September will sell their power to Tangedco at a rate of ₹7.01 a kWhr.

Welspun wanted to do more — a figure of 300 MW has been indicated.

But like many other solar power developers (such as American company SunEdison), Welspun fears it may not be able to complete more projects within the September deadline.

Deadline extension soughtSeveral developers have asked for an extension of the deadline, on which the state Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) will have to take a call.

Many in the solar industry are of the view that TNERC might extend the deadline till March 2016.

TNERC gave its mandatory approval to the draft PPA only in late January.

Among the other companies who have signed PPAs are the jeweller GRT (15 MW) and the Andhra-based SSNR Power (10 MW).

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Adani Group has been examining the possibility of setting up a large, perhaps 1,000 MW, solar plant in the State.

Industry observers believe the group might be wanting to make an announcement in this regard at the Global Investors’ Meet to be held on May 23-24.

Analysis:

The TNERC should extend the deadline so that investors will be interested to invest more.As welspun wanted to install more 200 MW.The policies should be more transparent to promote renewable technologies.The commissioning of plant on time is the main factor while signing PPA. Also Adani is also planning to set up large MW solar power plant.

World’s first solar-powered aircraft lands in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport saw the first India landing of Solar Impulse, a Swiss long-range solar-powered aircraft, on Tuesday. “We had invitations from the Delhi as well as Mumbai airports for landing there, but we chose to land in Ahmedabad because a lot of technology, research and products comes from this part of the world,” said André Borschberg, founder and CEO, Solar Impulse.

Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, initiator and chairman, Solar Impulse, are two Swiss pilots who are attempting to fly around the world in the solar-powered plane. The plane that took off from Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, on Monday landed in Ahmedabad late on Tuesday night after a stop over at Muscat, Oman.

Emphasising the importance of clean and green energy, Piccard said, “I want 1.2-billion Indians to support their campaign for use of renewable energy for protecting the global environment. We have a message to give. We have to be our own pioneers. We cannot do more of the same. Moon landing is done. We need better research in renewable energy, better governance on international level, medical breakthroughs.”

The wings of the Solar Impulse 2 are covered by more than 17,000 solar cells that recharge the plane’s batteries. It flies ideally at around 25 knots, or 45 kph (28 mph). It will next fly to Varanasi and is then slated to make 12 stops during its 35,000-kilometer journey, including in China and Myanmar, before it crosses over the Pacific Ocean.

Analysis:

World's first solar-powered aircraft landed in Ahmedabad,Gujarat.The reason for landing in Ahmedabad is that the city supported solar technologies in a great way.It is a great way to promote solar technologies.Government of India should take lesson from this incidence.Just by announcing 1,00,000 MW of solar power will not do the work.They should promote the technology in a better way.The main motto of the journey of solar aircraft is to promote and develop cleaner technologies.

Just think of the technology and man power used to make this aircraft,its amazing.From this I personally want to give thanks to all the staff who worked on this aircraft to make it possible.Respect!!!

Govt to train 7 lakh people by 2018 to meet power sector needs

The government aims to train as many as 7 lakh people for various segments in power generation in line with its ambitious plans of producing 1,75,000 MW renewable energy 2022.

National Power Training Centre (NPTI), a body under the Ministry of Power will train 7 lakh people in the next three years across various branches of the sector.

"NPTI in its 40 years of existence has trained 2,67,000 people. Looking at the requirements of the power sector we have decided on a three-year roadmap. We have a programme to train 7,00,000 people," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said at a seminar here.

Under the ambitious programme the ministry will train one lakh people in the power sector in 2015-16, 2 lakh in 2016-17, and 4 lakh in 2017-18.

"When we talk of 1,75,000 MW of renewable energy, we are certainly going to be needing people skilled in solar power, manufacturing, setting up the equipment, operations & maintenance etc," Goyal said.

The proposed training programme will cover manpower requirements in ramping up power generation, building transmission and sub-transmission networks among other things.

Ministry of Power has set a target of generating 1,75,000 MW from renewable energy sources by 2022.

Of the targetted 1,75,000 MW, lion's share of 1,00,000 MW will come from solar power, 60,000 MW from wind, 10,000 MW from biomass and the remaining 5,000 MW from small hydro projects.

At present, the solar power generation capacity is at about 2,700 MW; Wind - 21,000 MW; Small Hydro - 3,800 MW and biomass -4,100 MW.

Small hydro power projects are plants with up to 25 mw generation capacity.


Comment:

Its a good initiative by Power minister to train 7 lakhs people in power sector,One of the major problem in power sector is skilled man power.So by giving training, trainee will come to know about the power sector.In recent budget government announced 1,75,000 MW of renewable energy,therefore there is a huge demand of skilled man power in power sector.However in my point of view,there is a need of skilled man power in distribution sector.Every year there is around 1 lakh crores of losses,so government should concentrate more on distribution side.

Government should open more institution for power sector.This is a great opportunity for the people who are going to work in a power sector.As an MBA from power management I feel that the demand of skilled man power like us will increase exponentially.

Uttrakhand to privatise power distribution in 2 towns

The Uttarakhand Cabinet has approved the privatisation of power distribution systems in Kashipur and Roorkee circles.

A Cabinet meeting on Monday decided to privatise power distribution in Kashipur circle, comprising Kashipur and Bajpur divisions in Udham Singh Nagar district, and Roorkee circle, comprising the rural and urban divisions in Haridwar district.

Government-run Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) would invite bids from private players.

Some years ago, UPCL, the sole power distribution licensee in the state, had proposed privatisation of power distribution at Roorkee and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district. Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses are heavy in this district so are power thefts. The decision was taken when the BJP was in power in the hill state. But the move was opposed by some Congress leaders, led by former state health minister Tilak Raj Behad. Keeping in view the vehement opposition, the government had then put the decision on the backburner.

By taking a decision to privatise, the Harish Rawat government has now chosen Kashipur instead of Rudrapur circle. By doing so, the government has also sent a signal that it was favouring the power sector reforms programme in the state, being made for the first time.

"There may be some opposition but we are going ahead with our privatisation plans," said a top government official.

Behad had said his main apprehension was that the poor would not get power once the distribution system was privatised.

Earlier, the government had stated that it would conduct a detailed study of cities like Agra and Kanpur where the Uttar Pradesh government had handed over the power distribution system to a private company. However, no such survey was undertaken.

According to government statistics, AT&C losses in Roorkee are 32 per cent and Kashipur 22 per cent.

UPCL officials said privatisation would help curtail line losses, due to which the company is in the red.

Comment:

The decision taken by Uttrakhand govt. is impressive.The Uttrakhand govt.will privatise power distribution in 2 towns i.e.Roorkee and kashipur.The Distribution franchisee model will help to reduce the AT&C losses.Presently,in India many DISCOM's are in losses.There is not much investment in Distribution sector as compared to Generation and transmission sector.By inviting private participants in distribution the investment will rise.The Bhiwandi case in Maharastha is an ideal case of DF model in India.

Coal mine auctions hit a block, four bids to be ‘re-examined’

Government has told the nominated authority in charge of e-auctioning coal blocks to re-examine the bid process for the blocks won by these companies recently, following certain “prima facie discrepancies” including questions over the bid prices. 

Putting Balco, JSPL and BS Ispat in a spot, the government has told the nominated authority in charge of e-auctioning coal blocks to re-examine the bid process for the blocks won by these companies recently, following certain “prima facie discrepancies” including questions over the bid prices.

The coal blocks in question are Gare Palma IV/1, Gare Palma IV 2&3 and Marki Mangli III. Balco had bagged Gare Palma IV/1 block with a bid of R1,585 a tonne Jindal Power, a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power, had retained its previously held blocks Gare Palma IV 2 & 3 at R108 a tonne. Its winning bid was the lowest among blocks earmarked for the power sector, which ranged from R470 per tonne to R1,110 per tonne.

Similarly, the Marki Mangli III block won by BS Ispat had the lowest winning bid price of R918 per tonne among the blocks reserved for the unregulated sector, which ranged from R1,402 to R3,502 a tonne.“There are some prima facie issues (with four coal blocks). Nominated authority (for coal blocks e-auction) has been asked to re-examine them,” Anil Swarup, coal secretary, told FE. The government will issue the vesting order for auctioned mines on March 23.



Gare Palma IV/2&3 is the biggest block among those reserved for the power sector with an extractable reserves of 155.49 million tonnes (mt) while Gare Palma IV/1 and Marki Mangli III have extractable reserves of 49.57 mt and 3.58 mt, respectively. These four mines are among the 19 operational blocks the government auctioned off in the first phase of e-auction. The next phase of auction will see 20 near-operational mines being auctioned next week.

The government has estimated that coal-bearing states will receive a revenue of Rs 1.2 lakh crore over 30 years while the states consuming power generated through these blocks will benefit as the collective power tariff will go down to the tune of Rs 37,000 crore.

Stating that auction of coal mines is one of the top three achievements of the government in its nine-month rein, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said in his Budget speech that the process would bring several lakh crore rupees to the kitty of coal-bearing states.

Comment:

The main benefit that government stated that the coal-bearing state will receive a good amount of revenue over a period of time.The states like jharkhand has ample amount of coal reserves.Thus situation will improve and it will create more jobs.The e-auction in coal brings transparency in the system.As,recently Narendra Modi said in an event that the technology will bring transparency in the system.

The reason of re-examined the four coal block is not stated in news.Till now 19 coal blocks are auctioned.However I feel that increase in price of coal in e-auction will surely affect the tariff rate of electricity.

Red Carpet for pvt sector in power - 5 UMPPs

The Ultra Mega Power Plants (UMPP) of 4,000 mw each which recently saw private players pulling out of the bidding is likely to witness renewed interest. The finance minister Arun Jaitley in the union budget2015 announced five more UMPPs with an expected investment of Rs 1 lakh crore.

To invite private investment, the new UMPPs would be based on ‘plug & play’ model. This means that all the necessary clearances would be prior available and the successful bidder would just need to set up and operate the project.

The finance minister also announced that the auction for these UMPPs would be held in a transparent manner. Ministry of power cancelled the two year long bidding process of two UMPPs in Tamil Nadu and Orissa in December last year. The decision comes in wake of private companies pulling out of the bid process with PSUs NTPC and NHPC emerging as the only bidders.

In a letter to Power Finance Corporation, which was the convenor for the bidding, power ministry said that fresh bidding would be as per the new standard bidding documents. It is likely to be drafted in coming two months and power ministry would oversee the fresh bidding.

Private players had in their prior communications with the ministry of power has raised concerns on the Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) model for the UMPP, and threatened it would not invest in the mega plan.

Sources in the know said that Piyush Goyal minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy wants the new bid document to be investor friendly and open to private sector participation.

Power sector is also included as one of the beneficiaries of the draft regulation to come for ease of doing business. An expert committee would draft new regulations for ‘Multiple Prior Permissions’ toppling the incumbent regulatory mechanism involving multiple agencies.

Comment:

The decision announced to set up five more UMPPs is a progressive steps towards "Power to all".As you know that UMPPs generate electricity at a cheap rate with improvement in efficiency.Recently MoP cancelled the bids of UMPP (Tamil Nadu and Orissa),in which private investors withdraw from bidding process.Thus by introducing "Plug and Play"model in which all the necessary clearance will be provided prior to set up and operation of the plant.

Thus Private sector will be interested to invest in UMPPs.