India's Power Sector

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 06 Oct 2015 19:27

Government to float tenders to lease sea blocks for wind farms early next year

NEW DELHI: Government will float tenders early next year to lease out sea blocks to companies for setting up wind farm projects along the 7,600-km coastline.

"Tenders will be floated in three months time to invite companies for setting up of offshore wind farms," New and Renewable Energy Secretary Upendra Tripathy said on the sidelines of a conference.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 07 Oct 2015 19:16

What's with the KNPP?? There seems to be a serious yet undisclosed issue

Tamil Nadu seeks central intervention for resuming power generation from KNPP

Chennai, Oct 7

With its wind season drawing to a close and no clear indication of when Unit-I of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) would recommence operations, Tamil Nadu government today sought Central intervention in this matter.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that KNPP Unit-I had started commercial operations on December 31, 2014, and that it had been shut down for the past 90 days for maintenance activities.

"The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is yet to clearly indicate when the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Unit-I will recommence production. As the wind season for Tamil Nadu has drawn to a close, it is crucial for the Kudankulam Unit-I to resume power generation immediately," she said.

"I, therefore, request you to kindly instruct the concerned officials in the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to immediately take necessary action to recommence power generation in Kudankulam Unit-I," she told Modi in a letter.

Further, she said her government had been informed that Kudankulam Unit-II was undergoing final stages of commissioning activities and awaiting approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for full commercial production.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 15 Oct 2015 11:43

LED Campaign Expands Consumption net, improves efficiency and reduces carbon footprint.

"A staggering 68 lakh kilowatts of energy is saved every day. This includes a cut in 645 megawatts of power during peak hours, a 5,520-tonne drop in daily carbon emission and domestic savings of Rs 2.71 crore every day".

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

It's already posted in the Achievement Tracking thread...fyi

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 16 Oct 2015 16:05

Kudankulam 2 to begin working
http://in.rbth.com/economics/cooperatio ... ing_482987

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 17 Oct 2015 21:51

The power ministry seem to be increasingly focusing on transmission line investments, commissioning several new trunk lines, first to the east and now to the south.
New transmission lines reduce power congestion in South India

Congestion in southern India has reduced due to the commissioning of the Raichur-Solapur and Aurangabad-Solapur transmission lines, which has helped evacuate 2,000 MW of electricity.

PowerGrid Corporation expects the completion of the Kolhapur-Narendra transmission line by the end of October will lead to evacuation of another 1,000 MW in southern India.

India’s inter-regional electricity transfer capacity is 51,650 MW and PowerGrid has proposed to increase it to 65,000 MW by the end of the Twelfth Plan. The southern region was connected to the central grid in synchronous mode on December 31, 2013.

‘The monsoon this year was deficient so hydroelectricity generation has come down in some states, including Karnataka. Yet Tamil Nadu has now surplus power. We are working aggressively,” Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal told Business Standard.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 19 Oct 2015 04:41

Centre plugs into power reforms to recharge distribution

The Centre's plan to revive the power distribution sector is gathering momentum with Maharashtra set to take up the government's Power for All programme, which envisages overhaul of the power sector through state-level initiatives, besides tariff reforms for cleaning up the balance sheets of state-owned distribution companies. Eight states have already signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the Union power ministry for the initiative. These include big states such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam. Last month, the government had got Uttarakhand, Meghalaya and Goa on board.

The Centre wants to rope in more states for the Power for All programme, putting the onus on states to reform their power system through regular tariff hikes and debt restructuring. The comprehensive plan includes making way for a slew of technical and commercial reforms ranging from more power procurement, strengthening transmission & distribution and ways to cut losses.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 19 Oct 2015 20:09

http://www.todayonline.com/business/gic ... tius-s350m

SINGAPORE – Greenko Energy Holdings, an affiliate of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, announced today (Oct 19) its proposed acquisition of Indian renewable energy company Greenko Group’s majority interest in its Mauritius-based holding firm, Greenko Mauritius, for about £162.8 million (S$350 million).

Mr Stuart Baldwin, Global Head of Infrastructure at GIC said: “As a long-term investor, we are confident of Greenko’s business model. We look forward to working closely with Greenko’s management to develop the company to be the leading owner and operator of clean energy projects in India.”

Greenko is a mainstream participant in the growing Indian renewable energy industry and a market leading owner and operator of clean energy projects in India. It operates a 838MW portfolio of wind, hydropower, natural gas and biomass assets. Greenko intends to increase the installed capacity it operates by winning concessions to develop and build new greenfield assets, as well as making selective acquisitions.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 19 Oct 2015 20:14

A_Gupta wrote:http://www.todayonline.com/business/gic ... tius-s350m
SINGAPORE – Greenko Energy Holdings, an affiliate of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, announced today (Oct 19) its proposed acquisition of Indian renewable energy company Greenko Group’s majority interest in its Mauritius-based holding firm, Greenko Mauritius, for about £162.8 million (S$350 million).

Mr Stuart Baldwin, Global Head of Infrastructure at GIC said: “As a long-term investor, we are confident of Greenko’s business model. We look forward to working closely with Greenko’s management to develop the company to be the leading owner and operator of clean energy projects in India.”

Greenko is a mainstream participant in the growing Indian renewable energy industry and a market leading owner and operator of clean energy projects in India. It operates a 838MW portfolio of wind, hydropower, natural gas and biomass assets. Greenko intends to increase the installed capacity it operates by winning concessions to develop and build new greenfield assets, as well as making selective acquisitions.

be interesting to know who owns this company

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 29 Oct 2015 04:15

Centre to restrict borrowings by discoms

Borrowings by state-run power distribution companies (discoms) are likely to be restricted by strict parameters set by the Union government. Under the financial restructuring programme, the average national aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses are likely to be fixed at 15 per cent by 2018-19. The government is also targeting to eliminate annual financial losses of all discoms from the current level of Rs 60,000 crore.

The move is aimed at not only bailing out lenders, which have exposure of Rs 4 lakh crore to discoms, but also prevent bad debt. "The discoms would have to commit to a loss-reduction trajectory so the national average comes down to 15 per cent from 27 per cent," said a government official. The amount of loss reduction would vary from state to state.

Nick_S · Post by **Nick_S** » 04 Nov 2015 00:40

Creator of 5-hour Energy Wants to Power the World's Homes—With Bikes
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ener ... ith-bikes/

Manoj Bhargava has built a stationary bike to power the millions of homes worldwide that have little or zero electricity. Early next year in India, he plans to distribute 10,000 of his Free Electric battery-equipped bikes, which he says will keep lights and basic appliances going for an entire day with one hour of pedaling.

Bhargava, who dropped out of Princeton University after a year because he was bored and then lived in ashrams in his native India for 12 years, doesn’t stop at bikes. He’s working on ways to make saltwater drinkable, enhance circulation in the body, and secure limitless amounts of clean geothermal energy—via a graphene cord.

While geothermal energy is already widely used in some countries, including Indonesia and Iceland, Bhargava takes a novel approach. Rather than using steam—mixed with chemicals—to bring the heat to the surface, he would instead pull it up with a graphene cord. He notes graphene, stronger than steel, is an incredible conductor of heat.

He won’t give the bike away, because he says people won’t take care of something that’s free. Rather, he’d prefer to incentivize distributors with profits. He says a village can also pool its resources, buying one bike but multiple batteries that can be swapped out to power individual homes.

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 05 Nov 2015 22:14

Transmission and distribution is getting the attention it deserves it seems...

Alstom delivers first HVDC power transformer in India

French engineering firm Alstom has successfully manufactured and delivered India's first 800KV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transformer for the Champa-Kurukshetra ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) phase one link.

The project aims to develop an 'energy superhighway' of efficient power transmission and connect central India's power station near Champa to northern India's Kurukshetra via a 1,365km transmission line.

Under the project, Alstom will build nine power transformers at its largest manufacturing and testing facility in the country.

This latest delivery is the first of nine transformers the company is building. The unit is 13m-long, 5.1m-wide and weighs 310t.

Alstom grid power electronics and automation senior vice-president Patrick Plas said: "These massive transformers will substantially improve grid connectivity by seamlessly transferring power across five electrical regions of India.

"800KV HVDC transformers are locally manufactured from Alstom's world-class facilities and reinforce its leadership in the transformer market."
"Alstom has been a key player in HVDC for over 50 years and the company is currently executing two 800KV UHVDC bi-pole projects in India.

"The 800KV HVDC transformers are locally manufactured from Alstom's world-class facilities and reinforce its leadership in the transformer market."

Under the deal, Alstom will also deliver 32 converter transformers, 24 double Thyristors valves, 400KV / 220KV gas and air-insulated switchgears with substation equipment, including Alstom's first AIS 800KV high-speed direct current switch.

The project further includes overall project management, studies, design, engineering, training, manufacturing, civil works, site erection, testing and commissioning.

To date, Alstom has delivered more than 40 HVDC projects and has several currently ongoing, such as DolWin3 in Germany, and Rio Madeira in Brazil.

http://www.power-technology.com/news/ne ... ia-4692096

And this one

Cabinet approves package to revive power distribution companies

NEW DELHI: The Government approved a rescue package for its loss-making power utilities on Thursday, a major reform that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes will end electricity blackouts and spur economic growth.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal said India's states would be allowed to take over 75 per cent of the debts of their utility companies, which now stand at Rs 4.3 trillion ($65.3 billion) after years of undercharging customers for electricity.
.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 676927.cms

Congoons and their socialist ponzi schemes have screwed up the economy and it's institutions quite heavily. 63 billion dallar is a huge amount

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 06 Nov 2015 06:31

Suraj wrote:The power ministry seem to be increasingly focusing on transmission line investments, commissioning several new trunk lines, first to the east and now to the south.
New transmission lines reduce power congestion in South India
Congestion in southern India has reduced due to the commissioning of the Raichur-Solapur and Aurangabad-Solapur transmission lines, which has helped evacuate 2,000 MW of electricity.

PowerGrid Corporation expects the completion of the Kolhapur-Narendra transmission line by the end of October will lead to evacuation of another 1,000 MW in southern India.

India’s inter-regional electricity transfer capacity is 51,650 MW and PowerGrid has proposed to increase it to 65,000 MW by the end of the Twelfth Plan. The southern region was connected to the central grid in synchronous mode on December 31, 2013.

‘The monsoon this year was deficient so hydroelectricity generation has come down in some states, including Karnataka. Yet Tamil Nadu has now surplus power. We are working aggressively,” Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal told Business Standard.

They want to reduce by half the transmission loss (presently 30%) to 15% by 2018

Rescue package for discoms gets Cabinet nod
BS Reporters | New Delhi/ Mumbai Nov 06, 2015

In a major reform for the power sector, the Centre has asked states to take over 75 per cent of the debt of power distribution companies (discoms). This would not only help in cleaning of the debt of Rs 4.3 lakh crore accumulated on state-owned discoms, but would also bring relief to lenders.

For the next two financial years, the central government will not include the debt taken over by the states in calculation of their fiscal deficit, which could have otherwise gone up by Rs 3.2 lakh crore.

The programme titled Ujjawal Discoms Assurance Yojana, would be open to all states. Among the states, Rajasthan has the highest debt at Rs 85,000 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu at Rs 70,000 crore and UP at Rs 32,000 crore. States are suggested to take over 75 per cent of discom debt as on September 30, 2015 over two years - 50 per cent in 2015-16 and 25 per cent in 2016-17.

"This will reduce interest cost on the debt taken over by the states to 8-9 per cent, from as high as 14-15 per cent thus, improving overall efficiency," said Piyush Goyal, minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy.

Discoms' debt not taken over by the state will be converted by banks/financial institutions into loans or bonds with an interest rate not more than the bank's base rate plus 0.1 per cent.

Any future losses would be taken over by the states in a graded manner. As of March 2015, the total accumulated loss is Rs 3.8 lakh crore. The Reserve Bank of India in its Financial Stability Report of June 2015 said the Rs 53,000-crore exposure of banks to seven state electricity boards had a "very high probability" of turning into non-performing assets by the quarter ending September.

The discoms would have to reduce their aggregate technical & commercial losses to 15 per cent, from the current level by 2018-19. Business Standard reported that the central government would restrict the borrowing capacity of state-owned power discoms to efficiency parameters.

"Once there is improvement in the working of discoms, the job of the regulator becomes easy because he does not have to increase tariff but balance the tariff for all category of consumers for better service," said Pramod Deo, former chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The difference between average revenue realisation and average cost of procurement would have to be brought down to zero by 2018-19. The State Electricity Regulatory Commissions will also do quarterly tariff revisions, said Goyal.

"The power ministry would sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government and the discom to perform monthly monitoring of the reforms suggested," said Goyal.

As an incentive, the states adhering to the operational milestones will be given additional central funding through Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Power System Development Fund or other such schemes by the ministry of power and renewable energy. However, the laggards "would be liable to forfeit their claim on IPDS and DDUGJY grants".

Business Standard reported in September that instead of giving any financial backing, the central government is likely to cut central funds if the states default on the advised restructuring by the Centre and are unable to cut losses.

The performing states would be propped with additional coal at notified prices and, in case of availability through higher capacity utilisation, low-cost power from NTPC and other central public sector undertakings.

"Unlike the earlier restructuring schemes, this time it looks like the government has done a detailed analysis to come out with a comprehensive package which will ensure long-term sustainability of discom revival. It talks about cost and ensures regular tariff increase to match cost inflation and bringing in discipline by including discom losses in the state Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management limits," said Debasish Mishra, senior director (consulting), Deloitte India.

http://wap.business-standard.com/articl ... 10600052_1.

{Hopefully The era of states being reckless with power sops (like free electricity) & state discoms as inefficient money guzzling white elephants is nearing its end . Sadly these power sector reforms are 10 years late in coming - the opportunity cost of the foregone direct & indirect benefits would be staggering if someone makes such a calculation.}

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 07 Nov 2015 08:04

Rajasthan first state to plug into discom revival plan

States are readying plans for reviving their power distribution utilities after the central government put the ball in their court. Officials said Rajasthan, whose power distribution utility had the highest debt exposure among all states, would be the first to sign up for the Centre's scheme.

Officials in the Uttar Pradesh government said it was ready to take over its distribution utilities' debt. "Instead of 75 per cent, the state government is ready to take over the entire debt of the distribution utilities. But we will request the Centre that interest and principal payment be kept out of the fiscal deficit calculations," Rahul Bhatnagar, principal secretary, department of finance, Uttar Pradesh, told Business Standard.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 14 Nov 2015 05:31

Electricity for 18,000 villages in 1,000 days: PM Modi

LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that 18,000 villages in India that are not connected with electricity will get this basic facility within the next 1,000 days.

The pace and direction of progress in India is such that the fruits of development will be seen very soon," Modi said in Hindi in his much-awaited address to 60,000 British Indians at the iconic Wembley Stadium here.

"As many as 18,000 villages need electricity. There are not even electricity poles. In the next 1,000 days we will ensure they get it," he said on the second day of his three-day visit to Britain.

He said that there were places in India where there was electricity but not for 24 hours a day.

The prime minister said that by the year 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he would ensure that there was 24 hours of electricity all over the country.

"We will harness solar, wind and renewable energy. We will generate 175 gigawatts of power one day," he said.

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 16 Nov 2015 20:02

Coal imports seen ending by 2017, new energy policy on anvil

"By 2017, India should not need to import coal except for those coastal plants where it is very difficult to transmit coal. I am fairly confident the era of shortages is over," coal and power minister Piyush Goyal told an industry gathering organised by consultancy firm KPMG.

Addressing the same gathering, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is working on a comprehensive energy policy with NITI Aayog which will elaborate about energy mix of the country till 2050

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 16 Nov 2015 20:08

Solar power could be 10% cheaper than coal-based power by 2020: KPMG

The disruptive force is expected to start being felt from 2017 and may accelerate post 2020, KPMG said in a statement. In some states which are promoting solar (and also wind power) aggressively, conventional coal generators could see their Plant Load Factors (PLFs) fall by as much as 10-15 per cent by 2020, as solar replaces coal-fired generation in the daytime hours. This effect may speed up post 2020 with the annual addition of large amounts of solar (estimated to exceed by 20 GW per year by 2022-23)

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 16 Nov 2015 20:33

LED lamp production up 30 times to 3 crore a month

Production of LED (light-emitting diode) lamps that consume about 80 per cent less energy than incandescent bulbs has increased to 3 crore per month against 10 lakh a year ago, thanks to the government's LED lamps distribution programme. Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), the coordinator for energy efficient programmes, is launching a similar programme for star-rated agricultural pumps and ceiling fans.

The government has revised its investment estimate for energy efficient electrical equipment to around Rs 150,000 crore from Rs 74,000 crore about six years ago following the success of the LED lamps distribution programme, EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar told ET. The fresh estimate reveals an investment potential of Rs 50,000 crore in solar pumps, Rs 40,000 crore in electrical equipment like fans and ACs, Rs 35,000 crore in energy-efficient lighting and street lighting, and Rs 30,000 crore in industrial usage, he said

EESL too has scaled up its investment target 140 times to Rs 70,000 crore in the next five years from the earlier Rs 500 crore fixed about two years ago. The company has so far invested about Rs 5,000 crore. Its equity has increased to Rs 500 crore from Rs 90 crore and it proposes to raise loans from German development bank KfW, Asian Development Bank and AfD (France Development Agency).

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 16 Nov 2015 21:37

^^Truly large numbers. But what happens to the excess capacity once all bulbs have been replaced with LED bulbs?

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Nov 2015 22:08

hanumadu wrote:^^Truly large numbers. But what happens to the excess capacity once all bulbs have been replaced with LED bulbs?

Exports, of course. There's a whole world out there, with entire continents like Africa who can benefit from our LED lamps.

disha · Post by **disha** » 16 Nov 2015 23:40

vipins wrote:Coal imports seen ending by 2017, new energy policy on anvil
"By 2017, India should not need to import coal except for those coastal plants where it is very difficult to transmit coal. I am fairly confident the era of shortages is over," coal and power minister Piyush Goyal told an industry gathering organised by consultancy firm KPMG.

Addressing the same gathering, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is working on a comprehensive energy policy with NITI Aayog which will elaborate about energy mix of the country till 2050

Since some do not dig into the article to read., here is a one line summary:

India had imported 212.103 million tonnes of coal worth over Rs 1 lakh crore last fiscal

So the take away is:

"India will not be importing @1 lakh crore (or $1.2 Billion) worth @200 million tonnes of coal by 2017".

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 17 Nov 2015 00:30

1 lakh crore is $15.5 billion, not $1.2 billion.

Uttam · Post by **Uttam** » 17 Nov 2015 19:16

A lot of rona dhona by losers. Says Govt should not focus on lower tariffs but to scale up solar generation. SO WHAT should govt. do? Ignore the lowest bid!!!!! The unnamed industry experts in this articles are just sour losers.

Government should review auction process of solar power projects, say industry experts

NEW DELHI: Plunging solar power prices following aggressive bids at auctions may turn out to be a nightmare for sector as the government needs to responsibly balance tariffs with viability as it sets out to implement its ambitious targets for renewable energy.

Industry executives and experts said the government should review the auction process although companies that bid aggressively are confident that their projects are viable. The government said its aim was not to lower tariffs but to scale up solar electricity generation capacity.

"In India auctions may not be the most optimal way to develop a long term, vibrant and sustainable sector. Most countries around the world are following a mechanism of feedin tariffs," Renew Power Ventures chief executive officer Sumant Sinha said at a conference organised by consultancy firm KPMG. ' Solar power tariff in India touched a record low early this month with US-based SunEdison's winning bid of Rs 4.63 per unit for a cont ..

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 23 Nov 2015 03:17

Govt coming up with more innovative ways to auction coal mines, to reduce power tariff:

Reverse-auction of coal to power companies may be scrapped

Abhay_S · Post by **Abhay_S** » 25 Nov 2015 23:40

LED bulbs price to come down to Rs 44 per unit: Piyush Goyal

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 924421.cms

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 26 Nov 2015 23:15

India adds 2,311 MW green power generation capacity in fiscal 2016

A total of 2,311.88 MW of grid-connected power generation capacity from renewable energy sources like solar and wind has been added so far this fiscal in the country.

The country's total grid-connected power generation capacity from all the above mentioned renewable sources was 3,8096.49 MW at the end of October.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 26 Nov 2015 23:41

Abhay_S wrote:LED bulbs price to come down to Rs 44 per unit: Piyush Goyal

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 924421.cms

That could be something totally new game, but Make in India should be part of this scaling up already.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » 28 Nov 2015 13:46

India is right to resist the west’s carbon imperialism
Arvind Subramanian

The rich world’s move against fossil fuels is a disaster for poorer states, writes Arvind Subramanian

A decade or two from now, the world should be able to look back at next week’s UN climate conference in Paris and say with the wistfulness of the ex-lovers in Casablanca: “We’ll always have Paris.”
But will we? There is real anxiety in India, and other poorer countries that rely heavily on coal, that the stance of advanced nations might in one vital respect stand in the way of successfully fighting climate change.

In the run-up to the conference, there is a growing call — first articulated clearly at this year’s summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations — to phase out fossil fuels. The US and others have also vowed to vote against fossil fuel energy projects in developing countries when multilateral development banks are voting on them. Meanwhile, the US produces at least 35 per cent more coal than India.

For India — a country struggling to provide basic electricity to about 25 per cent of the population, according to conservative estimates — this smacks of a “carbon imperialism”. And such imperialism on the part of advanced nations could spell disaster for India and other developing countries.
In fact, rather than replacing coal, the only way India and other poorer nations can both meet their needs and minimise damage to the environment may be to find effective techniques to “clean and green” coal.

Under any plausible scenario, coal will provide about 40-60 per cent of India’s energy until 2030. It will, and should, remain the country’s primary energy source because it is the cheapest fuel available.

But India is neither unaware of the social costs of coal nor is it lax in promoting renewables. It has already started taxing carbon, both explicitly and implicitly. The coal tax has quadrupled to Rs200 ($3) a tonne since 2014. This has resulted in an implicit carbon tax of $2 a tonne of CO2 on domestic coal. This may, of course, still not be enough to cover all the social costs of carbon use.

There has also been a substantial indirect tax on carbon. In response to the fall in the oil price, the government has eliminated subsidies on petrol and diesel and increased taxes. India has therefore moved from a negative price — that is, a subsidy — to a positive price on carbon emissions. In contrast, the governments of most advanced countries have simply passed on the benefits to consumers, setting back the cause of curbing climate change.

It is encouraging, too, that the problem of pollution is becoming part of domestic political discourse. New Delhi is requiring monitoring mechanisms for pollution in a number of cities. The pressure on local governments elsewhere in the country to take account of the domestic social costs of increased carbon-related pollution — health, accidents and congestion — will almost certainly grow.
India is committed to an ambitious renewables programme, ramping up renewables capacity from 35 gigawatts today to 175 gigawatts by 2022. But as Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, has pointed out, the prices of properly costed renewables are not competitive with coal today, and they are not likely to be any time soon. It is wishful thinking to imagine that renewables can replace coal in the foreseeable future.
So, although Delhi is committed to curbing climate change and to promoting renewables, making coal clean is vital to the country’s development. However, this cannot be done by India, or anyone else, alone.

Technologies that are already available, such as carbon capture and storage, have proved prohibitively expensive. To discover truly effective techniques, the world collectively needs to embark on a programme akin to the Manhattan project that produced the first nuclear bomb.
This would require investment from both public and private sectors, in advanced and developing nations, as well as a range of policy instruments. But the rich world’s preoccupation with phasing out fossil fuels creates a risk that the private sector — already lukewarm about investing in cleaning coal — will read the signals and abandon this project altogether.

In the past few months I have met senior leaders from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Australia and Japan. All appreciated that the need to clean coal is a significant part of efforts to fight climate change. The time is ripe to create a global green and clean coal coalition. That, rather than unconscionable calls to phase out India’s cheapest form of energy, would best serve the cause of fighting climate change.

The writer is the Indian government’s chief economic adviser

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0805bac2-937d ... ef7af.html

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Nov 2015 20:47

Power deficit dips further, hits fresh record low of 2.4%

Government today said the power deficit in the country has fallen further and has hit a fresh lowest-ever level of 2.4% due to additional 29,168 MW power generation capacity in the last one and a half year.

Highlighting its achievements in the coal, power and new & renewable energy sectors, the government said the country witnessed the highest-ever generation capacity addition of 29,168 MW during this period.

More than three crore (over 30 million) energy-efficient LED bulbs have been also been distributed till now, it added.

Earlier in May, the government had said that 22,566 MW of power generation capacity was added since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government came into power.

Moreover, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had then said the deficit dipped to an all-time low of 3.6%.

Nick_S · Post by **Nick_S** » 02 Dec 2015 16:31

Rural Village electrification: Achvd 50000 milestone today against targeted 2,21,424.
https://twitter.com/drdineshias/status/ ... 7110974464

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Dec 2015 17:24

vishvak wrote:
Abhay_S wrote:LED bulbs price to come down to Rs 44 per unit: Piyush Goyal

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 924421.cms
That could be something totally new game, but Make in India should be part of this scaling up already.

there seems to be a big scam building up here. most of these bulbs are of extremely low quality and manufacturers suffering from friends and family syndrome.

BJP should not get scalded

mohanty · Post by **mohanty** » 02 Dec 2015 17:54

Alka_P wrote:
Cabinet approves package to revive power distribution companies

Congoons and their socialist ponzi schemes have screwed up the economy and it's institutions quite heavily. 63 billion dallar is a huge amount

Well the distcom revival itself is a bit of Ponzi scheme. If I understand it, all it is doing is transferring the loans from companies to state govt.s which are basically to be repaid by future taxes.

And Congoons are not the only socialists. BJP is quite a bit of socialist. The difference is simply not enough to make a difference much. Eventually the govt. is to go bankrupt whether on fast track of Congis or a slightly slower track of BJP for now doesn't change much.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 02 Dec 2015 18:51

Suraj wrote:
hanumadu wrote:^^Truly large numbers. But what happens to the excess capacity once all bulbs have been replaced with LED bulbs?
Exports, of course. There's a whole world out there, with entire continents like Africa who can benefit from our LED lamps.

Consumption-wise India is still far behind developed nations who have a fraction of the population, so expect domestic consumption to only increase with this ready access to efficient and cheap technology. Only then you need to worry about over-capacity. Then you can flood the world! This is what China is doing.

In the old socialist (license-raj) model in India, everyone was dependent on govt. orders and no one was investing in capacity beyond the bare minimum. Now the govt. is enabling quick access to markets with focused initiatives, and suddenly no amount of capacity is enough.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 02 Dec 2015 21:45

JTull wrote:Consumption-wise India is still far behind developed nations who have a fraction of the population, so expect domestic consumption to only increase with this ready access to efficient and cheap technology. Only then you need to worry about over-capacity. Then you can flood the world! This is what China is doing.

Export oriented economics like China did not do that. They didn't fulfill their domestic markets before exporting. They made stuff that would sell for more outside the country than inside, and exported it. In fact they actively discourages domestic consumption in favor of pushing savings that were directed into generating more export capacity.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Dec 2015 23:49

jai rum must have been butt hurt that he was not leading the team, nor even consulted, the towering intellect that he is.

Chitra Subramaniam ‏@chitraSD 2h2 hours ago
Chitra Subramaniam Retweeted Abhijit Majumder
He did likewise in #Copenhagen. He was our minister then. @franklinapfel Chitra Subramaniam added,

Abhijit Majumder @abhijitmajumder
Seriously, Jairam seems to be doing the bidding against India, undermining our position at #COP21 https://twitter.com/amishra77/status/672060663796072448 …
123 retweets 46 likes

Akhilesh Mishra
‏@amishra77
Point to note about this NYT piece is the insidious way Jairam Ramesh has played domestic politics: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/world ... share&_r=0 … || 1/5 #COP21

RETWEETS 119 Likes 36

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 05 Dec 2015 23:10

Andhra Pradesh first state to enlist in power distribution debt restructuring scheme, Rajasthan to follow

Exactly a month after the Union government came out with a financial restructuring scheme for power distribution companies, Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to join it. The scheme is considered the first move of NDA government to set right power distribution through restructuring of stressed loan in the business.

The Union government had approved a financial restructuring scheme for distribution companies on November 5, 2015. "Congratulations to Hon'ble chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri Chandrababu Naidu for joining UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) for turnaround of DISCOMs," Union power minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet. "Under the leadership of Sri Naidu, Andhra Pradesh is making rapid strides across sectors. With UDAY, AP can assure 24X7 power for all," he said in another tweet.

Andhra Pradesh, in the southern grid, has acute power shortage. Naidu's Telugu Desam is part of the National Democratic Alliance that came to power at the Centre in May 2014. Under Naidu, the state had undertaken measures in the distribution segment during the first phase of power sector reforms in the 1990s.

Rajasthan is also likely to join the scheme shortly. During the partnership summit last fortnight to attract global investment in the state, CS Rajan, chief secretary of Rajasthan, had told Business Standard the state was ready to join the scheme and take over half of the total debt of the state's power distribution companies (discoms) as on March 31, 2015 and the rest 25 per cent by next fiscal (2016-17).

Rajasthan is saddled with the highest discom losses. At present, the state has a financial burden of around Rs 85,000 crore to lending institutes. The state, along with other loss-making states, is already on notice by the Reserve bank of India (RBI) to clear their debts or they will be debarred from receiving financial aid.

As per the UDAY scheme, state governments, which own the discoms, can take over 75 per cent of their debt as of September 30 and pay back lenders by selling bonds. For the remaining 25 per cent, discoms will issue bonds.

This would not only help in cleaning up debt of Rs 4.3 lakh crore accumulated on state owned distribution companies but also bring relief to lenders.

For the next two financial years, the central government will not include the debt taken over by the states in the calculation of their fiscal deficit, which could have gone up by as much as Rs 3.2 lakh crore.

Among all states, Rajasthan has the highest debt of Rs 85,000 crore followed by Tamil Nadu with Rs 70,000 crore and UP with Rs 32,000 crore.

States are suggested to take over 75 per cent of discom debt as on 30 September 2015 over two years – 50 per cent in 2015-16 and 25 per cent in 2016-17.

“This will reduce the interest cost on the debt taken over by the States to around 8-9 per cent, from as high as 14-15 per cent; thus improving overall efficiency,” Goyal had said on November 5.

Discoms debt not taken over by the state shall be converted by the banks / financial institutions into loans or bonds with interest rate not more than the bank’s base rate plus 0.1 per cent.

Alternately, this debt may be fully or partly issued by the discom as State guaranteed DISCOM bonds at the prevailing market rates which shall be equal to or less than bank base rate plus 0.1 per cent, said Goyal.

Any future losses would be taken over by the states in a graded manner. As of March 2015, the total accumulated loss is Rs 3.8 lakh crore. In its Financial Stability Report on June 2015, the RBI said the Rs 53,000-crore exposure of Indian banks to seven state electricity boards (SEBs) has a “very high probability” of turning into non-performing assets (NPAs) in the quarter ending September.

The discoms would have to reduce their Aggregate Technical & Commercial Losses (AT&C) to 15 per cent from current level by 2018-19. Business Standard reported that the central government would restrict the borrowing capacity of state owned power distribution companies (discoms) to efficiency parameters.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 16 Dec 2015 19:00

Teesta hydro project which was stalled for 7 years back on track: Piyush Goyal.

Teesta hydro power project, which was stalled for seven years, is back on track as the work on the power plant in Sikkim started on October 1, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said."Teesta in Sikkim, stalled for seven years, back on track. On October 1 work started after Rs 9,000 crore of investment. 93% investment was done earlier," Goyal tweeted on Wednesday.

Earlier in September this year, he had said that the government will very soon resolve the issues related to Teesta power project in Sikkim which was holding back an investment of around Rs 9,000 crore.

The project commonly know as Teesta III is being implemented by Teesta Urja Ltd. The company is developing the 6x200 MW Teesta Stage-III Hydro Electric Power Project on Teesta River situated in North District of Sikkim.

This project is a part of overall development of Teesta basin being undertaken by Sikkim Government. The project is run of the river designed to generate 5,214 Million kWh (units) annually in 90 per cent dependable year, as per the information provided.A senior official of one of the companies that invested in the project said that the first unit (200 MW) of the project is expected to be commissioned in March 2017. Thereafter, other units will start generating power at an interval of one to two months one by one.

The official said that all the statutory clearances for the Project were received by November 2007 and the civil works for the project were started in January 2008.

The first unit of the project was to be commissioned in 2013 but the project got delayed due to earthquake in 2011 and issues among promoters.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 11 Jan 2016 17:53

http://www.newkerala.com/news/2016/fullnews-5009.html
"NTPC to set up 4000 MW power plant, 2250 MW solar power plant in AP: Piyush Goyal"

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 12 Jan 2016 19:09

http://www.edie.net/news/6/Country-wide ... l-savings/
"India can expect to save around $6bn a year once it has completed its 710 million LED bulb retrofit by 2018, the country's Union Minister has announced."

KrishnaK · Post by **KrishnaK** » 14 Jan 2016 08:30

Coal India plans biggest tech overhaul to check rampant theft

From that for our resident public sector advocates

Coal India's productivity is estimated at just one-eighth of its technologically advanced rivals in the United States, and as much as a fifth of its annual output is stolen, costing the company up to $1 billion each year.

partha · Post by **partha** » 14 Jan 2016 08:43

Piyush Goel is someone to watch out for. I'm impressed with his performance so far. I hope he moves up the value chain in BJP.