India's Power Sector

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Vips
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Vips »

Peak power demand back to normal, surpasses last year level.

Peak power demand is back to normal as it has touched 174.33 GW on Wednesday, surpassing the highest level of 173.15 GW in September last year, showing spurt in commercial and industrial activities in the country. Incidentally, the peak power demand met had reached its previous highest level of 173.15 GW on September 9 last year, as per the power ministry data.

Peak power demand met is the highest energy supply during the day across the country. The government had imposed the lockdown from March 25 to fight the deadly coronavirus in the country. It also resulted in lower commercial and industrial demand in April onwards. The government started easing lockdown restrictions from April 20, 2020.

The relaxation in lockdown resulted in perking up electricity demand in the country due to the increase in economic activities. The experts had earlier exuded condence that the power demand will not only be back to normal levels but will also achieve marginal growth from September onwards. However, bucking the trend, the slump in peak power demand met rose marginally to 5.65 per cent in August from 2.61 per cent in July.
Peak power demand met stood at 167.49 GW in August compared to 177.52 GW recorded in the same month last year. The slump in peak power demand met was 2.61 per cent in July this year as it was recorded at 170.54 GW, down from 175.12 GW in the same month of 2019. The electricity demand witnessed an increase in May onwards after easing of lockdown restrictions. In June this year, peak power demand met had dipped by 9.6 per cent to 164.98 GW, as against 182.45 GW in June 2019.

In May this year, the peak power demand met stood at 166.22 GW, 8.9 per cent less than 182.53 GW in the year-ago period. While in April it stood at 132.73 GW, around 25 per cent lower than 176.81 GW recorded in the same month a year earlier, mainly due to lower commercial and industrial demand following the lockdown
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Post by darshan »

11.5 MW Waste-To-Energy Plant To Be Set Up In Bengaluru, Will Dispose Of 600 Tonne Of Segregated Waste Per Day
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/115-mw-wa ... te-per-day
...
In a bid to dispose of 600 tonnes of segregated waste generated by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had directed the KPCL to come up with a project, a senior official said.
...
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Uttam »

Surprise! India Is Leaping Ahead in Clean Energy
No country will contribute more to the rise in global carbon emissions than India. Energy consumption among its 1.4 billion people is rising fast, with 65 percent of the country’s electrical power currently generated from coal. The world’s filthiest fossil fuel—of which India consumes more than the United States and Japan combined—will “remain ingrained under the fingernails of the nation” because of “politics, economics, and the complications of generating electricity.” So said the Economist in a 2018 briefing.
The British magazine’s briefing perfectly encapsulates the widespread view of India as climate policy’s problem child. But the conventional wisdom couldn’t be more wrong. Little noticed in the West, India is undergoing a green-energy revolution—exceeding targets, breaking records, and quickly making the age of cheap clean energy a reality.
Because of the dominance of India’s coal industry, few experts ever expected India to be on track to significantly exceed two key commitments to the Paris Agreement. One is India’s pledge to increase the share of power-generation capacity that doesn’t use fossil fuels to 40 percent by 2030; today, generation capacity from renewable, hydroelectric, and nuclear sources already reaches 38 percent, putting India on track to comfortably exceed its target. The other commitment is to reduce carbon emissions by 33 to 35 percent (from 2005 levels) by 2030. Today, India looks likely to reduce emissions by as much as 45 percent by 2030, far surpassing its Paris target.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Vips »

Explained: What is India’s sprawling renewable energy park, coming up on its border with Pakistan?

On December 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Kutch to lay the foundation stone for a 30,000 MW (megawatt) hybrid renewable energy park close to the Indo-Pak border in Kutch district. The project is billed as the largest of its kind in the world.

What is this hybrid renewable energy park taking shape in Gujarat?
With the Government of India committing itself to installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, the Gujarat government identified 1,00,000 hectares of wasteland near Khavda, 72 km north of Bhuj, close to the international border with Pakistan in Kutch, for an energy park.

In April 2020, after taking into consideration the requirements of the defence forces, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) gave its approval to use 72,600 hectares of the identified land to build the park.

The renewable energy park will have two zones: one, a 49,600-hectare hybrid park zone that will accommodate wind and solar power plants of 24,800 MW capacity; and two, an exclusive wind park zone spread over 23,000 hectares.

How close is this project to the Indo-Pak border?
The project will be located between Khavda village and Vighakot. The project site is about 25 km from Khavda, which is the last point that can be accessed by civilians in the area.

The exclusive wind park zone will come up within 1-6 km of the international border. The hybrid park zone will be located 6 km from the border. The Border Security Force is already present in the area.

“This site has been chosen because this is a complete wasteland. (At last some common sense being utilized in using wasteland) Secondly, if you put windmills near the border, they also act as a boundary. :?: The MoD gave clearance for 72,600 hectares in April this year,” Sunaina Tomar, additional chief secretary, Energy and Petrochemicals Department, Gujarat, said.

Who will set up the wind and solar projects in this park?
The state government, after inviting applications, has allocated land to six developers. For the hybrid park zone, land has been allotted to Adani Green Energy Ltd (19,000 ha), Sarjan Realities Ltd (Suzlon, 9,500 ha), NTPC Ltd (9,500 ha), Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd (4,750 ha) and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (6,650 ha).

Adani Green will install capacity of 9,500 MW; Sarjan Realities, 4,750 MW; GIPCL, 2,375 MW; GSECL, 3,325 MW; and NTPC, 4,750 MW.

The entire 23,000 ha at the exclusive wind zone park has been allotted to Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up wind projects under the competitive bidding route policy. “The selected developers have to develop 50 per cent of the total generation capacity in the next three years, and finish the project in five years,” Tomar said. PowerGrid Corporation of India will evacuate the power produced at this park.

How will construction take place in a zone that has BSF and Army installations?
The BSF and Army installations are beyond the India bridge manned by the BSF. “An 18-km road will be built by the state public works department. It will bypass India bridge and provide access to the project. Also, the existing road that leads from India bridge to Vighakot is being strengthened and widened,” a state government official said.

There is a number of “no-go zones” around the project that belong to either the Army or the BSF.

What is the current renewable energy capacity of Gujarat?
The current peak power requirement of Gujarat is 18,000 MW. Out of the state’s installed power generation capacity of 30,500 MW, renewable energy forms 37 per cent or 11,264 MW. This includes 7,845 MW of wind, 3,273 MW of solar, 81.6 MW biomass, and 63.33 MW mini-hydro projects.
There has been a 10-fold increase in renewable energy capacity from 1,170 MW in 2008 to 11,264 MW in 2020.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Vips »

Power demand touches all-time high of 182.89 GW.

All-India power demand on Wednesday morning touched a record high of 182.89 gigawatts (GW), said Power Secretary S N Sahai.

“Today, the all-India demand for power touched 1,82,888 MW (megawatts), which is an all-time high (observed at 0948 hrs on December 30, 2020) crossing previous high of 1,82,610 at 1458 hours on May 30, 2019. The entire demand was met,” Sahai said in a tweet.

According to data from the power ministry, the peak power demand met (the highest supply in a day) during December last year stood at 170.49 gigawatts (GW).

This is quite unprecedented, especially when the coronavirus pandemic has impacted all sectors in the country.

The government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Power demand started declining from April due to fewer economic activities in the country. The pandemic affected power demand for five months in a row – from April to August this year.

Peak power demand met recorded negative growth from April to August this year, due to the pandemic. In March, it was muted at 0.8 per cent. It had dropped 24.9 per cent in April, 8.9 per cent in May, 9.6 per cent in June, 2.7 per cent in July and 5.6 per cent in August.

The power demand recovered from September onwards. Peak power demand met grew at 1.7 per cent in September, 3.4 per cent in October and 3.5 per cent in November.
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Government plans $41 billion reform to revive ailing power utilities.
India plans to spend Rs 3 lakh crore ($41 billion) on a new plan to revive regional electricity retailers, people with knowledge of the matter said, after a previous attempt failed to stem losses at the utilities.

The spending would be spread over a few years and is likely to be unveiled on Feb. As part of the government’s budget for the year starting April 1, the people said, asking not to be identified as the proposal isn’t public. The plan for carrying out reforms for reducing losses of state distribution utilities was sought by the nation’s power ministry and is under discussion.
The spending would focus on upgrading infrastructure and technology of the ailing utilities to make them more efficient and reduce financial losses,
according to the people. Under the plan, the federal government would provide annual grants to states that meet targets set by New Delhi.

The plan could include some specific measures such as separating power feeder grids for farmers and residential users, and installation of prepaid smart meters to stop pilferage and encourage timely payment, they said. It also plans to replace overhead cables with special insulated wires to prevent theft.

The plan will be a modified version of an earlier program unveiled in 2015 to revive power distributors through restructuring of their debt. That attempt remained unsuccessful in making retailers profitable by March 2019.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by nandakumar »

The Hindu carried a report on the Chinese hydroelectric project on Brahmaputra that is supposed to generate 3 times the power generated by 3 gorges dam. The story speak river descending down 2000 metres. My question is can turbines withstand the force of water gushing down 6,600 feet? Can someone clarify? Thanks.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by hanumadu »

nandakumar wrote:The Hindu carried a report on the Chinese hydroelectric project on Brahmaputra that is supposed to generate 3 times the power generated by 3 gorges dam. The story speak river descending down 2000 metres. My question is can turbines withstand the force of water gushing down 6,600 feet? Can someone clarify? Thanks.
It will be a series of dams/turbines over the length of the river. The river is not descending 6600 feet in one go. It is gradual over a long distance
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by nandakumar »

hanumadu wrote:
nandakumar wrote:The Hindu carried a report on the Chinese hydroelectric project on Brahmaputra that is supposed to generate 3 times the power generated by 3 gorges dam. The story speak river descending down 2000 metres. My question is can turbines withstand the force of water gushing down 6,600 feet? Can someone clarify? Thanks.
It will be a series of dams/turbines over the length of the river. The river is not descending 6600 feet in one go. It is gradual over a long distance
Thanks. But does the topography of the land allow that kind of construction?
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Post by hanumadu »

Not an expert, so can't say. A few years ago, there was talk of such a series of turbines on a river in Arunachal Pradesh. The projected electricity generation was quite high. Haven't heard about it since then.

Added Later:
May be this is it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Sia ... ic_Project
The state government of Arunachal Pradesh signed deals with various Indian power companies to develop hydro projects. A total of 42 schemes are planned to generate electricity in excess of 27,000 MW with the Upper Siang project being one of them.
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Post by nandakumar »

hanumadu wrote:Not an expert, so can't say. A few years ago, there was talk of such a series of turbines on a river in Arunachal Pradesh. The projected electricity generation was quite high. Haven't heard about it since then.

Added Later:
May be this is it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Sia ... ic_Project
The state government of Arunachal Pradesh signed deals with various Indian power companies to develop hydro projects. A total of 42 schemes are planned to generate electricity in excess of 27,000 MW with the Upper Siang project being one of them.
I am still intrigued. Because the heights of hydro electric dams are typically in the 100s of feet. Google tells me that the highest hydro electric dam in the US is 700 feet. The Chinese are talking about 6,600 feet! I suppose they know what they are doing. But thanks anyway for your inputs.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by AkshaySG »

nandakumar wrote:
hanumadu wrote:Not an expert, so can't say. A few years ago, there was talk of such a series of turbines on a river in Arunachal Pradesh. The projected electricity generation was quite high. Haven't heard about it since then.

Added Later:
May be this is it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Sia ... ic_Project
I am still intrigued. Because the heights of hydro electric dams are typically in the 100s of feet. Google tells me that the highest hydro electric dam in the US is 700 feet. The Chinese are talking about 6,600 feet! I suppose they know what they are doing. But thanks anyway for your inputs.
I think you have misread the article .... Here it is btw
https://www.thehindu.com/news/internati ... 206687.ece

There is no mention about the height or precise location of the dam , just that it will be somewhere around the Great Bend in Brahmaputra an area that contains that 2000m drop .

Now that drop is not a single waterfall or else it would more than 2x the height of the world's tallest (Angel Falls ) ... but instead achieves that drop in a 50 odd km stretch of successive turns and bends .So as a result the water velocity and potential of energy generation remains very high but there is no massive single drop which is too much for the turbines to deal with .Its also likely that there will be a series of dams on each bend rather than one superstructure

Environmental concerns aside it really is a pretty great situation to build a high capacity dam and the Chinese are spot on in their assessment of its potential being multiple times that of 3 Gorges.

Its going to be very expensive ,require tons of expertise and take a huge workforce but when it comes to such projects China has all of them in abundance . Not to mention a govt and populace which doesn't give a shit if 1000 workers are killed making it
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by nandakumar »

AkshaySG wrote:
nandakumar wrote: I am still intrigued. Because the heights of hydro electric dams are typically in the 100s of feet. Google tells me that the highest hydro electric dam in the US is 700 feet. The Chinese are talking about 6,600 feet! I suppose they know what they are doing. But thanks anyway for your inputs.
I think you have misread the article .... Here it is btw
https://www.thehindu.com/news/internati ... 206687.ece

There is no mention about the height or precise location of the dam , just that it will be somewhere around the Great Bend in Brahmaputra an area that contains that 2000m drop .

Now that drop is not a single waterfall or else it would more than 2x the height of the world's tallest (Angel Falls ) ... but instead achieves that drop in a 50 odd km stretch of successive turns and bends .So as a result the water velocity and potential of energy generation remains very high but there is no massive single drop which is too much for the turbines to deal with .Its also likely that there will be a series of dams on each bend rather than one superstructure

Environmental concerns aside it really is a pretty great situation to build a high capacity dam and the Chinese are spot on in their assessment of its potential being multiple times that of 3 Gorges.

Its going to be very expensive ,require tons of expertise and take a huge workforce but when it comes to such projects China has all of them in abundance . Not to mention a govt and populace which doesn't give a shit if 1000 workers are killed making it
Thanks AkshaySG for a very lucid explanation. I guess if there is even the slightest chance that technically it is feasible, the Chinese will have a go at it. That financially it may not be viable or that the human and environmental costs are prohibitive may not enter their calculations all that much.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by A Nandy »

Disaster in the mountains. Glacier breach:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 732809.cms
Glacier bursts in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, causing flash flood in Dhauliganga
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Mort Walker »

Some 150 NTPC workers feared dead in glacier burst. A very sad day.
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Post by A Nandy »

They should have level sensors far upstream at the minimum, or cameras..
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Uttam »

Customs duty change: First auction fetches solar bid tariff of Rs 2.20 per unit
The first solar auction after the announcement of the basic customs duty on solar imports fetched a tariff of Rs. 2.20, much to the surprise of the renewable energy industry.

Currently, the lowest tariff discovered in the country is Rs. 1.99 per unit, which was also held by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL). Most industry players and agencies such as ICRA NSE -8.03 % had anticipated a rise of around 25% from that benchmark,
So the effect of customs duty increase is really small. This will provide a major fillip to the Solar panel industry in India.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by VinodTK »

Goldman-backed ReNew to Invest $9 Billion on India’s Green Push
(Bloomberg) -- ReNew Power Pvt., one of India’s biggest renewable power producers, plans to invest $9 billion in wind and solar projects through 2025 amid a government-backed effort to reduce emissions.

The company, backed by investors such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, aims to more than triple its renewable power capacity to 18.5 gigawatts by 2025, Chairman Sumant Sinha said in an interview. The Gurugram, India-based company will look at building its own projects as well as acquisitions for growth.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/TheWolfpackIN/statu ... 88133?s=20 ---> France's EDF submits Jaitapur project offer - with a capacity of 9.6 GWe would be the most powerful Nuclear power plant in the world, generating 75 TWh/yr & meeting the annual consumption of 70 million Indian households & avoiding the emission of an estimated 80Mn tonnes of CO2/year.

Image
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Post by rsingh »

With electric cars getting momentum, this will reduce our oil bill. Any estimate?
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Post by Pratyush »

rsingh wrote:With electric cars getting momentum, this will reduce our oil bill. Any estimate?
It will increase our electricity consumption significantly.

It may result in an increase of our CO2 emissions. Unless we can get large numbers solar and wind energy plants operational. With hydro and nuclear power plants filling the rest. While keeping the coal plants at current levels.
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Post by Adrija »

With electric cars getting momentum, this will reduce our oil bill. Any estimate?
The question has many variables embedded in it, so let me try to answer each one separately:
1. As of now, unless energy conversion improves materially, the shift to EV is actually net energy negative i.e. total energy requirements actually increases.
2. Whether that impacts the oil bill is a second order derivative as to how we meet the current, and increased energy demand- if this continues to be met by current baseload power, then our coal and oil bills may actually increase
3. Renewables (solar and wind) still do not offer baseload power supply
4. Hydro does, but that comes will many more complications including loss of land, wildlife, human displacement etc; but most of all, and which is not actually included, is the delay in project construction and then the often witnessed reduction in asset life (due to siltage etc), which significantly increase the actual cost of the power
5. Nuclear end to end cost, including decom costs, remain prohibitive. I am not sure if the Indian thorium cycle will be cheaper- perhaps gurus here can opine better than me on that front

But overall the shift to EV is still desirable as that concentrates power generation requirements and hence makes it easier longer term to effect the migration... current ICE engines continue to require an extensive petroleum based network and hence cannot be migrated so easily

Hope that helps
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Post by rsingh »

^^^
Thanks for insights.
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Post by Vips »

Peak power demand hits new record.

Peak power demand in the country touched 1,97,060 mega-watt (MW) on Tuesday, an all-time high, Union power minister RK Singh tweeted. Peak demand reflects the highest power requirement level reached at a particular moment.

“Looking forward to the demand touching 2,00,000 MW in the near future,” Singh added. Higher power demand signals a spurt in commercial and industrial activities with businesses gradually resuming operations after the lifting of lockdown curbs in recent months.

The rise in demand is good news for gencos, as thermal plants were running at only 54% utilisation level in May owing to lower consumption. Daily supply had touched an all-time high of 4,303 million units (MUs) on June 29, surpassing the last recorded peak met at 4,161 MUs on April 8.

The installed power generation capacity of 3,83,373 MW in the country is nearly twice the peak demand level, implying that most power plants are running at the low PLF.

The PLF of thermal plants fell to 48% in May 2020. Power consumption rose 6.6% y-o-y to 108.8 BUs in May, but was still lower than 120 BUs consumed in May 2019 when there was no impact of the coronavirus.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Rishirishi »

rsingh wrote:With electric cars getting momentum, this will reduce our oil bill. Any estimate?
Spot on. going electric for cars, trucks and bikes will significantly cut the import bill (and even more important, the oil dependency). Solar power is ideal, as it is pretty reliable in the daytime (and makes it possible to charge the batteries)

At Rs 2.2 per kwh the cost per km could be as low as Rs 0.5 per km :shock: In terms of cost that can be compared to a car giving 167km milage per liter petrol.

It would significantly cut down the cost of goods transport as well as air pollution. But a lot of industries are going to resist it. Motor parts manufacturing, refining, fuel sales, and car repair are going to be hit. Expect a lot of resistance from the Ambanis, petrolpump owners and auto manufacturers.
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Post by uddu »

Rishirishi wrote:At Rs 2.2 per kwh the cost per km could be as low as Rs 0.5 per km :shock:
You forgot the taxes. Also the inefficiency of the electric distribution system in India. The cost of electricity has not come down either after all the low cost Solar bids.
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by sankum »

In Delhi they have added 5% to the electricity bill for pension fund of former government employees of electricity board

The whole inefficient double the market pay of employees and their 50% of the last salary ever-increasing pension apart from many times the required employees with associated inefficiency and corruption is passed on to consumers and there is no political will to correct this by privatization of government electricity distribution companies except some few states. The loot goes on.
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Post by Cyrano »

Solar power is ideal, as it is pretty reliable in the daytime (and makes it possible to charge the batteries
This is a myth, most EVs tend to get used during the day, and need to be charged at night to be ready for the next day. To use solar power for this, the solar generated electricity needs to be stored in huge capacitors or some other means which are quite costly and unviable. Wind power is very unreliable. If you keep the traditional hydro and coal based power aside, Nuclear energy to power EVs is comparatively a much better option than solar or wind.

However, there is a huge environmental cost of producing solar panels, wind mills and turbines, storage batteries, and the rare earths like Neodymium needed to produce powerful magnets in electric motors. Mining rare earths has a huge environmental cost, and only a handful of countries have RE reserves. China is one.

The whole EV, solar, wind power industries being "green" is on the surface only. The do seem to have some benefits, but once we dig deeper and consider the lifecycle costs of producing, using and in the end recycling all the equipment used in these industries, the environmental benefits start looking very unsure.

Moreover, none can today beat the energy density and flexibility offered by fossil fuels. May be technological breakthroughs in future could improve the equation, but as of today its more feel good than actually do good.
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Post by chetak »

X posted from the political thread

Explained: Woes Of Indian Power Sector As Employees Decide To Strike On 10 August Against Electricity Amendment Bill


Swarajya Staff
Jul 15, 2021

The Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021proposes changes which seek to correct the inefficiencies that are dragging down power discoms.

In that regard, the bill is about ensuring discipline at the level of the state, and therefore, there will always be opposition and questions raised.



The Issues Of Power Sector

The power sector can be segmented into three parts — generation, transmission, and distribution. The electricity is produced through various sources of energy (thermal, hydro, nuclear, solar etc.)

Next, a transmission grid carries high voltage power from the generation plants to the distribution sub-stations. From the sub-stations, this electricity is transmitted to individual consumers through a distribution network. These are operated by power distribution companies (discoms), which are mostly state-owned.

The financial health of discoms is a major concern. They have high level of debt and have been running losses for the past several years. Currently, the state-owned discoms reportedly make a loss of Rs 0.41 for every unit of power supplied. The overdue payment to generation companies has also increased from Rs 57,352 crore in March 2019 to Rs 94,598 in March 2020.

In an episode of the Bharatvaarta podcast series, Mudit Jain (Head of Research, Tata Cleantech), explains that while generation and transmission are also not free of faults, the major bottleneck comes in the distribution segment, which is where the all the monetisation of power plants finally happens. He says that discoms transfer stress to both the generation and transmission companies.

What Does Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 Propose?

Electricity is a subject in the concurrent list of the Constitution. Currently, Electricity Act, 2003 is the central law regulating the electricity sector. It provides for electricity regulatory commissions at both the central and state levels (CERC and SERCs). These commissions regulate and determine tariff; issue licenses for transmission, distribution, and electricity trading; and adjudicate upon disputes, within their respective jurisdiction.

As per the Ministry of Power, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 seeks to address critical issues which have weakened commercial and investment activities in the electricity sector.

The major proposed changes brought by the bill are:

—A separate Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority (ECEA) which would adjudicate on issues relating to contracts between a generation company and other licensees; while matters related to tariff continue to be adjudicated by concerned SERCs and CERC.

—A common selection committee to recommend appointments to all SERCs, CERC, Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL), and ECEA.

—While the 2003 Act provides that the tariff for the retail sale of electricity should progressively reflect the cost of supply, the Bill states that tariff must reflect the cost of supply.

—State governments must determine tariff for the retail sale of electricity without accounting for the government subsidy, and subsidy must be provided directly to consumers.

—Cross-subsidy should be reduced in the manner provided in the National Electricity Tariff Policy prescribed by the central government. Initially, the bill proposed a flat tariff for all and the state governments paying direct subsidy to the target groups like farmers. This provision faced opposition from the states, and the government has now decided to change it to restricting cross-subsidy to 20 per cent.

—Supply agreement between a generator and a distribution licensee may require adequate payment security, and if adequate payment security is not been provided by the distribution licensee, the load dispatch companies are prohibited from dispatching electricity.

—The bill empowers the central government to formulate a National Renewable Energy Policy in consultation with state governments. The central government can also prescribe a minimum percentage of purchase of electricity from renewable and hydro sources of energy. The SERCs will specify RPO as may be prescribed by the central government and the licensees can be penalised for non-compliance.

Assessment of The Bill

Jain says that one good thing about the bill is that the tariff adoption will be within 60 days.

Another laudable aspect is with regards to the renewable energy. Currently, states have the freedom to specify their own RPOs, this will now become centre's responsibility.

Jain also praises the step to make it a responsibility of the state load dispatch centres (SLDs), instead of the generators, to stop the transmission if the contract requirements are not met. He says that it is very hard for the generators to stop the transmission as they are a part of the business ecosystem which they are supposed to keep running.

The contract enforcement authority is also a step in the right direction, as a lot of stress can be attributed to governments reneging on the contracts. Jain gave the example of Andhra Pradesh government deciding to renegotiate on PPAs for solar energy, and the matter being caught up in the slow-moving judicial system. Under the bill, all such disputes have to settled by the ECEA within a span of 120 days.

"The most important reform here is with respect to the subsidy transfer," says Jain. He lauds the step to transfer subsidies directly to consumers, instead of the discoms. He points out its various benefits:

One, discoms will not have to continue to make losses as the state governments will transfer the subsidy at the start of each year to respective accounts (electricity accounts not bank accounts) and discoms will not have to wait for the subsidies that usually come at the end of the year

Two, discoms will not have to keep increasing the tariff for CNI consumers for cross subsidisation;

Three, it will open up the open access sector which is marred by various regulatory issues, and allow the discoms to appoint sub licensees to cover new areas.

Jain also lauds the statement made by the power minister that a clause will be included in the bill that SERCs can be automatically removed if they do not uphold the law and pass regulations accordingly. He says that SERCs are today performing as an extended arm of the government rather than as a quasi-judicial body.


Rajat Seksaria (CEO - Acme Solar) says that the bill is about ensuring discipline at the level of the state, and therefore, there will always be questions raised about encroachment into state's domain. He says that enforcing discipline on the state governments is necessary as discoms are controlled by them and are a major pain point for the whole power sector.

However, the state government, particularly led by the opposition parties have opposed the bill.

Seksaria says that steps taken by one state can decide the sentiment of the developers across the country. He also lauds the step for a unified selection committee to reduce the politicisation of the appointment process of the members of the regulatory commissions.

The union government had in May 2020 announced its plan to privatise the discoms in Union Territories (UTs), and Chandigarh was the first UT to issue notice inviting bids for the same.

Jain says that the step was meant to ensure higher billing and collection efficiencies. However, he says, that the example of Chandigarh is in front of us where the High Court has stayed the tender process. Seksaria says that the court intervention in an early stage can be seen in a positive light as the law can quickly pass through India's check and balance system with which it inevitably has to deal with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC1f-9wX-AY

Power Sector in India - Way Ahead | Rajat Seksaria | Mudit Jain




India's power sector is going through major transformation. A focus on clean and sustainable power generation sources has been driving this transformation over the last few years. Increasing urbanisation and industrialisation in the coming decades will mean that India will need access to reliable and clean power. As of September 2020, India's renewable capacity stood at 89.22 GW with a target of 227 GW by FY22.

In this episode we have Mudit Jain (Head of Research - Tata Cleantech) and Rajat Seksaria (CEO - Acme Solar) talk to Srivatsa Subbanna about the challenges facing the distribution companies and why they continue to be loss-making, they then talk about the opportunities in the renewable sector and how the sector has evolved over the last decade. They then talk about the amendments to the Electricity act and how the government is looking to solarize agriculture potentially adding to new capacity generation and end with sharing their thoughts on the way ahead when it comes to the privatisation of discoms.

This episode is a fascinating deep-dive into the power sector, its structure and how the entire industry has gone through a transformation and how the changes could shape the industry over the coming years.

The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!
#Bharatvaarta #BVPolicy #IndianPowerSector

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:12 - Current issues with the power sector in India
00:06:25 - Why are discoms continuing to lose money?
00:10:56 - How have things changed in the power sector in the last 5-6 year?
00:20:46 - Renewables; How has the sector progressed?
00:27:18 - Roadblocks for progress of renewables
00:31:44 - What needs to be done to promote solar?
00:39:33 - Can India become a manufacturer of solar panels?
00:44:34 - New Electricity Act: Detailed analysis
00:56:27 - KUSUM program and the way ahead for agriculture
01:01:19 - Privatisation of discoms in Union Territories
01:07:53 - Things to look forward to when it comes to the Power Sector
01:12:11 - Conclusion
chetak
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by chetak »

India's Solar and Wind Energy Capacity hit 100 GW(giawatt), making it the World's 4th Largest in terms of Total installed Green Energy Capacity.




India’s installed renewable energy capacity crosses 100 GW
Cyrano
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Cyrano »

vijayk
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by vijayk »

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/featu ... -the-world
India’s Solar Learning Curve Inspires Action Across the World
Well before COVID-19 struck, India was determined to reap the benefits of solar power. The country set itself an ambitious target: 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar generation capacity by 2022. That would be a boon for its commercial and industrial consumers, who account for 74% of installed energy capacity, compared with 13% of installed capacity for residential customers and public sector organizations.

As of December 2020, it had 38.8 GW of installed solar capacity, including ground-mounted and rooftop operations. Solar is also powering other essential infrastructure, including transport. One of India’s flagship solar projects, the giant Rewa solar park, powers the New Delhi metro rail system: a network that serves over 2.6 million commuters daily. Vital government-led initiatives like 24x7 - Power for All, which committed to providing each household access to electricity around the clock, are helping to empower communities – both literally and figuratively, improving the quality of life.

Still, about 250 million Indians still live without access to electricity, which is why India’s path towards fully realizing its renewable energy potential could be a gamechanger: for its own citizens certainly, as well as for global efforts to tackle climate change and as a guide for other countries as they invest in solar energy.
Vicky
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Vicky »

Coal Crisis

Copying from the nuclear thread
Vicky wrote:
Nuclear plants are operating at near full capacity and exceeding their planned targets which is rare as purchasers prioritise cheap coal based power over nuclear if they can avoid although it is against the Central guidelines.

Central guidance says Solar+Wind+Hydro+Nuclear are Must Run category which means any power produced should be considered primary and purchased in full at any PPA price. Cheaper Coal and other thermal is considered dynamic load and should cover the rest only.


The discoms don't bother to follow any of the above rules due to their financial situation. They don't bother to even take solar and wind although it will go waste if not extracted.

KAPS-1, MAPS-1, NAPS-1 are down for their 20-year enmass refuelling. KAPS-3 is operating at low load although it is still in testing and not commissioned and is not reflected in this report as it is directly selling to exchange.

Data for September: (October data is much wilder - We are only 10 days into october but they exceeded their 17 days target)
Image
Kaivalya
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Kaivalya »

Coal Situation with some data:

It is because the demand for domestic coal has outstripped the supply by quite a margin.
Besides, coal dispatches between April-September this year went up 20 per cent more than the corresponding period of 2020, and 13 per cent compared to the year before that.
Unseasonal rains in Indonesia, Covid-induced production cuts in Australia, and rising power demands in China have ensured a once-in-a-lifetime bull run in coal prices.
https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/ind ... 2021-10-12
Vicky
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Vicky »

The coal crisis is getting ugly

Coal India has asked it's subsidiaries to halt e-auction's for non-power use. I.e. no sales to steel, cement and other plants.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busin ... 81731.html

Nifty/Markets are going to get ugly day after tomorrow. The non-power plants probably have stock that's enough for a week or two.

I'm worried about the downstream effect on steel plants. Others like cement can recover even if they have a power cut. Steel plants cannot be stopped as that will destroy the furnaces. If the supply doesn't recover in a week - things can get ugly for industries who don't have alternative or captive supplies.
kvraghav
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by kvraghav »

Auto sector will also get hit. First chip shortage , now this? Only tata motors can flourish because of tata steel and they are also not hit by the chip shortage.
KL Dubey
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by KL Dubey »

According to Coal India's twitter account, there is now ample supply of coal:

https://twitter.com/CoalIndiaHQ

https://twitter.com/i/status/1447956727651995648

It would be naive to believe that any decision to temporarily halt sales to steel, cement industry would have been taken without confirming that they have adequate reserves.

As far as power blackouts: I read there were a few last week but that problem doesn't seem to be there now.

China seems to be in bad shape though.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-econ ... ardest-hit
Mort Walker
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by Mort Walker »

According to the CEA, in April 2021, total energy supplied was 118.081 billion KwHr.

Thermal 103.70 billion KwHr
RES 11.70 billion KwHr

Thermal power production represents 72-87% of India's electric energy. Coal India Limited is going gangbusters producing energy and RES is going gangbusters in producing propaganda.
hgupta
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Re: India's Power Sector

Post by hgupta »

Mort Walker wrote:According to the CEA, in April 2021, total energy supplied was 118.081 billion KwHr.

Thermal 103.70 billion KwHr
RES 11.70 billion KwHr

Thermal power production represents 72-87% of India's electric energy. Coal India Limited is going gangbusters producing energy and RES is going gangbusters in producing propaganda.
Yes and see valuable currency going overseas and losing the trade balance war. Once we build up the renewable energy sector up, we will not see valuable currency flowing out of the country and we will see a favorable trade balance. Achieving critical mass in the renewable energy sector is crucial to India becoming a economic superpower.
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