India's Power Sector

[Gerard]

Tata Power to set up 4,000 MW plant

[sauravjha]

Coastal Gujarat Power Limited has actually achieved financial closure. Of course a few PPA related things need to be tied up.

It is the first UMPP to achieve this status. even though the Tata's have acquired mines in Indonesia for this project, they still are a little worried about future supply.
Indeed with Australian ports clogged and Indonesia looking to itself increase coal-fired generation , we are set for interesting times ahead.

[satya]

Need to tap Russian Coal .They seem to have plenty of supply & low-ash content coal ( gud for power generation). Only problem is the supplier who prefer russian roulette style deals and prefer spot & annual deals only rather than long term.

[sauravjha]

Russia of course has a lot of lignite , it has less bituminous.



Tapping russian coal will not be that easy. that coal will probably head for china overland since most of those reserve are in the far east .

http://www.russiansabroad.com/russian_history_212.html

[/u]

[sauravjha]

You couldn't be more misinformed about UMPPs. First since the project has achieved financial closure it has surmounted all of the problems that you mentioned in record time of couple of years. For fuel linkage Tata has bought a mine in Africa. All of the problems/issues that you mentioned can be summarized in three broad categories -

I am sorry but I was actually there at the signing of the financial closure and I am also in touch with people in PFC who oversaw the shell company. The mines are in Indonesia and the financial closure isn't totally over.
Neither are the issues with UMPPs.
and by the way even from the link that Gerard posted:
The project requires 12 million tonnes of imported coal, of which a significant portion in likely to be sourced from Indonesian coal producers PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin, where Tata power has picked up 30 per cent stake.

While the off-take agreement from the Indonesian coal field entitles Tata Power to purchase about 10.5 million tonnes of coal per annum, the company is likely to allocate only a portion of the coal from those fields for Mundra, while the remaining coal is slated to come from similar deals that the firm is scouting for in Australia and South Africa to diversify the fuel risk.

About PL factors and T&D losses, since you are in power sector you would/should know what is going on. Private sector has PL factors of 90+% while NTPC and other central PSUs are in upper 80s. This is as good as it ever gonna get since we don't use electricity while sleeping so plants would have to slow down and they would need maintenance. The rot is in state power plants and that is basically because their plants are extremely old, inefficient and in need of modernization/replacement. Some state electricity boards are almost bankrupt with no money to invest in either new or existing plants. There are a lot of efforts going on in improving them but once they come-up to speed they would need fuel and burn it much more inefficiently than the new power plants. So I don't really see what is your point? No one said that these things should not be the focus, they should be and they are.

My friend clearly you are not in the power sector. Over 50 per cent of our total capacity in still in the state sector and there are huge R&M and O&M issues there.



As far as your naive notion about not consuming power while we sleep , clearly you have not heard anything about "night power" have you. it is mandatory for states to give 8 hours of electricity to rural areas. States often schedule this load at night. Moreover industries that work in shifts also receive power at night in certain areas .


By the way have you heard of unbundling. As of date only 8 states still have SEBs, the rest have unbundled into one or more distribution, transmission and generation company.
Frankly speaking your comments clearly reveal your ignorance about the sector .

[sauravjha]

This is as good as it ever gonna get since we don't use electricity while sleeping so plants would have to slow down and they would need maintenance.

what kind of plants are you talking about here. If you are talking about peaking schemes which worldwide are hydro and gas stations, yes they can be fired up and slowed down relatively quickly. base-load power doesn't operate that way. There is scheduled maintenance when the plant is taken offline.

[Katare]

You couldn't be more misinformed about UMPPs. First since the project has achieved financial closure it has surmounted all of the problems that you mentioned in record time of couple of years. For fuel linkage Tata has bought a mine in Africa. All of the problems/issues that you mentioned can be summarized in three broad categories -

I am sorry but I was actually there at the signing of the financial closure and I am also in touch with people in PFC who oversaw the shell company. The mines are in Indonesia and the financial closure isn't totally over.
Neither are the issues with UMPPs.
and by the way even from the link that Gerard posted:
The project requires 12 million tonnes of imported coal, of which a significant portion in likely to be sourced from Indonesian coal producers PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin, where Tata power has picked up 30 per cent stake.

While the off-take agreement from the Indonesian coal field entitles Tata Power to purchase about 10.5 million tonnes of coal per annum, the company is likely to allocate only a portion of the coal from those fields for Mundra, while the remaining coal is slated to come from similar deals that the firm is scouting for in Australia and South Africa to diversify the fuel risk.

About PL factors and T&D losses, since you are in power sector you would/should know what is going on. Private sector has PL factors of 90+% while NTPC and other central PSUs are in upper 80s. This is as good as it ever gonna get since we don't use electricity while sleeping so plants would have to slow down and they would need maintenance. The rot is in state power plants and that is basically because their plants are extremely old, inefficient and in need of modernization/replacement. Some state electricity boards are almost bankrupt with no money to invest in either new or existing plants. There are a lot of efforts going on in improving them but once they come-up to speed they would need fuel and burn it much more inefficiently than the new power plants. So I don't really see what is your point? No one said that these things should not be the focus, they should be and they are.

My friend clearly you are not in the power sector. Over 50 per cent of our total capacity in still in the state sector and there are huge R&M and O&M issues there.



As far as your naive notion about not consuming power while we sleep , clearly you have not heard anything about "night power" have you. it is mandatory for states to give 8 hours of electricity to rural areas. States often schedule this load at night. Moreover industries that work in shifts also receive power at night in certain areas .


By the way have you heard of unbundling. As of date only 8 states still have SEBs, the rest have unbundled into one or more distribution, transmission and generation company.
Frankly speaking your comments clearly reveal your ignorance about the sector .

Saurav,
You talk about basic things like they are super secret insider knowledge. You argue against statements/words that were not said or written by anyone with basic facts that no-one has disagreement with. I can go on rebutting your points but you'll come back with many more statements like "financial closure isn't totally over" "state sector has 50% capacity" which make no sense to me. What is your point? State it clearly so I could understand you POV properly -

Are you saying -

We shouldn't build new power plants or UMPPs
There is not enough coal domestically or in international market?
xyz?

Thx in advance!

[vsudhir]

BHEL’s problems of plenty

[quote]As on March 31, 2008, the company had orders worth Rs 85,500 crore, about four times its revenues for the year. Now for the downside: its delivery timelines have risen from 12-14 months three years ago, to 44-48 months now. “The country needs many more BHELs if the sector is to grow at anywhere near the rates it has to,â€

[sauravjha]

My dear katare , you started by saying that I couldn't be more misinformed, so I sought to reveal to you how 'informed' your own comments seemed to me.

In any case , since you don't want to indulge in one upmanship, i'll stick to the UMPP question.

Yes, there isn't going to be enough coal and this isn't super secret either. it's common industry knowledge.
Indonesian and Australian ports are clogged. Indonesia itself is ramping up its base load generation using coal.

South African mines flooded recently contributing to the power crisis there.

Russian coal will first head overland to China. It's in their far east.
Some of our best mines are in Naxal hit areas.

Jharia district is sinking (literally) and with it our best coal resources. Coal India and BCCL are worried shitless about Jharia.





I had a nice little presentation with me, full of projections. I'll try to locate it and once i have more time ... i'll put up detailed figures here itself.

Regards
Saurav Jha

[putnanja]

Reliance Power arm purchases three Indonesia coal mines

[Raju]

Reliance Power and Private Distcoms siphoning away power due to Delhi

'Distcoms selling off power'
Fri, May 9 01:05 AM

IF DELHI residents were forced to reel under 5-6 hour long outages in the last fortnight it was not only on account of power shortage. A large part of the problem could be blamed on "mismanagement of power" by the government as well as the private distribution companies (distcoms).

Talking to Hindustan Times, Union Minister of State for Power, Jairam Ramesh said that one reason for the power crisis the city was facing could be on account of private power distribution companies (distcoms) selling off Delhi's share of power. Following a meeting with Delhi power minister, Dr AK Walia on Thursday, Ramesh instructed him to look into the matter and take necessary action if power that is due to the city was being sold by distcoms.

"We have gone through the last 25 days' data of states drawing power from the Northern Grid. We found it very strange that unlike states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, which were overdrawing power to meet their shortage, Delhi failed to draw 100 per cent power that was scheduled to it," said Ramesh.

He added, "Of the total power schedule to it, Delhi was drawing about 98 per cent power. One reason for this could be that the remaining quantum of power was being sold off by the distcoms during off peak hours.

" Giving figures Ramesh said on Wednesday while Delhi's schedule from the Northern Grid was 41.5 million units (mu) its actual drawal was 40.

8 mu. This on a day when the city reeled under 71s MW load shedding.

Hindustan Times

[Vipul]

Ratnagiri Atomic power plant gets 'Green' Light

This could bring some cheer to a power-starved country reeling under summer heat. A biodiversity survey conducted to assess the environmental impact of the proposed 10,000 mw Jaitapur atomic power plant appears to have given the ‘green light’ to it.

The Rs 50,000-crore plant, to be the country’s biggest once commissioned, will come up at Madban Village in Rajapur Taluka of Ratnagiri district along the Konkan coast. Expected to be a third generation design, most likely a European pressurised water reactor (EPR) type, the pant would have benefited from the Indo-US civilian nuclear co-operation deal, which, at the moment, appears to be going nowhere.

However, with or without any deal with the US, the Indian nuclear establishment is planning to go ahead with the project. “The proposed plant would come up on land of hard rock and as such won’t affect flora and fauna in the region. However, residential facilities to be created for the staff may impact the forest,â€

[putnanja]

States wheel in ‘green power’ into their energy portfolio

[bala]

A good summary of power in TN



Overcoming power shortage

The total generating capacity available to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is around 10,100 MW. This comprises 5,597 MW of TNEB’s own generating stations, 1154 MW of private sector power plants, 2861 MW as share from Central sector generating stations, external assistance of 335 MW and others (captive power plants) of 175 MW. Apart from this, a total capacity of 3693 MW is available from wind mills in the private sector, 451.6 MW from co-generation plants and 104.85 MW from bio-mass plants.

The maximum peak demand so far reached is 9,076 MW (as on February 20, 2008). The growth of energy consumption is expected to be of the order of 9 per cent per annum. Energy consumption during 2007-08 up to February 2008 is 60,518 million units (MU) with a maximum daily consumption of 191.283 MU during 2007-08.
Peak demand

Tamil Nadu consumes 180 million units of electricity each day. The anticipated demand in 2008-09 is estimated at 9,500 MW. The sustained peak demand for power has been going up at a fast pace. This, coupled with the absence of capacity additions, has caused a temporary blip in the power situation in the state.

The sustained peak demand, which was 6,957 MW in 2002-03, rose to 7,228 MW (2003-04), 7,473 MW (2004-05), 8,209 MW (2005-06), 8,803 MW (2006-07) and during 2007-08 it is 9,076 MW. The sustained peak which was increasing by 200 to 300 MW every year has phenomenally increased by 500 to 600 MW for the past two years.

In the last several years, there has been practically no capacity addition. After the present government came to power, it initiated action to create capacities — which should come in the next few years. In the interregnum, there is bound to be some shortage. The government is trying to bridge the gap by purchasing power from other states and encouraging use of captive power by industries. Wind power should kick-in in the summer months and provide relief.
TNEB to spend Rs 925 crore on co-gen plants

A number of power projects are coming up, but an interesting development is the decision of the state government to put up co-generation plants in 15 co-operative and two public sector sugar mills in the State. The TNEB will invest nearly Rs 925 crore over the next two year in this project to create an additional capacity of 185 MW.

During 2008-09, under State Sector, the Periyar Vaigai Barrage Projects phase-1 (2 x 2 MW), 2 (2 x 1.25 MW) and phase-4 (2 x 1.25 MW) totalling 9 MW will be commissioned. Under the Central sector, the second unit of 220 MW capacity from the Kaiga Atomic Power Station, Stage II and the first unit of 1000 MW capacity of Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, Stage I, will be commissioned during 2008-2009. A share of 53 MW and 463 MW respectively will be made available to TNEB from the above two projects.
Tenders floated

In the State sector, orders for setting up of 600 MW Plant at North Chennai Thermal Power Station have been placed and another 600 MW is proposed to be added at the same place. At Mettur Thermal Power Station, tenders for establishment of 500 MW Plant under EPC basis have been called for.

Similarly, works for setting up Power Plants of 1000 MW capacity at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station and 500 MW at Ennore Thermal Power Station are at an advanced stage and tenders will be floated soon.

Under the joint venture route, orders for setting up of 2 x 500 MW Power Plant have been placed on EPC basis at North Chennai to be executed by NTECL which is a joint venture of TNEB with National Thermal Power Corporation. One more unit of 500 MW is proposed to be added at the same place. The project to set up 1000 MW Plant at Tuticorin by the joint venture with Neyveli Lignite Corporation is awaiting clearance from Government of India. Once the clearances are obtained, the project activities will be taken up.
BHEL venture

Yet another joint venture with BHEL for setting up 2 x 800 MW Power Plant at Udangudi is planned. The Government of Tamil Nadu has issued orders for permitting the TNEB to enter upon the land earmarked for the project. Detailed Project Report is under preparation.

The Government of Tamil Nadu is encouraging establishment of coastal thermal power plants under Merchant Power Plant route. Letters of facilitation have been issued to ten firms for establishment of power projects under Merchant Power Plant route for total capacity of 17,140 MW. Further, more than 10 applications for establishment of merchant power plants for another 15000 MW are under the active consideration of the Government.
Purchase pacts

The estimated power shortage all over India is about 15%, since there has been slippage in addition to generation capacity throughout India, besides the performance of some nuclear power plants is also poor.

In order to tide over the shortfall, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu approached the Power Ministry for the additional allocation of power. As a result, the Centre has allocated 300 MW more from unallocated quantum of Southern Region to TNEB from 26.12.07 for the evening peak hours (i.e. 18:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs) which was later reduced to 200 MW from January 19, 2008. In addition, TNEB is going ahead with SWAP arrangement for getting power from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir which can be returned in July & August. TNEB is purchasing power from other states/traders also.

In this situation, with least inconvenience to the consumers, demand management has been introduced in Tamil Nadu. The peak demand reduction is achieved by demand management measures such as staggering of industrial holidays and use of captive sets during peak hours.

WIND ENERGY

It is Tamil Nadu, with over 70 per cent of the national capacity, that is responsible for India ranking the 4th largest wind power generator in the world.

The state has an installed capacity of 7,845 MW. Most of the windmills are located in the windy southern districts and in the hilly districts near Coimbatore. Once derided as an artefact that only helps a company earn depreciation benefits, windmills have become a key supplement to the energy sources in the state. Over time, even individual investors have begun to park their surplus funds in windmills, earning handsome, tax-free income.

The gross wind power potential in Tamil Nadu was estimated at 3500 MW few years ago. This was subsequently revised to 5200 MW. India has an installed capacity of 8748 MW and Tamil Nadu being the leader in wind power sector has 44 per cent share in the total installations.

With the addition of 413 MW in 2007-08, the present installed capacity of wind power in the State till last March is 3873 MW.

This is works out to 29 per cent of the total installed capacity of 13,490 MW in the State. The higher percentage of the wind power shows the capability of the State to harness the renewable energy in a big way.

This will not only contribute to the total generation but also offset the cost to some extent, incurred due to transmission and distribution loss.
Marked growth

Globally, the wind energy sector saw phenomenal growth in the year 2007. However, in India, the industry failed to keep pace. Worldwide, added wind energy capacities were 19,696 MW in 2007 up from 15,120 MW in 2006.

In contrast, capacity additions in India slid to 1,580 MW from 1,730 MW in 2006. However, Tamil Nadu added 413 MW in 2007, making it clearly a progressive State.

At present, power availability in Tamil Nadu is strained, because of lack of capacity additions in the preceding several years. The state government is confident of managing the situation by buying power from other states and securing a better share of ‘unallocated power’ from central utilities. Next year, the strains will disappear because power from Kaiga and Kudangulam atomic power projects kick in and Tamil Nadu will get over 500 MW as its share.
The saviour

But for the current year, it is the wind power that is coming to the rescue of the state.

However, one problem facing the wind industry is the evacuation of power to the load centres.

After the installation of Sub-station at Ponnapuram, evacuation facilities have considerably improved at Gudimangalam and Udumalpet regions.

A new sub-station is also being installed at Palladam, which will help evacuate power from this region during the current season. However, evacuation facilities from Tirunelveli and Nagercoil districts are still inadequate to draw the power produced during high wind season.

Last year, around 15 per cent of power generation was lost due to shortage of evacuation facilities from these regions.

The State electricity board is working on a war-footing to strengthen the grid lines and improve the capacity of sub-stations in these regions to meet the requirement.

[sauravjha]

States wheel in ‘green power’ into their energy portfolio

hardly comforting. India continues to be a paradox in the field of renewable energy . while we have a dedicated ministry for RE , we do not as yet have a single consolidated Renewable law at the national level. Instead what we do have is a varying set of RPO's notified by about half the states, now. this is no doubt a result of the fact that electricity continues to be in the concurrent list of the constitution.

However the situation needs to be remedied and Feed-in-tariffs need to specified on all India basis with built in variations. Germany is a good example of the same. As of now section 86(1)e of the Electricity Act 2003 continues to be the guiding principle at the national level.

[vsudhir]

How to reform power & irrigation

Swaminathan A Aiyar in TOI.

Theis Jyotigram experiment is Guj has been a resounding success. Only wish it were as widely disseminated and celebrated. Creates an incentive to replicate the success for other states as well.

Dhimmedia wont help if it helps burnish Gujrat image. We know why, no need to go there. These nuggets of info coming to us from these knowledgeble commentators having more ocntrol over their opinion columns than the avg journo, need wider and deeper dissemination, then.

Let's do our bit and spread the word, folks.

[satya]

Unexpected success

There has been a buzz for some time now about large investments finding their way into the country's power generation sector. Somehow, though, this has never been reflected in the numbers that the government collates. It now turns out that over and above the 78,000 Mw of power generation capacity that the government expects to be commissioned in the 11th Plan (2007-12) — which includes power capacity being set up by the Centre and states and by the private sector — there is another 100,000 Mw of "merchant" capacity that is in the pipeline, with power generated from this to be sold to the highest bidder. Even if it is conceded that not all of this capacity is likely to fructify, it is possible to think the unthinkable: that the days of large power deficits could be over in a few years.

There is little doubt that the power sector presents a good business opportunity. As of now, it is a seller's market, and it is expected to remain that way for the next few years. Buyers are willing to pay as much as Rs 7 for a unit of power, which is more than double the rate paid by the average residential user. That companies are willing to put in money to set up power plants, and are confident of making money from the power demand-supply equation as it stands today, is clearly a success of policy. Many of these companies are also setting up trading companies to make the most of the merchant power they plan to generate, and to ensure access to the transmission corridors that are planned. The power exchanges that are planned to be set up to trade power would also make selling of power easier.
balance. It is well known that the ideal investment ratio for generation, The danger is that such a large infusion of power into the system could catch downstream businesses off transmission and distribution is 2:1:1. Since transmission and distribution are already under-invested sectors, urgent steps should be taken to ease the flow of private sector investments into these sectors too. It is also time to overhaul the power planning process, which apparently tracks every single megawatt that is coming through but could not take cognizance of a capacity in the pipeline which is larger than the government's own ambitious plan. Whether it should be tracked by the electricity regulators or the Central Electricity Authority or the Planning Commission or a third party agency, it needs to be done if the risk of stranded power generation assets (without transmission links) is to be eliminated. Those planning for power should know which companies are building this capacity, and the status of these projects. Have they acquired the land? Do they have the environmental clearances? Do they have the fuel linkages in place? Have they begun construction? Has financial closure been achieved? Such information would not only help the government in better investment targeting, it would also help user industries avoid investments in, say, high-cost captive plants. In this case, information is power, literally !

[sauravjha]

He he.. It was only a matter of time before this came out.

this information has been taken from a presentation made by PGCIL at a recent power conference in Delhi, organised by Power Line magazine. what the story doesn't say is that this 103 GW is actually slated to come up by 2013-14.

PGCIL has been ranting about the fact that capacity planning is going hay wire because of IPPs. Actually there is great deal of prevarication about the term 'merchant power' in India. While merchant power refers to the absence of any long term Power purchase agreements, in India, it doesn't mean that you can simply generate and deliver on a T+1 basis.


PGCIL insists that they must know who the beneficiaries are for a merchant plant before they agree to connect it to the grid. But then , this defeats the very purpose of setting up merchant power plants.

[Vipul]

GVKPIL evaluating entry into power equipment production.

[joshvajohn]

Note: I think India should go for Solar power in a large scale investment and research. Particularly in developing autos with solar batteries Indian companies should develop good models for use with multiple energies.
Solar road lights would certainly reduce the demand for the electricity through regular supply.



India to focus on solar energy
NEW DELHI: The much-awaited national climate change action plan is almost ready. As per the final draft, to be discussed by the PM's Climate Change Council on June 2, the government has decided to launch eight national missions. These eight focus areas will be implemented in a time-bound fashion as part of India's domestic agenda to counter impacts of climate change and reduce the country's emissions of greenhouse gases.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 087455.cms

Cosmos ignite hopes to usher in a revolution in affordable lighting
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/New ... 091185.cms

Haryana set to harness solar energy to generate 92 MW of power

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/new ... s/1642035/

[Vipul]

L&T-Mitsubishi venture gets its first customer.

The joint venture of L&T and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is all set to secure its first order for super-critical steam turbine and generator— from Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGENCO). The order is worth Rs 1,557 crore.

Confirming this to Business Line, Mr Ajay Jain, Managing Director, APGENCO, said that the order would be formally given to L&T-MHI over the next few days. The equipment is for APGENCO’s 1,600-MW (2x800 MW) Krishnapatnam project.

This is significant in two ways. First is that it will be L&T’s first order for power equipment. In November 2007, the Indian engineering major formed a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture turbines and generators in India. And now, it has got its first customer.

The second is that it has put the Indian power equipment major, BHEL, on notice. “This is a wake up call for us. We are not taking it lightly,” Mr K. Ravi Kumar told Business Line on Wednesday. L&T-MHI’s quote was a good Rs 500 crore less than BHEL’s Rs 2,505 crore.

For a company that is sitting on orders worth Rs 97,000 crore, losing an order is no big deal. However, this is a “wake up call” because it is for an 800-MW plant, where BHEL is yet to win its first order.

It lost the bid for Tata Power’s Mundra project — the equipment order for five units of 800 MW went to South Korean company Doosan. BHEL will of course produce boilers, turbines and generators for three projects in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Orissa, but these are all BHEL’s joint ventures with the respective State electricity boards.

APGENCO tendered out for two packages —one for turbine-generator and the other for boilers. The bid for the boilers is to be opened on July 4. Here again, the race is only between BHEL and L&T.

[Vipul]

Tata Power plans Rs 25,000-cr capex.

[joshvajohn]

Govt flooded with applications for new solar plants
Tuesday, 24 June , 2008, 16:07
Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 June , 2008, 16:24


Asansol (West Bengal): The Central Government has received several proposals for setting up solar power plants that would generate a total of 2,000 MW, New and Renewable Energy Secretary V Subramanian said.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14701454

http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/200 ... 214032477/
http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_880047104 ... 3f4644.HTM

Comments - The Governments in India should make it compulsory for all the urban households to have Solar batteries and have electricity for them. There is a need for a large scale production of Solar cells and also reduce the prices so that the middle class masses can afford to have them on the top of their houses.

[BijuShet]

India's GMR to buy half of InterGen for $1.1bn
Amy Yee in New Delhi - June 26, 2008

Indian infrastructure group GMR on Wednesday agreed to buy half of US power producer InterGen for about $1.1bn from an investment firm backed by American International Group and Highstar Capital.

The move extends GMR's reach outside of India and gives it technical expertise to boost its fledgling domestic power business and take on big Indian companies such as Tata Power

GMR would gain "exposure to super critical technology," said Madhu Terdal, chief financial officer of GMR. Mr Terdal added that InterGen's management team would remain intact and that GMR's supervision would be "minimal".

InterGen's portfolio includes power plants in the UK, the Netherlands, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines. It has twelve existing and planned power plants with an output of 5,280 megawatts.

GMR is a relatively small producer in India with plans to run 10 plants in the country. It was barred from bidding for the "ultra-megawatt" power plants planned across India a few years ago because it was generating less than 1,000 MW of energy. Teaming up with InterGen would allow GMR to vie for contracts to build large plants capable of generating 4,000 MW each, said Mr Terdal.
...
Financing for purchase of InterGen was arranged through overseas branches of Indian banks including Axis, Canara, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.

[Vipul]

Essar plans Rs 4,800-cr power plant in Vadinar.

[joshvajohn]

NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of rising crude prices and concerns over climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to draft schemes and guidelines for introduction of certificates to encourage States to promote renewable energy.

Dr. Singh was chairing the meeting of the Energy Coordination Committee here on Friday. The Centre would soon set up a solar energy mission and promote the use of solar lanterns across the country, he said.

The meeting decided that in rural areas grid connectivity be explored for solar energy. Villages should have access to both conventional and non-conventional sources.

Committee members stressed that kerosene lanterns be replaced with solar lanterns on account of India’s import dependence on crude, the high fiscal subsidy for kerosene and the environmental benefits of solar energy.

The Prime Minister asked Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar to come forward with a comprehensive action plan for new and renewable energy development in consultation with State governments.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/29/stories ... 780900.htm

[Katare]

Committee members stressed that kerosene lanterns be replaced with solar lanterns on account of India’s import dependence on crude, the high fiscal subsidy for kerosene and the environmental benefits of solar energy.

[Sanjay M]

Indian Wind Power Company Suzlon Facing Troubles

[putnanja]

Power crisis as monsoon, projects fail

Power crisis as monsoon, projects fail

Sujay Mehdudia

Power cuts are becoming common as States face huge power deficit

Several projects have either been shut down or are generating below capacity

Performance of new thermal capacity has been lacklustre

NEW DELHI: The country is facing a “severe power crisis,” particularly the southern and western regions. The poor monsoon in the south and parts of the west and the east has compounded the problem.

In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam, Haryana and Punjab, power cuts are becoming increasingly common, as States face a huge power deficit.

The “unfortunate failure” of some power projects has aggravated the problem. The 300 MW Sabarigiri hydro power project in Kerala failed in May this year and it will take two years to be revived. The 440 MW Kalpakkam Atomic Power plant is generating only 190 MW due to shortage of uranium. An explosion in the 210 MW Raichur thermal power station three weeks ago has rendered the project powerless. Generation at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation project is short by about 650 million units due to shortage of lignite and this has badly hit south India.

The 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation project was shut down recently due to excessive silt, aggravating the power crisis in the northern States of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Punjab and Haryana.

According to the quarterly report of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for April-June 2008, energy generation in June was 56411 million units against a target of 64037 million units. The energy generation growth was 2.34 per cent compared to the same month last year, against a projected 12.19 per cent. Generation growth rate was 1.89 per cent, against a projected 7.07 per cent during April-June.

One of the mains reasons for low generation is the lacklustre performance of new thermal capacity commissioned during 2006-07 and 2007-08. The target generation from these stations during the period was 7763 million units. But only 2763 million units were generated.

Interestingly, three thermal power stations, with an installed capacity of 835 MW which were synchronised in 2006-07, have not yet achieved Commercial Operation Date (COD). Similarly, there have been significant delays in achieving the COD of projects with a total installation of 3060 MW which were to have been “officially commissioned” during 2007-08. Bellary unit I and Kahalgaon unit 6 commissioned in 2007-08 have not generated any energy till date.

“The failure of the monsoon, especially in southern India, has been a setback for generation of power. The hydro power projects in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been the worst hit, resulting in downward slide in internal generation,” said Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh.

“The Centre is doing its best to help the States overcome the crisis, but then adding capacity on fast track was the solution in the long run.”

[Bade]

Did not want to incur wrath of Economy thread admins, so posted it here.

The ultimate aim, says Stanbery, is to integrate the cells straight into building materials of all sorts. New houses, he points out, need roofs anyway. Photovoltaic tiles could be wired into the house from the start. "Integrating the photovoltaics as a coating," he says, "is frankly the only practical and cost-effective way to do it." Heliovolt's printing process is meant to help make that integration possible. And Konarka talks of adding its dye-based 'Power Plastic' to more or less anything, from windows (where it would just cream off a bit of the light) to wind sheeters.

None of these technologies, however cleverly mounted, will get the costs of generating electricity low enough for solar power to compete directly with coal, gas, wind or nuclear. But because solar panels are inherently easily decentralized, they do not have to compete with the cost of generating electricity; they just have to compete with the price consumers pay for it. This is four or five times more than the cost of generation, because the power companies need to pay for transmission networks, build new plants and please shareholders.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 3019a.html

[Prasad]

Yipppiiee a Holiday!! Grim news indeed.. Power Holiday - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/19/stories ... 980100.htm

In Chennai, the supply would be disrupted for one hour a day.

The city would be classified into eight divisions and each division would not have supply for an hour. Other municipal corporations and municipalities would have to go without supply for two hours.

Asked whether he was declaring power cut, Mr Veeraswami told a press conference that it was a “power holiday, staggered power holiday.” He asserted that there would not be any disruption in the supply between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Hospitals and dairy units would be exempted.

What to do onlee.. Blame the weather onlee

The Minister blamed the failure of southwest monsoon and “inadequate generation” by wind mills for the current crisis.

As for the farm sector, he said agriculturists would get the supply for six hours during the day for five days and for four hours for two days. During night, supply would be provided for eight hours. In villages, supply would be disrupted for four hours on two days in a week.

[putnanja]

After striking a deal for purchasing 500 MW from Chhattisgarh, Karnataka has now decided to put up a 2,000-MW thermal power plant on a 2,000-acre plot in that state.

[Raju]

Yipppiiee a Holiday!! Grim news indeed.. Power Holiday - The Hindu

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/19/stories ... 980100.htm

In Chennai, the supply would be disrupted for one hour a day.

The city would be classified into eight divisions and each division would not have supply for an hour. Other municipal corporations and municipalities would have to go without supply for two hours.

Asked whether he was declaring power cut, Mr Veeraswami told a press conference that it was a “power holiday, staggered power holiday.” He asserted that there would not be any disruption in the supply between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Hospitals and dairy units would be exempted.

What to do onlee.. Blame the weather onlee

The Minister blamed the failure of southwest monsoon and “inadequate generation” by wind mills for the current crisis.

As for the farm sector, he said agriculturists would get the supply for six hours during the day for five days and for four hours for two days. During night, supply would be provided for eight hours. In villages, supply would be disrupted for four hours on two days in a week.

ha ha .. aye kab mard banega .. ?

just recuperating from a 14-hr cut imposed on yours faithfully in "New" Delhi.
from 10 P. M. to 11:30 A. M.
& then one hour rotational load-shedding imposed ltr .. waise hee.
Saturday destroyed.
Sleep destroyed.

these NRI rakshaks should give us desis bravery awards .. just for enduring this trauma.

[sampat]

raju who is your supplier is it Reliance? reliance seems to have this problem in Delhi. We got Tata and power cuts are rare for only baout 1-2 hours..

[Raju]

there is something deeply corrupting and wrong about Reliance.
I hear transformers going 'bhoom' every week regularly since past 3 months. Is it a blown fuse or a blown transformer ?
A loud noise and suddenly light goes off. It is not a capacitor surely.
It obviously looks like their transformers and rolling stock are substandard.

Helplines are helpless.
there are kids who man it. At the most one can mother-sister them, but hey they are kids. It's pointless.
And the bills that come are enormous and unexplainable.
No one knows who the JE, AE or CE is anymore. I stopped keeping track of these jokers some while back.
And helplines do not help here either.

No point complaining to DERC, because it is ineffective. (recently they were complaining that no one came to them).
Basically everyone knows that politicians have taken their cut, including Shiela and thus can't open their mouth.
WB introduced a scheme riding on a loan of privatizing Water and Electricity supply in Delhi.
And Reliance and a French company rode in on back of this recommendation.
Water supply privatization scheme was given a very innovative name, but was ultimately scuttled to everyone's benefit.
But this festering sore in the form of Reliance Energy still carries on relentlessly.

People in India do not expect any higher level of service, so can't even see anyone complaining at such BS.
Looks like everyone lost their will to fight.
Previously flinging around chairs, desks and tables at DVB and DESU offices used to be popular pastime for many a
disgruntled dillite. Now looks like that Jazba is not there anymore.


Public Sector Corporations even if slightly or substantially inefficient are far better than these Reliance-type businesses.
At least there is transparency and accountability with these folks.
Or else call in completely foreign utilities like Canadian Hydro or German or Scandinavian Power Supply Companies and hand them over these utilities lock, stock and barrel with an unlimited cheque.
Or else hand it all over to TATA, they are a thousand times better than this corrupt nonsense by name of Reliance.

[vina]

Did not want to incur wrath of Economy thread admins, so posted it here.

The ultimate aim, says Stanbery, is to integrate the cells straight into building materials of all sorts. New houses, he points out, need roofs anyway. Photovoltaic tiles could be wired into the house from the start. "Integrating the photovoltaics as a coating," he says, "is frankly the only practical and cost-effective way to do it." Heliovolt's printing process is meant to help make that integration possible. And Konarka talks of adding its dye-based 'Power Plastic' to more or less anything, from windows (where it would just cream off a bit of the light) to wind sheeters.

None of these technologies, however cleverly mounted, will get the costs of generating electricity low enough for solar power to compete directly with coal, gas, wind or nuclear. But because solar panels are inherently easily decentralized, they do not have to compete with the cost of generating electricity; they just have to compete with the price consumers pay for it. This is four or five times more than the cost of generation, because the power companies need to pay for transmission networks, build new plants and please shareholders.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 3019a.html

Ah Bade Saar. This is where it falls between theory and practice. In the Indian context, the ability of customers (esp the poor) to pay for power is very limited indeed. So the decentralized plants call for some capital subsidy, which is a non starter. And from the consumer's point of view, the availablity (time duration, total power) etc are limited. The alternative, ie to lobby their politician /guy who represents them to have a power line drawn, even for say 20 kms plus and service a small hamlet of 10 families is more attractive. They get power at Rs 20 per month (if at all someone bothers to bill and collect that), it is available 24 hrs, no per household limit in amount of power you draw, etc etc.

Yeah.. distributed power will work very well in chi-chi "environmental conscious" places like Marin County. But dont know if it will work in Subrahmanya and the hills of Dakshin Kannada (where chances are it might) or in Bihar (where it wont definitely).

[vina]

ha ha .. aye kab mard banega .. ?

just recuperating from a 14-hr cut imposed on yours faithfully in "New" Delhi.
from 10 P. M. to 11:30 A. M.
& then one hour rotational load-shedding imposed ltr .. waise hee.
Saturday destroyed.
Sleep destroyed.

these NRI rakshaks should give us desis bravery awards .. just for enduring this trauma.

Ah.. But isn't it supposed to be "raining" in Dilli and isn't the weather pleasant ? .. So why do you need power ? Doesn't the sun shine during the day. I thought Dilli types were the tough /can rough it out types. So what is 14 hrs without power for "saturday" and "sleep" to be destroyed. Heck the folks in most parts of Bihar and rural areas of much of India are far tougher than the New Delhi powder puffs and hair cream boys. Those folks havent seen power for years (literally) and some have not seen them ever.. Just 14 hr of power cuts and Dilli Billis get hot under the collar and all bothered.

Being close to "nature" , toughens character. Really dont understand what the problem is. Why is sucking up the taxes from the rest of the country giving a bit of "indigestion", which can of course be cured only by stealing power now?

Oh lets see the "solution" .. Chennai /Bangalore/ Mumbai have little or no power cuts. So as the "Capital" (folly?) , how can Dilli be worse off? . So power ministry "afsars" and "babus" and "netas" get into a huddle to divert power from "central" projects to Dilli ?..

[vina]

there is something deeply corrupting and wrong about Reliance.
I hear transformers going 'bhoom' every week regularly since past 3 months. Is it a blown fuse or a blown transformer ?
A loud noise and suddenly light goes off. It is not a capacitor surely.
It obviously looks like their transformers and rolling stock are substandard.

Maybe the transformers were put up by DESU and reliance just inherited them ? And also, quite possible that the "bhoom" is happening because the neighborhood billis are drawing power beyond their allotted capacity and not paying for it (aka stealing ?). So why blame Reliance and Anilbhai for it. How about asking your fellow billis who pocketed all that maal while DESU was running the show and are continue to pocket maal by stealing and it getting hidden as T&D (theft & dacoity) losses ?

People in India do not expect any higher level of service, so can't even see anyone complaining at such BS.
Looks like everyone lost their will to fight.
Previously flinging around chairs, desks and tables at DVB and DESU offices used to be popular pastime for many a
disgruntled dillite. Now looks like that Jazba is not there anymore.

Ah. What more can you expect when things are fokat. You pay what you get for. For dilli, they get much more than what they pay for. (Bangalore gets much much less than what we pay for). The avg Dillite should actually be happy.. But no, they want to grumble and fling chairs around . Talk about sense of entitlement.

[Raju]

ha vina boss making merry on other's miseries. Why does it feel like it is nothing unusual.
yeah .. the weather is pleasant so it is tolerable, otherwise it would have been much worse.

Maybe the transformers were put up by DESU and reliance just inherited them ?

yeah, they were given 5000+crores to replace all those transformers. And these were transformers worked admirably during the first two years of privatization.
When they started off their entire stockyard had just brand new transformers.
why they fell suddenly into disrepair now. Reliance is not doing proper maintenance on these transformers.
they are callous with the contracts given for winding these
Not DESU's fault ofcourse.

Ah. What more can you expect when things are fokat. You pay what you get for. For dilli, they get much more than what they pay for.

Actually every consumer here has their own transformer. So there is no question of unauthorised consumption or anything as such.
Unauthorised consumtion is where there are unauthorised localities, Industries or individual low-tension users.

[vina]

After striking a deal for purchasing 500 MW from Chhattisgarh, Karnataka has now decided to put up a 2,000-MW thermal power plant on a 2,000-acre plot in that state.

That is great news. Finally something sensible is being done.