India's Power Sector

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Aug 2009 11:18

Subansiri project [pic posted above] is dangerous; stop work

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Aug 2009 11:53

A project which has the potential to resolve all pending power shortages in
NE , already delayed by 4 yrs - obviously alliances of NGOs will demand that people continue to live in the dark and under threat of perennial floods and erosion.

Haresh · Post by **Haresh** » 31 Aug 2009 20:46

This is from the Guardian in the UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/au ... -pollution

Haresh · Post by **Haresh** » 03 Sep 2009 14:45

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenh ... iband.html

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 07 Sep 2009 22:48

NPCIL improves power level of nine reactors to 70%

With this, in this financial year, we should be able to generate 50 per cent additional nuclear power (22000 million units cumulative)," he said

Last week, NPCIL re-started Rajasthan Atomic power unit 2 with the imported fuel and which is currently running at nearly 80 per cent, he said.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Sep 2009 07:26

American Superconductor to Set Up India Branch

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2 ... rc_28.html

sunnyP · Post by **sunnyP** » 10 Sep 2009 16:45

Clinton Foundation to set up 3000MW solar plant in Gujarat
TNN 8 September 2009, 02:31am IST
Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |
AHMEDABAD: The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a programme of US-based William J Clinton Foundation, on Monday announced setting up of the
world’s largest solar power plant in Gujarat with an estimated investment of Rs 50,000 crore likely to flow into the state over the next five years.

The proposed 3,000MW plant —one of the four being set up by CCI across the globe — promises to make Gujarat the solar power hub of India. Gujarat has identified four locations along its international border with Pakistan for solar projects.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news ... 984301.cms

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 10 Sep 2009 17:01

Gujarat has identified four locations along its international border with Pakistan for solar projects

Akshut · Post by **Akshut** » 10 Sep 2009 20:19

krishnan wrote:
Gujarat has identified four locations along its international border with Pakistan for solar projects

Might act as reflectors.

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 11 Sep 2009 21:36

If faction or pretty politics do not come in way, the best site for massive solar power plant will be in Anantapur dist of AP. With abundant barren lands, least rainfall in South India and scorching intense sun radiation and blistering heat (averaging 42-45 degrees C) in summer. It will be able to solve some of South India's power shortages. A massive 10-15 sqkm solar power plant will yield 10,000-15,000 MW effortlessly. Only thing to watch is installation cost, deprecation and maintaining costs.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 11 Sep 2009 23:49

kmkraoind wrote:If faction or pretty politics do not come in way, the best site for massive solar power plant will be in Anantapur dist of AP. With abundant barren lands, least rainfall in South India and scorching intense sun radiation and blistering heat (averaging 42-45 degrees C) in summer. It will be able to solve some of South India's power shortages. A massive 10-15 sqkm solar power plant will yield 10,000-15,000 MW effortlessly. Only thing to watch is installation cost, deprecation and maintaining costs.

In one paragraph you have changed the course of mankind for good!

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 01 Oct 2009 13:17

Singha wrote:A project which has the potential to resolve all pending power shortages in
NE , already delayed by 4 yrs - obviously alliances of NGOs will demand that people continue to live in the dark and under threat of perennial floods and erosion.

Series of tremors warn of a devastating quake: Seismologists

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 01 Oct 2009 20:47

Government relaxes mega power policy.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 07 Oct 2009 03:37

No mention of this here yet:
8 new ultra supercritical power plants on anvil

After deciding to set up ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) to improve power supply across the country, the government’s next big step would be to set up eight ultra supercritical power plants (USCPPs).

“Our next step would be setting up USCPPs. The government is planning to set up eight plants across the country with 800 Mw each. We are planning to start the initiative by next year,” S Seshadri, member of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), said on the sidelines of a CII-organised conference on power.

USCPPs operate at temperatures and pressures above the critical point of water, that is above the temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gas phases of water coexist in equilibrium, at which point there is no difference between water gas and liquid water. This results in higher efficiencies —above 45 per cent... resulting in less coal use per megawatt-hour.

According to Seshadri, the government is currently helping set up 12 UMPPs across the country. The first one, commissioned by Tata Power, is expected to go onstream by September 2011. “The government is also planning to set up another two UMPPs,” he said.

Currently, specifications are under preparation, one of which would compel equipment suppliers to set up shop in India. According to Seshadri, one of the major factors would be availability of materials and equipment; there are only two or three manufacturers in the world catering to USCPPs.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Oct 2009 03:03

Larsen&Toubro May Start Power Generation Business in India

Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India’s biggest engineering company, is considering starting a power- generation business as the government seeks to ease energy shortages in the world’s second fastest-growing major economy.

The company may invest in 1,000 megawatt to 2,000 megawatt power plants in the next “few years” and expand to 5,000 megawatts in the five years after that, Chief Financial Officer Y.M. Deosthalee said today in an interview in Mumbai, where the company is based. It costs about 50 billion rupees ($1 billion) to start a 1,000 megawatt plant, he said.

rohiths · Post by **rohiths** » 15 Oct 2009 14:39

L&T has whopping Rs 70,000 crores in their order book as on Mar 31st 2009.
They are going big time into heavy engineering as the power sector is one component of it. BHEL is unable to expand capacity quickly and L&T can become a big player in the field

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 15 Oct 2009 16:40

Land acquisition for nuclear power plant to begin today

MUMBAI: The process for acquiring 938 hectares of land for setting up Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Konkan will start on Thursday. The project,
to be implemented with the help of France, will equip India with six European pressurised water reactors (EPRs). The EPRs are a third generation design, with each plant having a capacity of up to 1,600 MW.

The project is estimated to be over in 10-12 years, following which 10,000 MW of electricity would be generated, said S K Jain, chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) on Wednesday.

According to Jain, the technical specifications for the first two EPRs would be decided within a month and techno-commercial negotiations would be over by this year end. He said the environmental studies have been completed and the project would receive environmental clearance from the union government in the next six to eight months.

The work on the project is expected to start by the next year end, Jain said. The Memorandum of Understanding for supply of reactors was signed in February. The NPCIL said the project would aim at 80% indigenisation, though this would vary according to the costs involved.

Indian companies like L&T, BHEL and HCC would participate in the project. According to J K Ghai, director (finance), NPCIL, the first phase would cost around Rs 35,000 crore. Of the total land, 700 hectares would be for plant site.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 22 Dec 2009 07:41

Indo-Bhutan Hydel power Agreements

The MoUs on initiating the detailed project reports (DPRs) on the hydel projects will be inked under the 60-year umbrella agreement signed in 2006.

Originally, India planned to import 5,000 MW from Bhutan by 2020 but this has been doubled under an accelerated hydel power development agreement.

According to Indian sources, over 60 per cent of Bhutan’s gross domestic product accrues from sale of surplus power from three hydro power stations — Kurichu, Chukha and Tala — and the generation will rise exponentially once work on four more — Punatsangchu, Wangchu, Bunakha and Sankosh — is over.

During the King’s visit, the MoUs will be signed on initiating DPRs for the Amochhu (620 MW), Kuvi-Gongi (1800 MW), Kholongchhu (486 MW) and Chamkarchu-I (670 MW) projects.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 22 Dec 2009 23:07

Bhutan already is the richest country (measured in per capita GDP) in South Asia because of these hydel power exports to India.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 23 Dec 2009 08:13

Impetus to power projects in North-East

The Central Government has chalked out an ambitious investment programme for expanding the power sector in the North East States entailing an investment of around Rs. 37,400 crore.

. . . Power Ministry plans to add 5,350 MW in the North-East, apart from the 3,926 MW which is under various stages of construction.

amol.p · Post by **amol.p** » 31 Dec 2009 12:03

NTPC set to get nod to sell 10% power at market price

The government plans to allow NTPC to sell around 10% capacity at market-determined prices, a move expected to boost the power utility’s profit by up to 40% and spiff up its valuation as it braces for disinvestment.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/NTP ... 397946.cms

amol.p · Post by **amol.p** » 31 Dec 2009 12:06

Coal shortage continues to haunt thermal power projects

Coal shortage continued to hit the power sector as 11 electricity generation projects received less dry fuel in November

Power projects in the western and the eastern belt were the worst sufferers of insufficient supply of the fuel leading to critical coal stock position at the generating stations, as per the data by the Central Electricity Authority.

The 1,200 MW Pathadi project in Chhattisgarh, the 1,470 MW Wanakbori project (Gujarat), the 1,980 MW Koradi Dhanu project (Maharashtra) and Amarkantak (MP) in the western region witnessed critical coal stocks (reserves for less than seven days) in November , the data said.

Patratu (840 MW), Tenughat (420 MW) in Jharkhand, Bandel (530 MW), DPL, Kolaghat (420 MW) in West Bengal and Obra (UP) in north India had less than a week’s stock of coal last month.

“Less receipt of coal is mainly due to supply constraints,” a CEA official said. However, he could not explain the reasons for critical coal stock position at all the four thermal power plants in the southern region.
Four power plants — Mettur, North Chennai, Tuticorin and Ennore — in the south had critical coal stocks in November due to evacuation constraints from ports.

The coal stock position at the public sector NTPC’s Simhadri and Talcher power stations was critical due to non receipt of imported coal.

NTPC which has a fuel requirement of 150 million tonnes during the current financial year has set a target of importing 12.5 million tonnes of coal during the same period to meet its demand.

The Panipat power plant in Haryana and Torrent Power’s plant in Gujarat had severe coal stocks in the past month due to higher power generation.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 397789.cms

My friends in power industry tell us that the blame should go to Coal india who is supplying sub-standard coal and even some times 20% of coal is just mud..

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 31 Dec 2009 21:27

Revised estimates of India's Coal reserves are not positive.They are enough to last us just for 45 years as compared to the 200 years earlier.
India's increasing reliance on imported coal makes it very vulnerable to pressures on emission norms and if the rest of the world agrees on resolutions(enforcable) then it will certainly not be in the nations interest.The Mega Nuclear parks (each with 10,000 MW Capacity) need to come up pronto if the country wants to maintain a GDP growth rate of atleast 8% for the next 15 yrs.

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 03 Jan 2010 15:06

Solar Power in West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan

West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan will be the major participants in the National Solar Mission (NSM) as these three States together will produce nearly 30 per cent of the targeted 20,000 MW solar power in the country by 2022, according to Mr SP Gon Chowdhury, Managing Director of the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation.

Rishirishi · Post by **Rishirishi** » 04 Jan 2010 02:57

Vipul wrote:Revised estimates of India's Coal reserves are not positive.They are enough to last us just for 45 years as compared to the 200 years earlier.
India's increasing reliance on imported coal makes it very vulnerable to pressures on emission norms and if the rest of the world agrees on resolutions(enforcable) then it will certainly not be in the nations interest.The Mega Nuclear parks (each with 10,000 MW Capacity) need to come up pronto if the country wants to maintain a GDP growth rate of atleast 8% for the next 15 yrs.

Could be the real reason behind the nuclear power deal.

negi · Post by **negi** » 11 Jan 2010 21:00

I guess we have heard similar stuff from L&T and even BHEL quite some time back .

China systematically killing Indian manufacturing: L&T

negi · Post by **negi** » 13 Jan 2010 01:05

3 Chinese engineers held for Balco tower collapse

BHOPAL: Chhattisgarh police on Monday arrested three Chinese engineers in connection with the collapse of the 240-metre under-construction major Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) in Korba district on September 23 last year. Around 300 labourers were working when the chimney collapsed, killing 41 people at the site 225 km from Raipur.

The arrested were identified as Wu Chunnan (project in-charge) and two civil engineers Wang Weiquing and Liu Gao of the Shangdong Electric Power Construction Corporation, which was entrusted with the job of building a 275 metre tower in the 1,200MW thermal power plant. Korba SP Ratanlal Dangi said the three Chinese engineers were arrested and produced before a first class magistrate who denied them bail and sent them to judicial remand till January 13.

Police said the engineers were arrested on the basis of findings of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur which was asked to investigate the cause of the accident. In its report, NIT claimed that mishap was caused due to the use of sub-standard construction material, lack of supervision, inadequate curing time and poor soil testing. It cited parameters which did not meet the Indian Standard Code and faulty technical design among other lapses. With Monday’s arrest, the total number of persons nabbed for the Balco chimney collapse is seven.

negi · Post by **negi** » 14 Jan 2010 07:40

Cross posting from PRC Eco thread

Katare said

BHEL license produces European (Siemens and Alstom) products in India. In return for royalty/licensing fee it receives technology, upgrades and tech supports so it has better quality than Chinese equipment suppliers. But since it has to pay royalty on sales its products are more expansive than Chinese products which are basically built on stolen/reverse-engineered western technologies.

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 25 Jan 2010 13:39

Nuclear power projects foreign firms

A clutch of four companies — Areva of France, General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse Electric Corporation of US and AtomStroyExport of Russia — is expected to bag contracts for building over 30,000 megawatt (MW) of nuclear power stations for Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL). This is part of the government target of 60,000 MW nuclear energy by 2032. Five new sites with six plants (or units) each have already been identified — Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Haripur in West Bengal, Kundamkulam in Tamil Nadu, Mithivirdi in Gujarat and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh.

Now that the nuclear isolation is over, India may be the third country after Finland and France to get the new, but controversial, European pressurised reactors (EPRs) designed by Areva, says a DAE official.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 25 Jan 2010 20:59

Vipul wrote:Revised estimates of India's Coal reserves are not positive.They are enough to last us just for 45 years as compared to the 200 years earlier.
India's increasing reliance on imported coal makes it very vulnerable to pressures on emission norms and if the rest of the world agrees on resolutions(enforcable) then it will certainly not be in the nations interest.The Mega Nuclear parks (each with 10,000 MW Capacity) need to come up pronto if the country wants to maintain a GDP growth rate of atleast 8% for the next 15 yrs.

Vipul,

Where did you get that info from.

The revised estimates are only for the proven reserves, which are drawn down due to consumption. Proven means there is a mine in the block extracting coal.

http://coal.nic.in/reserve.htm

Per this we have well over 250 Billion tons of Inferred, meaning within 1-2 Km of a sampling drill hole.

Note that as the survey continues (India remains one of the least explored geologic areas in the world) the numbers slowly increase every year.
Right now at a rate of 5-10 Billion tons of reserves every year. Which works out to about 400-600 bores every year, or about 400-600 sqkm of area added.

You can see why this addition is so slow.

We are not going to run out of coal anytime soon. Have to wonder if the Nuclear guys are pushing this idea hard.

Even this is the energy equivalent of 1.2 Trillion (Yes with a T) Barrels of oil.

To give you an Idea, TN presently has 30 Billion ton reserve of Lignite. Only because the exploration kinda stopped. No new bores have been done for 20-30 years because Neyveli is only exploiting a tiny tiny block of 25 sq Km. The formation is thought to extend well over 10,000 sqkm or more. This would put this formation alone well into the 100 Billion range. This is true of much of the rest of India.

Akshut · Post by **Akshut** » 25 Jan 2010 22:43

NTPC Secures $9.74 Billion Debt to Fund Expansion

NTPC Ltd. has arranged 450 billion rupees ($9.74 billion) in loans to help raise its power generation capacity to 75 gigawatts by March 2017 from the current 30.6 gigawatts.

The company plans to invest 250 billion rupees to add 4.5 GW of capacity in the next financial year that starts April 1, up 41% from this fiscal year's 177 billion rupees.

India has an installed generation capacity of 155 GW and aims to add at least 13 GW every year for the next few years to fight peak hour shortages and provide power to millions of rural households.

NTPC, which generates 86% of its power output from coal, expects to use 150 million tons of the fuel this fiscal year, and 175 million tons in the next.

The company imported about 12.5 million tons of coal this financial year and expects imports to rise to 15 million tons to 16 million tons next year.

NTPC plans also to acquire coal assets overseas in the next financial year to secure its coal supplies, Mr. Sharma said.

"We are working on three mines in Indonesia and Mozambique. Already, merchant bankers and technical assistants are working for that. Once due diligence is over and (the mines) are found to be viable, we will go ahead," he said

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 25 Jan 2010 23:07

Theo_Fidel, i had read this report in Domain-b:
http://www.domain-b.com/industry/Mining ... _coal.html

Theo what is your opinion on the Indians Corporates buying Coal Mines aboroad? Shouldnt the GOI liberalise and open up fully the Coal Sector to Private Participation if ineffecient mining/prospecting is the bottleneck? There is every reason to believe what Reliance achieved in the Oil and Gas sector with the K6 find could easily be duplicated in the Coal sector too.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 26 Jan 2010 01:50

Vipul wrote:Theo_Fidel, i had read this report in Domain-b:

Theo what is your opinion on the Indians Corporates buying Coal Mines aboroad? Shouldnt the GOI liberalise and open up fully the Coal Sector to Private Participation if ineffecient mining/prospecting is the bottleneck? There is every reason to believe what Reliance achieved in the Oil and Gas sector with the K6 find could easily be duplicated in the Coal sector too.

Pffft! That is the same Pachauri caught in the middle of Glacier Gate. At the moment his credibility is nada.

Again he stated that all the Glaciers in the Himalaya's would disappear by 2035. The errors made are laughable. Dates like 2350 converted to 2035 etc. Getting punked right now. Wouldn't be surprised to see the Nobel yanked.

See a pattern here.

There are a few reasons corporates look abroad for coal. I'll list them by importance as I see it.

1. Foreign coal is cheaper.
2. We don't have a lot of coking coal (forms a dense burning blob that burns very efficiently). Needed for Steel, cement, etc. production.
3. Local issues such as land problems, transport, etc. because of the way transport works, it is cheaper to transport coal by sea from Australia than it is to transport overland to the West coast.

This does not mean we are going to run out of coal.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 01 Feb 2010 22:01

JSW Energy to invest over Rs 50,000 cr in 5 yrs: S S Rao

JSW Energy, part of the USD 8-billion JSW Group, today said the company plans to scale up its capacity to 11,390 MW which entails an investment of over Rs 50,000 crore.

The company now has a capacity of 995 MW and aims to scale it up to 3,140 MW by 2011. By 2015, the total capacity would be 11,390 MW, JSW Energy Joint MD and CEO S S Rao told reporters here.

Every 1 MW capacity addition needs an investment of Rs 5 crore, which means JSW Energy would invest over Rs 50,000 crore in the next five years, Rao said.

He said the company has recently commissioned its 600 MW expansion of Vijayanagar Power Project and synchronized the first unit of the 135 MW of 1080 MW power project at Barmer in Rajasthan.

On the group's 1,600 MW West Bengal project, he said, JSW Energy has already started the land acquisition process.

"The company plans to build the 2x800 MW thermal power project in West Bengal to meet all the power needs of its 10-million tonnes per annum steel plant," he said.

The Rs 35,000 crore steel project is being constructed as per the MoU with the state government. The company will also develop an associated captive power unit for the steel plant.

David Saenz · Post by **David Saenz** » 08 Feb 2010 08:52

Torrent to add 375 mw unit at Sugen plant

The group company Torrent Power is expected to pump in about Rs 1,500 crore for the proposed expansion. Torrent Power is aiming to expand the capacity of Sugen plant by 3,000 mw in phases to create country's largest gas-based generation facility to the tune of 4,500 mw at a single location. The company has already acquired necessary land for expansion at Sugen.

Meanwhile, Torrent Power is also in process of kicking of commissioning of a gas-based power plant in the Dahej SEZ. Plans are also afoot to set up a 2,000 mw coal based power plant in Saurashtra, a 1,000 mw coal based power plant in Chhattisgarh besides expanding Sugen plant capacity to 3,000 mw.
In tie up with the government of Gujarat, Torrent Power has formed a special purpose vehicle Pipavav Generation Ltd to develop a 1,000 mw coal based power project in Amreli district at an investment of about Rs 4,500 crore.
The promoters will subsequently increase the capacity to 2,000 mw. Close to 300 acre of land has already been acquired to shape one of the largest power generation facilities in Saurashtra region.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 23 Mar 2010 20:17

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/busin ... on.html?hp

Enron's Legacy in India and lessons learnt?

State and federal governments reduced red tape in 2003 to help add more generation capacity, but many of those reforms have not been fully put in place.

“These problems, which we have been talking about for the last 10, 15 years, there is no real solution to them,” said Madhav Godbole, a retired civil servant who led a committee that studied the problems of Dabhol. “It’s the political will that is wanting.”

Many of India’s utilities, for instance, are financially frail because policy makers look the other way as power is stolen, or because politicians dole out subsidized power to win the votes of farmers. Power plants typically operate below their capacity because the government bureaucracy allocates coal and natural gas, the fuel of power plants, to favored companies. Furthermore, cronyism often dictates who receives permission to build plants because laws requiring competitive bids are not enforced.

As with other projects, the success of the expanded plant here, now known as Ratnagiri Gas and Power, will depend on whether the government sees fit to allocate more natural gas to it from domestic fields to the plant. The plant will be competing with other power, fertilizer and chemical companies that also want and need more gas.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 31 Mar 2010 02:02

highest capacity addition in a Plan period till date

It’s truly a landmark development, of completing in the third year of the 11th Plan a capacity addition of 21,232 Mw, after full commissioning today of the 240-Mw Paras thermal project in Maharashtra. During the 8th Plan, the capacity addition was 16,423 Mw, while it was 19,129 Mw in the 9th Plan and 21,180 Mw by the end of the 10th Plan. Of the 21,232 Mw, about 5,700 Mw has come in from the central sector, 9,612 Mw from the state sector and 5,920 Mw from the private sector.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 08 Apr 2010 21:25

Another sector of economy following the path of nirvana via liberalization and competition.......

Private sector charge adds record 9,585 MW to grid

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 08 Apr 2010 22:11

Katare wrote:Another sector of economy following the path of nirvana via liberalization and competition.......

Private sector charge adds record 9,585 MW to grid

A total of 9,585 MW of capacity was added during the last fiscal, of which 4,287 MW or 45 per cent was by private developers. The Central and State sector utilities cumulatively added 5,298 MW during the period. To put it in perspective, the capacity added during the year is roughly equivalent to the peak demand met in Gujarat last fiscal and about double that of Delhi.
.
.
..
According to Government data, of the 9,263 MW commissioned in 2007-08, the private sector accounted for only about 8 per cent. This improved to 25 per cent in 2008-09 (883 MW out of the 3,454 MW commissioned that year) and now to 45 per cent during 2009-10.

Sometimes it is good to read the article as well before posting

..............

tejas · Post by **tejas** » 09 Apr 2010 04:28

BHEL spent Rs 788 crore, 2.3 per cent of Rs 34,050 crore turnover, on R&D during the year 2009-10. The products and systems developed in-house contributed Rs 6,334 crore to the total revenues during the year, he said.

Uber PSU BHEL products are 82% screwdriver tech. onlee. Good news, however, a massive 8.27 crore rupees being spent on a nanotechnology business! The Japanese and Koreans might as well get out of this business while they still have a chance. Long live socialism and the proletariat! Read all about it:

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... ch/391262/