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BharatHeavyElectricalsLimited PowerSectorTechnicalServices TechnicalInformationCentre Date:18.1.2014

WRI ties up with German university for power source evaluation 'Northeast India will have surplus power by June' Decreased water level affects power generation at Sutlej plant Korean power firm to invest in $240 m in India project Odisha, TN UMPP final price bid to open on Feb 26 Coal India could have helped slash production cost by 12%: Power Companies No spark yet in grand power promise

WRI ties up with German university for power source evaluation

TRICHY: The Welding Research Institute (WRI) has signed a protocol of intention with Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany for joint working in the area of power source evaluation facility. The pact was signed at a function held at the WRI of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) on Thursday in the presence of A V Krishnan, executive director, BHEL, Trichy and senior executives. On behalf of Leibniz University, Prof Dr Ing D Rehfeldt exchanged the signed protocol with R Easwaran, general manager (WRI & Labs), BHEL, Trichy. Krishnan said that WRI has taken the right initiative to become a world class institute and this research - academia partnership will augment its efforts to develop a centre for welding power source evaluation which would be helpful to the nation in a big way. He also said that by bridging the technology gap, WRI can evaluate the current generation power sources, which have several advanced features and needed to be evaluated for their dynamic characteristics. Various manufacturing sectors in the country would benefit through the development. Prof Rehfeldt said that Leibniz University is looking forward for the joint establishment of the power source evaluation facility at WRI. It is not only the hardware and software of the equipment, but the human mind working on this, that would fully unleash the potential of the technologies, said Rehfeldt. Easwaran said the modern inverter-based power sources have many added features for improving the depth of penetration of welds, making spatter-free welds, welding thin sheets, etc and understanding the dynamic characteristics of the power sources required a high power data acquisition system in tandem with a high speed visualization system as well as automation even manual welding, to avoid human hand unsteadiness.

Source: The Times of India(Trichy) dt. 18/1/2014

'Northeast India will have surplus power by June'

The industry-starved northeastern region of India would be a power surplus area by June, when ONGC's 726 MW power project starts full capacity generation, a top official said here Thursday.

The 726 MW capacity combined cycle gas-based thermal power project (using both water and natural gas) at Palatana, 60 km from Agartala, in southern Tripura is the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) first commercial power project in India. "The generation from the first unit (363.3 MW capacity) of the power plant began Dec 31, 2013, and the generation from the second unit (363.3 MW capacity) would start in June," ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) managing director Sudhindra Kumar Dube said. "However, there are some problems of transmission of electricity in the region. We expect these problems would be overcome," he told reporters. According to the official, the current peak-hour demand of electricity in the seven northeastern states is 2,200 to 2,300 MW. Now, the shortage of power is around 100 MW. "After the generation of the second unit of the Palatana power plant, the northeastern states would be able to supply its surplus power to other parts of the country through the national grid," Dube, a renowned power engineer, said. The Palatana power project was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee June 21. After that, the power plant faced some technical hurdles, but started full generation of electricity from the first unit Dec 31. OTPC is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) promoted by ONGC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL & FS) and Tripura government, created in 2004 for execution of the 726.6 MW combined cycle gas-based thermal power project. Dube said that from this power plant, Assam will get the maximum share of 240 MW of electricity, followed by Tripura (196 MW), Meghalaya (79 MW), Manipur (42 MW), Nagaland (27 MW), Mizoram (22 MW) and Arunachal Pradesh (22 MW), while IL & FS and OTPC keep 98 MW. "OTPC has signed a gas sale and purchase agreement with ONGC for supplying 2.65 million metric standard cubic meters gas per day. The agreement would be valid for 15 years against the assumed power plant's life span of 25 years, with a provision of further extension by another 10 years," he said. To set up the Rs.4,047 crore power plant, a total of Rs.10,000 crore is being invested for the project and related works including transmission lines and setting up of ONGC gas pipelines. "A 400KV high transmission power line (661 km) has been drawn up to Silchar in southern Assam from Palatana to connect with the Bongaigaon national grid in western Assam to distribute electricity to various northeastern states," the OTPC chief said. The Palatana project is a hallmark of cooperation between India and Bangladesh, which ensured smooth passage of heavy project equipment and turbines to Palatana through its territory by road and waterways, from Haldia port in West Bengal. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the power project in October 2005.

Source: Business Standard dt. 18/1/2014 Decreased water level affects power generation at Sutlej plant
Power generation at a hydroelectric plant in Himachal Pradesh has been hit due to lowering of the river water level as a consequence of freezing weather conditions at higher altitudes. The 1500 MW Sutlej Jal Vidhut Nigam (SJVNL) power project in Shimla, supplies 547 megawatts of electricity to the state, Himachal Pradesh and eight other neighbouring states, including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. The reduction of power supply is adversely affecting the other states as well. Meanwhile, authorities at the power plant said that consumption of electricity was more compared to last year and due to scarcity of water they power generation has been adversely affected. "Water content in the river has reduced to 70 cumec in winter now where it used to be 1500-1600 cumec during summer. During summer, we consume 38 million units of electricity everyday and we are consuming 60 million units now. This year the consumption is more than last year,"said the general manager of the Sutlej Jal Vidhut Nigam (SJVNL) power project, Sanjeev Sood. Sood said chilling winters cause dry season leading to a dip in the water level of the rivers. "Whenever there is winter atop the hills then the rivers freeze. The water content in the rivers also decreases when there is snowfall. The main reason for reduction of water in the river is snowfall and freezing of rivers,"said Sood. The other power projects in Sutlaj River valley and other rivers in the state were also facing similar problems resulting in reduction of power generation. In higher altitudes, the temperature has dropped to sub-zero level, with some states witnessing lowest minimum temperatures. Located in the tropics, most of India witnesses very hot summers and largely temperate winters. (ANI)

Source: New Track India dt. 16/1/2014 Korean power firm to invest in $240 m in India project
Korea South-East Power Company Ltd (KOSEP), a subsidiary of Korean Government-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation, would invest $240 million for a power project in Maharashtra. The 600-MW thermal power project is being set up by Jinbhuvish Power Generations Pvt Ltd. KOSEP is 40 per cent equity stakeholder in the project that would cost about Rs 3,450 crore.

The lenders for the project include Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Finance Corporation, PFS and IIFCL. The power plant will be operational by 2016, Jinbhuvish Power Generations said in a statement. All major clearances and approvals for the project have already been received and the project is ready to launch with site construction activities commencing soon, it added.

Source: Business Line dt. 17/1/2014 Odisha, TN UMPP final price bid to open on Feb 26

Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced that the final price bids for the two ultra mega power projects -Odisha and Tamil Nadu - will open on February 26. Photo: Meeta Ahlawat

The final price bids for the two ultra mega power projects (UMPP) - Odisha and Tamil Nadu - will open on February 26, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday. The Minister said that the projects will be awarded to the successful bidders post opening of the financial bids.

All the nine applicants for Odisha UMPP and eight applicants for Cheyyur UMPP (Tamil Nadu) who have applied for Request for Qualification (RFQ) have been shortlisted for issuance of Request For Proposal (RFP) or the final price bids. Power Finance Corporation is the nodal agency for UMPPs in the country. UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that have 4,000 MW of generation capacity. The Apex Evaluation Committees cleared all the technical bids in the first round. Both the committees are headed by V. K. Shunglu, Ex CAG. NTPC, Tata Power, NHPC, Adani Power, JSW Energy, Jindal Power (an arm of Jindal Steel and Power), Sterlite Infraventures, CLP India and Larsen & Toubro had submitted applications for the Odisha project. NTPC, Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Power, JSW Energy, L&T and Sterlite Infraventures had submitted bids for the Cheyyur UMPP in Tamil Nadu. Odisha UMPP is a pit-head power project. Based on domestic coal to be sourced from allocated captive coal blocks, it is expected to cost around Rs. 25,000 crore. The Cheyyur UMPP is a coastal power project, based on imported coal, with an expected investment of about Rs. 24,200 crore. So far, four UMPPs have been awarded, of which Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

Source: The Hindu dt. 16/1/2014

Coal India could have helped slash production cost by 12%: Power Companies

KOLKATA: Coal India Ltd could have helped power companies save their production cost by 12%, or 35 paise a unit, if it had kept coal prices lower by using the money that it would pay as interim dividend, power sector executives said. The state-run monopoly coal supplier on Tuesday declared a dividend of Rs 29 a share. The central government, which holds 90% of the company, will get close to Rs 20,000 crore in the form of dividend and dividend distribution tax. CIL was forced to declare the hefty dividend as the government had to abort its plan to sell a 5% stake in the company because of opposition from labour unions. The stake sale could have helped the government raise about Rs 20,000 crore.

According to CIL executives, the company is likely to pay about Rs 10,000 crore of the dividend from its profits this year and the rest from its reserves. CIL increased coal prices by a minimum 30% for all thermal coal used by power companies over the past three years, this executive said. "This enabled the company to increase its cash and bank balance from about Rs 45,000 crore during 2010-11 to Rs 62,000 crore in 2012-13," he said. Most of the additional reserves came from higher prices as production did not rise at the same pace. This fiscal year, the company is likely to miss its target on coal production by about 17 million tonnes and sales by some 15 million tonnes. "During 2013, CIL produced 417 million tonnes and would be giving away Rs 20,000 crore to the government as dividend and dividend distribution tax. This distributed evenly on the volume of coal produced last year would have led to savings of 35 paise per unit," a power sector executive said. According to a senior executive at a large public-sector power producer, India generated around 660 billion units of power last year, most of that using coal supplied by CIL. "Distributing the Rs 20,000 crore among the 660 billion units could have led to savings of about 35 paise too," this executive said. According to an executive from NTPC, the largest power producer, its fixed cost has increased only marginally in the past few years. "The increase in power tariff has been on variable cost due to a hike in fuel cost (coal), transportation cost and royalties," this executive said. "Power tariffs are regulated by Central and state regulatory commissions, however, coal prices are not. Every increase in coal prices leads to increased power generation costs which need to be passed on to consumers. This in turn leads to increase in railways tariffs as their cost in running rakes also goes up," he said.

Source: The Economic Times dt. 17/1/2014

No spark yet in grand power promise

In mid-2006, a leading liquor contractor in Chhattisgarhdecided to venture into a completely unrelated business --power. He signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government, then in a hurry to convert the highly fertile Janjgir-Champa district into a power hub. The contractor was one among many who aspired to become a power producer but had to bite the dust. While lack of environmental clearances is an issue, there are many other reasons. India Inc lists lack of integrated planning and coordination between the state and central government as one; rampant corruption is also high on the list. In a written reply in the Chhattisgarh assembly in August 2010, the state government said 29 MoUs were signed for setting up power plants to produce 27,708 Mw in Janjgir-Champa. It justified this by arguing the district was completely free from a Naxalite problem and well connected by road and rail to coal-rich Odisha and Jharkhand. However, say analysts, the government ignored the availability of water, something required in massive quantities for thermal power plants. Chhattisgarh was to construct five additional barrages on the Mahanadi river. The capacity of these was 245 million cubic metres, sufficient to irrigate 450,000 acres. Further, these barrages would convert a 50-km stretch of river bed into a reservoir. This river bed is presently used by about 5,000 farmers for cultivation after the monsoon, when the flow declines. While these thermal plants would risk the livelihood of 5,000 farmers, the projects were approved by the state without an environment impact assessment report. Not surprisingly, these projects have been delayed due to local agitation and land acquisition hurdles, apart from lack of water. If the government had properly planned these projects and addressed the concerns of farmers and water resources, these mega power projects would not have been delayed, says an analyst with Ambit Capital. When asked, water resources minister Brijmohan Agrawal would not comment on queries related to bad planning in the district and lack of water resources for the new power stations.

Construction work has begun on the barrages but the pace on all projects here has slowed. A disastrous planhad the government ensured water for the farmers, Janjgir-Champa could have created a record in agricultural production, says Laxmi Chouhan, a social activist in Raipur. Most of the companies also did not show interest in proceeding as the economy slowed and power costs shot up substantially. And, the government took no serious initiative to expedite the proposals. Now, only six power companies are working on the projects. Officials say the district would certainly produce about 10,000 Mw in the future. However, of the 29 original proposals, 12 are awaiting a nod from the Union ministry of environment and forests; eight took no initiative to act. Three companies have received the environment clearance but are yet to sign an MoU with the state government to give the proposal a final shape. Many companies expected the central government to allot coal blocks for feeding the proposed plants but the coalgate scam has further dented progress on this. Companies are even returning the water allotted to their projects. There is sufficient water (already) available for industry, said the director of a company which had decided to wind up its 1,320-Mw power project proposal in the district. Most of the proposals were signed between 2006 and 2008, when the economy was booming, explained a senior official of a company, asking not to be named. By 2010, the economy registered a downward trend, forcing most investors to reconsider.

Source: Business Standard dt. 18/1/2014