Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company, has announced another milestone in the Company's Centenary Year celebrations, two of India’s first 25 MVA Natural Ester filled transformers were recently installed in Mumbai.With this initiative, Tata Power has once again showcased its priority in driving sustainability by implementing path breaking green technology. Sustainability remains a core business philosophy of Tata Power, and the green transformers is one of the Company’s many green initiatives under its ‘Be Green’ campaign.Ashok Sethi, ED & COO, Tata Power, said, “As part of our centenary year celebrations, Tata Power reaffirms its commitment to nation building and we will continue to uphold and implement technological innovations such as green transformer. We plan to refine the design to further decrease the footprint and improve performance. This could change the landscape of the power industry in India and create a new paradigm that can be adopted successfully anywhere in the world.”Tata Power selected Cargill’s Envirotemp FR3 fluid (the most widely used natural ester fluid) & Schneider Electric (specialist in energy management & automation) for its transformers. FR3 fluid provides improved fire safety, extended transformer life and additional loading capacity with a smaller footprint.Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India, said, “The Natural Ester technology offers a number of important advantages over mineral oil. It is also derived from renewable resources and is carbon neutral (according to BEES 4.0 lifecycle analysis).”(BW Online Bureau)
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Simar SinghThe corporate funding in the solar sector for the third quarter of 2015 is estimated at $6.2 billion, marginally higher than the previous quarter’s $5.9 billion, according to a report released by Austin-based clean energy communications and consulting firm, Mercom Capital Group.The estimation includes venture capital, debt financing and public market financing raised by public companies.Mercom’s CEO, Raj Prabhu, commented, “The third quarter of 2015 has been eventful, especially in the equity markets. Although solar power demand continues to grow, solar stocks have made a complete U-turn in the last three months, affecting public market financing, which was down by about a billion dollars excluding IPOs.”Private Equity funding, in particular, saw a leap with $257 million raised over 15 deals in the third quarter. This figure is nearly double the $142 million raised over 24 deals in the last quarter.The biggest venture capital deal was the $105 million raised by California-based Silicor Materials, a manufacturer of high-quality solar silicon and aluminum by-products.The report states that public market financing fell to $1.8 billion compared to last quarter’s $2.3 billion while debt financing saw an uptick this quarter with about $4.1 billion, compared to previous$3.4 billion.Debt financing activities were dominated by Chinese companies, raising more than $2.9 billion against the second quarter’s $1.4 billion.Indian companies which raised venture capital include Fourth Partner Energy, a Hyderabad-based company providing solar design, engineering, installation, O&M services for rooftop solar PV systems which raised $2 million in Series A funding led by Infuse Ventures.Given the nascency of the solar market in India, it is no surprise that none of the big deals have happened in the country and that those which have happened are comparatively small. However, what is apparent is that the market in India is picking up, perhaps driven by the Modi administration’s policy to promote greener energy avenues and greater interest in such options.
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Haider Ali KhanThe Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has acquired ISO 9001:2008 certificate for monitoring, planning, development and maintenance of highway infrastructure and road transport throughout the country.The ISO certificate will be applicable to all the wings of the Ministry at the head quarters in New Delhi, including the offices of the Union Minister and Minister of State, covering more than 700 employees. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is probably the first largest Ministry of Government of India to achieve this feat.Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping received the certificate of Indian Register Quality Systems (IRQS) in New Delhi on Monday (12 October).Speaking on the occasion Gadkari highlighted the importance of administrative efficiency as the most vital ingredient for the successful working of an organisation.He said, “A quick and transparent decision making process, backed by decentralized power structure and a system of performance audit would go a long way in ensuring that departments are able to achieve the development work that they set out to do.”International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) is an internationally recognized and preferred quality management system standard that enables one to demonstrate commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Implementation of ISO 9001:2008 was started in 2012-13.In order to get the ISO certificate the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways developed its quality manual and standard operating procedures in accordance with the requirements of ISO standards. After the internal audit by the Ministry, the certificating body appointed by Quality Council of India conducted two stages of audit and found the quality management system of the Ministry for performing its services to the citizens of India in accordance with the ISO standards.
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Indian Railways remains one of the largest owners of land in the country along with the defence services and the port trusts. And yet India has been unable to either free up the unutilised land for most part, nor has it been able to monetise it adequately. The ministry of Railways concerned with optimising its land resources constituted Railway Land Development Authority on 31.10.2006, amended on 5.1.2007. In the years that it has been in existence, its Annual Report for 2013-14 reveals total receipts of Rs 510.47 crore was realised from commercial development of railway land at Sarai Rohilla, Delhi, Bangalore, Gaya and Multi Functional Sites at Katra, Jhansi, Cuttack, Bhuj, Jungadh, Somnath, Anand and Nadiad. The report goes on to say that of this Rs 940.16 crore was transferred to the concerned zonal Railways after retaining Rs 5.04 as allowed margin money. Since this was mathematically impossible, the auditor CAG pointed out the error saying that the accounts were not quite right. Closer examination found that the accounts had an opening balance of Rs 377.35 crore, earnings of Rs 510.47 crore and interest earned was another Rs 70.03 crore making the sum total Rs 957.85 crore. Of this Rs 957.85 crore, after retaining margin money of Rs 5.04 crore, Rs 940.16 crore was transferred out and the balance Rs 12.65 crore went to the Railways. Further, the annual report states that during 2013-14, no letter of award for commercial development of sites was given out by RLDA. Confusion PersistsSometime in March this year, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu informed Lok Sabha that the largest employer of human resources in India has retrieved a total of 112.67 hectares of encroached land in the last three years. Sandeep BazaiTwo years ago in September, in order to galvanise the business, international property consultant Knight Frank was roped in by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) to market unused railway land parcels in southern and western parts of the country. In a statement issued by Knight Frank at the time, it said that, "Rail Land Development Authority has partnered with Knight Frank India to undertake its initiative of monetising unused railway land parcels in 53 locations across the South and West of India. "Remember, this was a decision taken by the previous dispensation and the idea was that Knight Frank India would be responsible for conducting site visits, coordinating collaterals, expression of interest from developers, retailers and hoteliers, as well as managing the bid process. RLDA began the process of inviting bids for commercial development of vacant railway land. Multi-Functional Complexes (MFC) would be developed for providing amenities to commuters including Budget Hotels at stations. RLDA has more than 120 sites pan India leased out to developers through an open bid process. Sites were offered on 30-45 years lease on upfront lease premium or Revenue Sharing basis through MOU to PSUs and through open bidding process to private sector. The status of the MFCs as per the RLDA website as of July 17, 2015 is typical of the way India functions. In March, Prabhu said that out of 4.58 lakh hectares of land available with the railways, 930 hectares or 0.20 per cent was under encroachment as of March last year. Significantly, approximately 47,000 hectares of Railway land is vacant but is mostly in the form of narrow strips along the tracks, which is required for servicing and maintenance of tracks, bridges and other railway infrastructure. Prabhu said the vacant land which is immediately not required for operational purposes was utilised in the interim period for commercial development through RLDA to mobilise additional financial resources. For sometime now, the Railways has been trying to jump start plans to monetise its land holdings in order to generate close to Rs 1000 crore of revenue annually, but this hasn't fructified for reasons well chronicled about the Railways where the wheels move slowly. In what was perceived to be one of the most successful divestitures, real estate company Parsvnath Developers had paid Rs 500.86 crore instalment to the RLDA a couple of years ago against the 38 acres of rail land that it had bought for Rs 1,651 crore. Parsvnath had bought this land, located at Sarai Rohilla- Kishanganj in the national capital, from RLDA in 2010 through an auction. Till last reports, Pasvnath had paid Rs 1161 crore in three tranches for the land parcel. However, with the realty sector going through a downturn, the Delhi Sara Rohilla project has now been referred to the Arbital Tribunal. Other projects across the country are also facing litigation proceedings slowing things up. In May, 2012, Bharatsinh Solanki, then junior railways minister informed parliament that the monolith generated revenues of about Rs 2,500 crore through leasing and licensing of land in the last three years. It earned Rs 1105 crore in 2011-12, Rs 732 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 649 crore in 2009-10. At that point time, Railways reportedly had approximately 10.65 lakh acres of land, of which about 90 per cent was under Railway operational and allied usages. The total vacant Railway land mentioned then was about 1.13 lakh acre. Zone-wise details of vacant land then were: 6,188 acres in Central Railway; 3,792 acres in Eastern, 8620 acres in East Central, 4,707 acres in East Coast, 9,489 acres in Northern, 1079 acres in North Central, 14,352 acres in North Eastern, 11718 acres in Northeast Frontier, 5,953 acres in North Western, 5,673 acres in Southern, 5,557 acres in South Central, 4,467 acres in South Eastern, 9,659 acres in Southeast Central, 2,255 acres in South Western, 17,970 acres in Western and 1,458 acres in West Central. Solanki had then said, "The vacant railway land is utilised for execution of various infrastructural projects for meeting future growth needs of Railways and include projects like doubling, traffic facilities, Rail Coach and Component factories etc." These figures are at complete variance with what Suresh Prabhu gave earlier this year, once again throwing into stark relief the level of opacity in the organisation. As with everything concerning the Indian Railways since Lalu Prasad Yadav's five year tenure, all the numbers deceive, in fact they lie to such an extent that one doesn't know what the Railways owns or whether it makes money anymore on anything or what is required for its actual modernisation needs in financial terms and most vitally how cross subsidisation of passenger fares by freight hikes has eaten away the very innards of the organisation. Confusion continues to confound all those who want Indian Railways to be restored to its erstwhile glory of providing comfortable and affordable travel across India. Given how the rest of the world has leap frogged ahead of India in its railway infrastructural needs, the comatose Railway set up, facing annual losses of Rs 26,000 crore (ball park), needs kick in the seat of its pants. Start with the land assets, but be pro active.
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By Simar Singh In congruence with the country-wide thrust to move towards greener energy avenues, Punjab’s largest solar power project was inaugurated by Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing, Harsimrat Badal and State Renewable Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in Jaga Ram Teearth village in Bhatinda district on Thursday (08 October). Developed by Welspun Renewables, the 32 MW plant which is located 40 kilometres from Bhatinda is spread across 140 acres and will provide around 48 million units of clean and emission-free energy to Punjab’s state grid for the next 25 years. At the low-key inauguration ceremony, Harsimrat Badal said that Punjab was the country’s first state to develop a diversification scheme to turn agriculturists into clean energy entrepreneurs and that the state was targeting to have at least 15 such entrepreneurs per block in the next five years. This, according to her, would ensure that 10 per cent of Punjab’s requirement would be fulfilled by green energy generation. Majithia explained that the Punjab government was coming up with a scheme that would promote the setting up of solar projects among famers on their own land. This will be done through a 50:50 partnership with corporates and 25 year long MoUs will be signed for the same. He went on to say that to give impetus to the scheme, the government would make subsidies available and allot 500 MW capacity projects to farmers. The Punjab Government has set a cumulative target of 4200 MW solar power generation capacity and Welspun Renewables has signed an MoU for setting up an additional 151 MW solar capacity in the state. The company itself has made a commitment to set up 11,001 megawatts worth of renewable capacities over India.
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Liquefied Petroleum Gas, long a niche product used by the poor to cook and the rich to barbecue, has become a rare bright spot amid a broad commodities rout, riding on the wave of strong economic growth in India and parts of Southeast Asia.LPG is best known to consumers as propane or butane used in heating appliances and vehicles. But it is also used in the petrochemicals industry and the electricity sector, acting as a replacement for diesel in generators and power stations.While tumbling prices for oil, gas, coal and industrial metals have seen energy companies and miners slash capital expenditure, investment is flowing into the LPG sector to feed burgeoning demand from the world's poorer nations.The biggest growth market is India, with its 1.3 billion people and 8 per cent economic growth expected this year, where millions of households are switching from kerosene or wood burners to LPG."LPG is convenient because it is smoke-free and saves time," said Sunita Nagar, a 45-year-old housewife in the village of Dujana on the outskirts of Delhi, who got her first LPG in July.Tejveer Singh Nagar, 36, who has a physical disability, has also recently received his first LPG for cooking."I'm unmarried. Since I've got LPG I boil milk, and cook myself," he said. "Earlier, I was dependent on my sister-in-law to cook and give me milk."Indian government data shows that the share of households which have access to LPG has risen from around 50 per cent in 2010 to 70 per cent this year."There is a clear decision to increase LPG penetration as this is a cleaner fuel," said Indrajit Bose, executive director at Indian Oil Corp."It cuts pollution and also replaces use of wood as well as animal dung used for cooking in rural India. In the last 5-6 years, the government has been consistently reducing the allocation of subsidized kerosene... Delhi is today kerosene-free."Shale RevolutionEnergy consultancy IHS expects global LPG demand to rise from around 275 million tonnes this year to some 310 million tonnes by 2019, with the biggest growth seen in Asia. That compares with under 250 million tonnes in 2010.The World Bank says LPG helps reduce poverty, giving millions of households access to cooking heat and electricity for the first time."Reduction of extreme poverty is impossible without addressing energy scarcity," said Anita Marangoly George, senior director of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. "We see LPG as crucial in fighting energy poverty."LPG burns cleaner than wood or kerosene, and although both LPG and kerosene are highly flammable, large conversion programmes such as undertaken in Indonesia show a fall in household accidents following a switch to LPG.Just as important as the demand growth has been a change in LPG supply.Previously mostly produced in the Middle East, its rise over the last few years has come as a side-effect of the U.S. shale oil and gas exploration boom, of which LPG is a by-product.With LPG production from shale soaring since 2006, the United States has this year become the world's biggest exporter.Its soaring production has also made LPG much cheaper, a key ingredient for its success in developing countries, with U.S. propane prices down 70 percent since 2014.Subsidised GrowthThe International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week that investment in the overall oil sector would drop by at least 20 percent this year versus 2014, the biggest fall on record.While many oil majors like Exxon Mobil or Royal Dutch Shell also trade LPG, it makes up only a small share of their business and they often sell it on to specialized firms who are now taking advantage of cheap LPG to create new markets in developing countries."The sea-change of US LPG exports has been fantastic for us," said Theodore Young, chief financial officer of New York-based Dorian LPG, one of the world's biggest shippers of the fuel, which has ordered 19 new vessels to meet demand."It's been massive growth of perhaps 4 million tonnes not a decade ago to some 20 million tonnes this year."LPG is also seeing industrial-scale growth. Malaysia is developing the huge Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Johor, close to Singapore's oil hub.RAPID will have the capacity to store more than 2 million cubic metres of crude oil, refined products, petrochemicals and LPG and plans to start operations in 2019.One problem the LPG industry could face is a scale-back in subsidies it heavily relies on in many countries."A lot of demand for LPG is subsidized," said Walter Hart, Global Lead of Natural Gas Liquids at IHS. "Eventually, the subsidies will be pulled back, and that would result in a lot of subsidized demand growth reduction, for instance in India."(Reuters)
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Environment Ministry's expert panel, EAC, has suggested use of imported coal with higher ash content of up to 25 per cent, as against 12 per cent now, to help domestic thermal power plants use higher grade coal and bring down the cost of generation.The recommendation comes against the backdrop of recent demand of the Association of Power Producers (APP) that the ministry's February 2013 order to restrain ash content in imported coal up to 12 per cent has forced power plants in the coastal region to use only Indonesian coal.In a representation to the ministry, APP had sought review of the ash content restriction so that high grade, low moisture imported coal from Australia, South Africa and Russia can be utilised for better efficiencies, and lower the cost of generation with actual ash generation remaining the same."After detailed deliberations, the EAC recommended that the restriction on maximum ash content of imported coal may be increased upto 25 per cent and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) be carried out accordingly," a senior Environment Ministry official said.The committee observed that bulk of the imported coal having ash content lower than 12 per cent are typically of Indonesian origin having high moisture content of about 30-40 per cent, while imported coal from Australia, Russia, the USA and Columbia have ash content of about 25 per cent with moisture content up to 15 per cent."EAC felt that when high moisture coals are fired in boilers, a substantial amount of the heat input is used to evaporate and superheat the moisture in the fuel, thus pay a substantial price in efficiency," the official added.The Committee further noted that lesser the ash generation, the lesser would be its environmental impact.However, by restricting the ash content up to 12 per cent, the source of coal gets restricted to a particular origin and thus the price competitiveness may have to be compromised.This may also be contrary to the objectives of the Competitive Bidding Guidelines and the Electricity Act, 2003, the official added.Coal imports rose 2 per cent to 18.6 million tonnes in August from a year ago, according to SAIL-Tata Steel promoted Mjunction Services Ltd.(PTI)
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to tell states to raise electricity prices in return for access to a financial bailout package, a politically contentious move that risks a backlash from farmers and consumers long used to free or cheap power. Modi has made overhauling India's largely loss-making utilities, buckling under $66 billion of debts, a priority, convinced that if he can fix their finances he will recover his reputation as an economic reformer willing to take tough decisions. State-run electricity distributors are running out of cash and struggling to repay loans, squeezing banks' ability to spur credit growth and undermining Modi's campaign to attract more energy-hungry manufacturers to build new factories. Under a rescue package that could go to the cabinet for approval as early as this week, states will be told they must work with local regulators and utilities to raise tariffs that have been kept artificially low, a senior government source with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters. In return for raising prices, the eight worst affected states will be allowed to absorb up to 75 per cent of the debt on the distributors' books depending on their fiscal position, the source said, requesting anonymity because the plan is not yet public. After cabinet approval, states will need to strike agreements with distributors and the power ministry, the government source said. The source added that it will not be easy and that each deal will need to be tailored individually, with varying tariff rises and performance targets. SENSITIVE SUBJECTIn India, the price of power is a sensitive subject and generally decided by individual state regulators. New Delhi's past attempts at instigating reform, including a 2012 rescue plan under Modi's predecessor, have largely failed. Many Indians view free or cheap power as a right. Politicians appeal to key groups of voters like farmers or the poor by keeping prices low and ignoring theft, prompting scepticism about whether states will agree to any package that forces tariff hikes. "There are two things that states completely avoid: raising tariffs for farmers and privatisation. These are hugely political," said Debasish Mishra, a power expert at Deloitte. "The political parties know what sells and what will keep them in power." Recent attempts at raising tariffs have proven politically difficult. Rajasthan state, whose utilities owe $9 billion, this year postponed an attempt to hike prices after huge opposition from its powerful farming community. But Modi successfully overhauled the power sector as chief minister in Gujarat in the mid-2000s. He saw off opposition to metering farmers and clamping down on consumer theft, and the state now enjoys reliable power supplies that the majority pay for, with low levels of theft. By linking price rises to reduced debt, the government hopes to give utilities the financial space to purchase more power and end blackouts, and to avoid future losses by ensuring they sell electricity at or above cost. Deloitte's Mishra said the government was likely to have more success in states ruled by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. S.K. Agarwal, finance director at Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation, serving a largely rural state ruled by a regional party, said he was still awaiting details of the plan, but since only the local government could decide tariffs it would object to any proposal imposed by New Delhi. He has previously said the utility had no plans to raise prices.(Reuters)
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