Anupam Chatterjee
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Microgrids: Small steps can make a big impact
Renewable energy-based micro projects have a vital role to play in supplying power to every household.
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Vedanta offers Rs 2,500 cr for GMR’s Chhattisgarh thermal power plant
Vedanta quoted the highest offer of Rs 2,500 crore for GMR’s 1,370-MW thermal power plant in Raikheda, Chhattisgarh, sources told FE.
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Power Struggle: Tighter regulations, policies to dent discoms’ finances
The power ministry has made it clear that aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses above 15% won’t be compensated in tariffs (the new regime is likely from FY20).
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Pilot scheme for plants sans PPAs elicits tepid response
Even as nearly 20,000 MW of commissioned power generating units are under stress due to lack of power purchase agreements (PPAs), the government’s pilot scheme to procure electricity from 2,500 MW generation capacity without PPAs has evoked a tepid response from the industry.
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No PPA hurdle! State-run companies can sell power from cheaper units
Cost saved from this process will be shared between states and the central generation companies
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5 states for buying 3,000 MW from power plants sans PPAs
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand together want to buy 3,000 MW of power under a government scheme to promote purchases from plants without PPAs.
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Solar equipment manufacturers and developers spar over safeguard duty
Domestic solar equipment manufacturers want the safeguard duty threshold to be raised to 95% on imported solar components.
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Slow onset of monsoon, rising demand lead to increase in power outages in UP, Jharkhand and Bengal
Power outages in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal are longer this summer compared to 2017. The national average is 7 hours and 52 minutes in May this year, 7 minutes longer than the same month last year.
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UDAY outcome: Discoms in four states out of the red
The four states’ discoms made a combined profit of Rs 1,565.5 crore in FY18 compared with an aggregate loss of Rs 10,203 crore in FY17.
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Gujarat relaxes coal ‘tolling’ norms
Under the tolling mechanism, coal mines allotted to state-owned power plants can be transferred to more efficient private generating units located closer to the mines to reduce generation costs.
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Discom’s loss reduction: Cost curbs, tariff hikes held the key
A reining in of the costs of electricity generation at state-owned power plants, tariff hikes and digital billing-and-collection have enabled state-owned electricity distribution companies (discoms) under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to halve their losses to Rs 17,352 crore in FY18.
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UDAY scheme: Discoms cut losses, but their dues to Gencos mount
Electricity distribution companies (discoms) under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme may have reduced their financial losses by Rs 17,352 crore or 50% annually by March-end.
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Stressed power firms to present their cases before ministries next week
Independent power producers (IPPs) will make presentations to the ministries of finance, power and petroleum and natural gas next week, seeking a suitable resolution for the problem of stressed assets.
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‘We are learning to develop low-cost products for India’
Global industrial technology and auto-component supplier ZF had been preparing for the ongoing worldwide transition into electric vehicles since as early as 2012.
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Power plants woes: Private producers feel the pinch
The fall in PLF of private plants to 55.2% even as state-owned producers saw theirs rise to 77% reveals the sector’s woes
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Pvt firms upset over coal min’s preference to govt power plants
The development comes at a time when the gap between the plant load factors (PLFs) – capacity utilisation levels – between private and government-owned power plants continue to widen, and this decision, independent power producers claim, would further impair their ability to service debts, and in turn worsen the bankers’ portfolio of stressed assets in power, currently seen at more than Rs 1.74 lakh crore.
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UDAY Targets: Discoms hit by payment delay
The aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of state-run discoms in the country stood at 23% in Q3FY18 versus the FY18 target of 18.8%
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Steel and cement industries want coal supply to resume
Upset by coal and railway minister Piyush Goyal’s latest decision to prioritise coal supply to power plants, captive power plant (CPP) producers, who mainly run their generation units to cater to own steel, cement and other industries, have written to the minister and the Prime Minister’s Office, seeking immediate resumption of coal supply for CPP-based industries.
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Adani’s Kawai unit gets major relief
The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has allowed Adani Power Rajasthan (ARPL), which runs the 1,320-MW Kawai power plant, to recover the additional cost.
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Spot electricity prices rise on high demand, low supply
Spot prices of power have risen recently on the back of higher demand from the states and power producers, constrained by fuel paucity, selling less at the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX).
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Power Struggle: NTPC’s legacy PPAs keep tariffs high
NTPC acquired its privileged status by signing several PPAs on a ‘cost plus’ basis, before it became mandatory for power generators to discover electricity tariffs through competitive bidding.
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USIBC bemoans low renewables tariffs in India
USIBC, a bilateral trade body, told FE that “the current investment climate in India can be improved further by reducing regulatory barriers to market entry, particularly in the transmission and distribution sectors”.
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Modi’s Saubhagya scheme: Power supply to 3.63 crore households to cost Rs 32,000 crore to discoms
The government’s stated plan to provide electricity connections to 3.63 crore households by December this year, if implemented, will raise the power distribution companies’ (discoms) supply cost by an annual Rs 32,200 crore or roughly a quarter.
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Power Sector: Rating bodies to assess loan quality of stressed projects
Lenders to thermal power projects have decided to assign rating agencies to determine the “sustainable debt” levels of completed plants with existing power purchase agreements and coal supply arrangements.
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Demand rising: Scheme for 2,500 MW power attracts states
States have evinced interest in the government’s latest pilot scheme to procure 2,500 MW electricity from plants without power purchase agreements (PPAs).
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Good news: All 5,97,464 villages electrified, says power ministry
When the Modi government took over, there were 18,452 unelectrified villages in the country but data shared by the Centre on Sunday showed that all of India’s 5,97,464 villages have been now electrified.
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UDAY scheme impact: Now, complacency to cost electricity discoms dear
If the state governments still wanted to keep electricity subsidies, they should give these to the intended beneficiaries via the direct benefit transfer (DBT) route, rather than burden the distribution companies (discoms) by making them the transfer agents, power minister RK Singh said.
