RInfra exits IEX, sells 4% stake for Rs 103 cr to an FPI

My View:

IEX being No. 1 power exchange in India provides competitive price of electricity. Rinfra sold it's stake in IEX by 10 times higher than the purchase price. IEX has evolved the Power Market and now contributes almost 9%. Rinfra on other side sold its stake to reduce its debt burden.




News:
Reliance Infrastructure has sold its entire 4.12 % stake in India Energy Exchange (IEX) for Rs 103 crore, about 10 times higher than the purchase value, to a foreign portfolio investor, sources said.

IEX is the country's largest power exchange. This comes after Jindal Steel & Power sold 4.12 % in IEX to Motilal Oswal PE in March and global investment firm Bessemer selling its stake in two separate deals, to TVS Capital and the Dalmia group.

IEX has nine % of the total power market and R-Infra was a primary investor. It bought the 4.12 % stake in 2007 for Rs 1.25 crore.

It had said discussions were in an advanced stage to monetise its entire road portfolio.

The company is reportedly in talks with Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management to sell its entire portfolio in that segment. This is part of the company's strategy to restructure its heavy debt by exiting from capital-intensive businesses.

R-Infra is also present across the value chain of power businesses i.e. generation, transmission, distribution and power trading. It also provides engineering, procurement and construction services for developing power and road projects.

It reported a 33.8 % rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 570 crore for the quarter ended September, from one of Rs 426 crore in the same period a year before.

The company is targeting projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore planned by the government across infra segments, it had earlier said.

R-Infra's Mumbai Metro (Rail) earned a revenue of Rs 61 crore in the September quarter, an increase of 13 % over the same period a year before.

Haryana discom reports Rs201 crore profit in first half of 2016

My View:

It can be said that this is the result which Power ministry was expecting from UDAY scheme. Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd has done significant work to come out of loss making DISCOM to profitable DISCOM. However the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd has been incurring losses. Lets see whether the states which have accepted UDAY can bring some good news like this in future.




News:

One of the two state-owned power distribution companies in Haryana, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd, has become the first power utility to turn around under rescue scheme Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY), rolled out in November 2015, raising hopes that fortunes of the entire electricity value chain including of coal mining and power generation will benefit from better electricity demand in coming days.

An analysis of the financial health of the utility released by the power ministry on Thursday said the company has reported “remarkable achievement of turnaround” from a loss of Rs479 crore in 2015-16 to a profit of Rs201.35 crore in the first half of 2016-17.

Turnaround of distressed state power distribution firms is crucial for the health of other segments of the electricity value chain which depends on power offtake. Better power demand from distribution firms will help generation companies, especially thermal power plants, to step up their capacity utilisation which is currently at about 60%. Coal demand, too has been sluggish in the past as loss making distribution firms were not able to cater to the actual energy demand.

Monthly coal production recovered from a contraction and grew for the first time in three months in November, indicating improving power demand during winter.

As per data from state-owned monopoly Coal India Ltd (CIL), monthly production grew 5.3% to 50 million tonnes in November from a year ago, after a bearish trend in mining since August when output had shrunk by 10%.

The power ministry analysis said that the Haryana utility still has to improve upon its performance in meeting the target of lowering losses on account of billing inefficiency and power theft.

The UDAY scheme rolled out last November gave performance and efficiency improvement targets to loss making utilities in order to narrow their gap between cost of power supply and the price realised from consumers. Their accumulated debt up to September 2015 was allowed to be taken over by respective state governments to make available low cost credit.

Haryana’s second distribution firm, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd, however, continued to make losses in the first half of this year. It reported a loss of Rs1,233 crore in the first half against the loss of Rs336 crore in the full year of 2015-16, said the analysis.

Procuring wind energy through bids a positive for sector:ICRA

My View:

With the procurement of wind power through auction route will help the developer to get the offtakers.

The proper implementation of UDAY will help to get the timely payment from the DISCOM to wind developers.

If the auction goes well,it will help to achieve the target of wind power of 60 GW by 2022.



News:

The scheme for procurement of wind energy through auction is a positive for the sector but receivables (payment delays by discoms) remain an area of concern, says ICRA.

"In ICRA s view, continuing delays in the payments by the state-owned distribution utilities (discoms) in key states such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan pose a challenge for the wind energy sector, although some improvement has been seen lately," ICRA said in a statement.

On the positive side, however, ICRA believes that the MNRE scheme for procurement of 1 GW through the auction route would facilitate the offtake for wind energy players, it added.

ICRA Ratings Senior VP Sabyasachi Majumdar, said in the statement, "While there has been some improvement in payment pattern by utilities in Rajasthan, with the implementation of UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) as well as by the utility in Maharashtra in the last three month, a build-up in receivable position is seen, which varies from 8 to 12 months as on November 2016 and thus remains quite significant.

In addition to payment delays by state utilities, wind energy projects remain vulnerable to the risk of non-signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) by the utilities as seen in Maharashtra and forced back down by utilities in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu."

Further, implementation of forecasting and scheduling framework, as approved by State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) in Karnataka and in other states where draft regulations are in place, poses regulatory challenges for the sector, given the variable and intermittent nature of wind power generation and limited experience available with IPPs in forecasting and scheduling as of now, the statement said.

Also, the sector continues to face challenges due to the limited compliance of renewable purchase obligation (RPO) norms by the obligated entities as well as the variance in RPO norms across the states, it added.

Notwithstanding these near-term challenges, the long-term demand potential for wind power remains strong, given the large untapped potential, fairly attractive feed-in tariffs and relatively lower execution risks.

ICRA notes that the incremental wind-based energy capacity requirement by FY2022 is estimated at about 46 GW as against the current installed capacity of 28.1 GW.

This is assuming annual energy demand growth of 6 per cent, non-solar RPO at 12.5 per cent by FY2022 and wind as a renewable energy (RE) resource contributing to a dominant share (75%) in meeting the non-solar RPO requirement on an all India basis, it said.

"ICRA further favourably notes that the scheme for award of 1 GW through the auction route by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) would facilitate the consumption of wind-based generation by distribution utilities in states with limited wind energy resources.

"This, apart from reducing the offtake risks for wind energy players, would enable the distribution utilities in such states to honour their non-solar RPO requirement to some extent , Majumdar added.

Facts

Solar Power in India:

* The installation capacity in India increased about 5 times from 941 MW in March 2012 to 5248 MW in January 2016.

* In 2015-2016, the industry added over 3 GW of solar installed capacity, which was well above the target 1.4 GW for the year.

* In 2013-14, the tariff range was Rs. 5.50- Rs. 15.99 per kWh at both state and central levels.

* In 2014-15, the tariff range was Rs. 5.25- Rs. 7.56 per kWh.

* In 2015-16, the new low of Rs. 4.34 per kWh was achieved.

* Indian rooftop solar market, which has a total installed capacity of only 1,020 MW as of September 2016, or about 10% of total installed solar capacity in the country.

Demonetisation is a positive event for power sector: Mercom Capital

My View:

Demonetisation is helping a lot to power distribution companies as the unpaid bills are getting paid at faster pace.

Also by increase in liquidity of banks will help to reduce the lending rates to the power sector. With these Demonetisation it will improve the situation in sector by more foreign investment.

News:

Demonetisation has turned out to be a positive event for the power sector with distribution companies recovering pending power bills from their customers, Mercom Capital Group said today.

Quoting a number of discoms and government officials on the issue, the consulting firm also said that the power sector could also benefit from relaxed lending and lower rates, among other things.

"Demonetisation has been chaotic and changing the way the Indian economy functions...banks suddenly flush with funds, all of which could relax lending to the power sector and potentially bring down interest rates," it said.

The government has mandated that the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations can be used to pay pending utility bills which will help discoms due to their huge backlog of unpaid bills.

Discoms are expecting a substantial influx of payments prior to the December 31 deadline after which these currency notes will become invalid. For cash-strapped discoms this is unexpected good news, it said.

It quoted an official at Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd as saying, "since the announcement of demonetisation, discoms in the state have seen payments of old bills cross Rs 1 billion ($ 14.74 million) within a week. The signs are positive as this will financially empower the discoms".

Due to the amnesty of taxes and penalties provided to black money holders (unaccounted currency), the government will have a huge influx of money that can to be allocated for infrastructural development and funding new projects, stated an official at Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TCTL), it said.

"India is largely a cash economy so in the short-term demonetisation is going to hurt installations as small developers will find it tough to pay for land acquisition, but in the long-term it will be beneficial as dicoms will get paid, lending rates will fall and foreign investment will increase in the face of a falling rupee and rising dollar," Mercom said quoting an official at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

An official at Bihar State Power Holding Co Ltd informed the consultant that there are many ambitious projects like the Green Energy Transmission Corridor that require large investments and with consumers repaying pending bills and government taxing defaulters, nodal agencies foresee better fund allotment from the government.

It said officials at Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency, Odisha Power Transmission Corp Ltd (OPTCL) and Power Management Company, Madhya Pradesh, all concurred due to demonetisation, peace is being restored in regions like Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh [insurgency belt] as insurgents find it hard to fund their operations.

This will uplift the morale of developers in these regions and installations will pick up.

Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation received tepid response for its 500 MW tender due to demonetisation, but it was an exception said an official at MNRE.

An official at Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation (UPTCL) stated that the state has been a classic example for unpaid electricity bills. Now the Discoms can get some relief with consumers using their stashed cash to pay pending bills as well as advance payment for future month's electricity bills in some cases.

A slew of government funded projects and subsidies are expected as cash deposits increase in banks, an official at the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation said.

Demonetisation, Mercom said, is turning out to be an overall positive event for the renewable sector as well.

"This combined with the rapid decline in solar component costs is making a lot of low questionable bids feasible. However, we have to wait and see how government agencies handle the situation - especially payment issues - going forward," Mercom Capital Group CEO Raj Prabhu said.

Sweden to scrap taxes on solar energy in 2017 in bid to run entirely on renewables

My View:

It's a great step by Sweden to increase the share of solar energy. Reduction of taxation means less burden for developers. Also,zero tax for those who will use solar energy for there own use will promote solar rooftop in country. 

News:

Sweden is set to ditch taxes on its production of solar energy in 2017 in a bid to run entirely on renewable energy by 2040, the government said on Monday.

Solar energy is currently marginal in the Nordic nation, accounting for less than 0.1 percent of electricity production. Sweden relies mostly on hydropower (39 percent) and nuclear power (36 percent).

The finance ministry said in a statement that the production of solar electricity for own use would be entirely exempt from taxes. Electricity providers would meanwhile only be taxed 500 kronor (51 euros) per megawatt hour, which is a 98-percent reduction from the current level.

"This makes fast investments possible," Social Democratic Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said.

The proposal is likely to be adopted by parliament, with the centre-right opposition having criticised the minister for her lack of ambition with regards renewable energy investments.

The move must also be approved by the European Commission in Brussels, which aims to boost the EU's share of renewable energy to at least 20 percent of consumption.

In October, the Swedish energy market regulator had estimated that in order to reach the target of 100 percent renewable energy, the share of solar electricity would have to rise to between five and 10 percent.

Adani to start constructing Australia solar plants next year

My View:

Adani decision to develop solar plants in Australia is a welcome step for Australians. Adani's investment in coal mines were facing huge issues in Australia. However with increased investment in Australia will help to build long term relationship. Recently in Tamilandu, Adani constructed world's largest solar plant.








News:

Indian energy giant Adani Group today announced its new venture for construction of two major solar projects in Australia next year as part of its efforts to develop renewable energy projects in the country with a total capacity of 1,500 MW within the next five years.

"Adani today announced that it proposes to commence construction of two major solar projects in Australia next year, each with an output of 100-200 MW," a company statement issued here said.

Land agreements were in place for the projects in South Australia and Queensland and Adani has commenced the design and tendering phases for both projects.

Adani aims to develop renewable energy projects in Australia with a total capacity of 1,500 MW within the next five years, it noted.

The Australian solar projects will be in addition to Adani's 16.5 billion dollar investment in the planned Carmichael coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin, which has faced years of legal delays over environmental approvals, as well as rail and port facilities.

The company's head of Australian operations, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, said that these projects will offer a solid foundation to Adani's renewable energy business in Australia and will contribute to meeting the country's renewable energy target commitments.

"Coupled with the company's 3.3 billion dollars of investment to date across its mine, rail and port projects in Queensland, Adani's plans to pursue solar investment opportunities reflect the confidence the company has in the Australian market," Janakaraj said.

"This reflects both Adani's commitment as a diversified energy and infrastructure company in India and a leading solar generator in that market, and the company's plans to build a long-term future with Australia," he said.

Adani has constructed approximately 793 MW of solar plant capacity in India to date, including one of the world's largest solar plants in Tamil Nadu which has a capacity of 648 MW. Adani has a further 1,225 MW in construction or late development phase in India.

The environmental organistaion Mackay Conservation Group has welcomed Adani's decision to announce a 100 to 200 MW solar farm in Central Queensland.

"This is a sensible move that recognises the long term future of electricity production is in renewables," Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Peter McCallum said.

"We also welcome the jobs that construction of a large scale solar power plant will bring without endangering jobs in Great Barrier Reef tourism. This is a win for everybody. Adani is fundamentally an energy company, not a miner, and their expertise is shifting rapidly towards becoming a clean energy producer in India and now in Australia," he said.

The company has faced a protracted battle to establish Australia's largest thermal coal mine.

Inox bags repeat order for 40 MW project in Gujarat

My View:

Inox Wind is continuously getting projects which are helping the books of company. RDPL is investing huge in renewable energy. The big firms in India should take lessons from such firm. 

As on 30 Sep 2016,the installed capacity of wind power plant is about 28 GW.

News:

Noida based Inox Wind Limited has won a repeat order for 40 MW wind power project in Gujarat.

Inox will execute the project on turnkey basis for Roha Dyechem Private Limited, a manufacturers of natural and synthetic colours, and the project is scheduled to be commissioned by March 2017.

The 40 MW project from Roha is part of the 350 MW of orders announced by lnox Wind on 3rd October 2016, according to an Inox release.

As part of the order Inox will install 20 units of it's 2 MW-113 meter rotor diameter turbine. The wind turbine manufacturer will provide end to end solutions from development and construction to commissioning and providing long term operations and maintenance services, the media release added.

"We are pleased to further build on the success of lnox's 2 MW platform in India." said Kailash Tarachandani, Chief Executive Officer of lnox Wind Limited in his statement.

RDPL has diversified its activities in Renewable Energy, as one of the emerging sectors of its business in the years to come. RDPL has already successfully invested in an aggregate of 52.5 MW of Solar Energy and 13.5 MW in Wind Energy and further plans to reach a combined milestone of 500 MW at various locations.

Around 25,000 Megawatt of thermal power capacity running without long term pacts

My View:

The Discom's are preferring to buy cheaper power from exchanges or with short term bilateral contract. It is really hurting the generators as they are not able to get assurance related to power purchase. It would create problems in generation segment.
















News:

Thermal power projects of more than 25,000 Megawatt (MW) capacity are operating without long term power purchase agreements (LTPPA's) with state owned discoms, according to ICRA.

State owned discoms have created a trend over the past two to three years, of buying power from trading markets for a cheaper price when compared to signing fixed rate PPA's with thermal power plants, the reaserch agency added in its recent report.

This decision by state owned distributors has given them the freedom to buy power at cheaper rates from exchanges and also create a highly competitive bidding environment to lower tariffs even further.

Discoms are expected to sign LTPPA's in the future, with the implementation of UDAY across the country and improvement of discoms financial health.

Only four states namely Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh have invited bids to sign long term PPAs for an aggregate bid capacity of 7.5 GW.

Out of these, PPAs have been signed with utilities in Kerala (865 MW) and Telangana (500 MW) while discoms in Andhra Pradesh (2,400 MW) and Uttar Pradesh (3,800 MW) are yet to sign the PPAs, ICRA added in its report.

The 25 GW in the private IPP segment remains exposed to price and volume risks in the short term trading market, given the absence of LT PPA bids. This, in turn, has also impacted the ability of such IPPs to secure cheaper source of domestic coal under the fuel supply agreements with Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries, given that the availability of such coal to IPPs is subject to tie-up of their capacity under long-term PPAs.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) in its recent tender for supply of 3,800 MW under design, build, finance, own and operate (DBFOO – case I) route over a period 15 years, has received bids in range of Rs 3.9 - 5.5 per nit from IPPs, according to industry sources. UPPCL has received bids totaling 6,652 MW from 18 power companies against requirement of 3,800 MW for supply starting from October 2016.

The power requirement was divided into three parts, based on fuel source, with 2,800 MW based on domestic coal linkage, 500 MW based on imported coal and 500 MW based on captive coal mine.

The lowest tariff quoted for supply using domestic linkage coal is at Rs 3.94 per unit, using coal from captive mines stood at Rs. 3.95 per unit and using imported coal stood at Rs. 4.06 per unit.

These tariffs are lower than the L1 tariff discovered through case-I bidding by the discoms of Andhra Pradesh at Rs 4.27 per unit and Kerala at Rs 4.29 per unit in the recent past, signifying increasing competition amongst thermal IPPs to secure long-term PPAs.

The heightened competition can be partly attributed to the high off-take risks for the power generation segment, wherein recently commissioned and under-construction capacity of about 24-25 GW in the private IPP segment does not have long term PPAs.

This is on account of the weak financial profile of the state owned discoms, which has constrained signing of long-term PPAs by the discoms. Also, the upward trend in quoted tariffs by IPPs since 2012 also led to slow progress in signing of long term PPAs by discoms.

Discoms have been reluctant to sign long-term PPAs at the higher tariffs offered by developers, despite the continuing power shortages in some states. Instead, discoms in a few states are more inclined to procure power on a short / medium term basis.

 

Spot power price at Indian energy exchange hits 6-month high in Oct at Rs 2.46

My View:

The price is quite competitive in IEX. The MCP of 2.46 and ACP of about 2.75 is quite cheaper. If I will compare with renewable energy pricing, still there is quite huge gap. The open access regulation must also be strengthen in few state to develop power market in full fledged way. IEX being India's no. 1 Power Exchange is facilitating and bringing competitiveness in Power Sector. 










 


News:

The average spot power price at the Indian Energy Exchange touched a six-month high of Rs 2.46 in October due to higher demand, particularly from industrial units and southern states.

"The spot price of electricity has been on a slightly higher side in October also due to high demand, particularly from industrial units and southern states," an IEX official told .

The average power price was recorded at Rs 2.91 per unit in April this year. It was on the lower side thereafter at Rs 2.32, Rs 2.31, Rs 2.16 and Rs 2.17 in May, June, July and August, respectively.

It picked up again to Rs 2.43 per unit in September this year. The spot power price was the highest in six months at Rs 2.46 per unit in October.

"October saw attractive and competitive price in IEX Spot Power Market with average Market Clearing Price (MCP) at Rs 2.46 per unit, 19 per cent less than MCP of Rs 3.03 per unit in the same month last year. The average Area Clearing Prices (ACP) ranged from Rs 2.40 to Rs 2.75 per unit across regions," IEX said in statement.

The market remained liquid with average daily sell bids of 235 MUs (million units) and purchase bids of 139 MUs. During October this year, 3,609 MUs were traded which on a daily average basis is 116 MUs, about 10 per cent increase over 105 MUs traded in the same month last year, it said.

The open access consumers (industrial units) accounted for almost 60 per cent of the cleared volume, mainly due to competitive price.

However, the congestion on the inter-state transmission network increased, affecting import of power in the Southern and Northern regions.

About 3.6 MUs were lost on a daily average basis. The Southern corridor was congested about 42 per cent of the time and the congestion was mainly due to increase in demand for power in South.

Congestion in the Northern corridor was experienced for about 16 per cent of the time during the month, it said, adding that the Term-Ahead Market remained vibrant and over 93 MUs were traded -- about 220 per cent increase over 29 MUs traded last month -- owing to increase in demand due to the festive season.

Uniform rate prevailed for three days October 7, 8 and 9 -- in line with the One Nation, One Grid and One Price motto of the Government.

Inox Wind bags 40 MW power project from Malpani Group

My View:

Inox wind is continuously getting the projects which is good for the firm. It will help the company to get more amount of projects. Wind Power as a segment is facing slowdown in recent years. Lets hope the policies and regulation help the sector to have faster pace. The target by the government is 60 GW by 2022 in India.

News:

Noida based Inox Wind today announced it has won repeat orders for two 20 MW wind power projects in Gujarat.

Inox Wind will provide end-to-end solutions from development and construction to commissioning as part of the turnkey project for Malpani Group, according to the company statement sent to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) .

"Inox Wind Ltd has bagged repeat orders from D J Malpani for two wind power projects of 20 MW each in the state of Gujarat. The two orders are scheduled to be commissioned by March 2017," added the company statement.

Inox has also been contracted to undertake operations and maintenance services of the projects for a multi-year period, post commissioning.

The orders involves supply and installation of 20 units of Inox Wind's 113 meter rotor diameter Wind Turbine Generator.

Malpani Group is a diversified business house with presence in renewable energy, FMCG products and real estate.

 

About NLDC

The main functions assigned to NLDC are:

• Supervision over the Regional Load Despatch Centres.

• Scheduling and dispatch of electricity over the inter-regional links in accordance with grid standards specified by the authority and grid code specified by Central Commission in coordination with Regional Load Despatch Centres.

• Coordination with Regional Load Despatch Centres for achieving maximum economy and efficiency in the operation of National Grid.

• Monitoring of operations and grid security of the National Grid.

• Supervision and control over the inter-regional links as may be required for ensuring stability of the power system under its control.

• Coordination with Regional Power Committees for regional outage schedule in the national perspective to ensure optimal utilization of power resources.

• Coordination with Regional Load Despatch Centres for the energy accounting of inter-regional exchange of power.

• Coordination for restoration of synchronous operation of national grid with Regional Load Despatch Centres.

• Coordination for trans-national exchange of power.

• Providing Operational feedback for national grid planning to the Authority and Central Transmission Utility. 

• Levy and collection of such fee and charges from the generating companies or licensees involved in the power system, as may be specified by the Central Commission.

• Dissemination of information relating to operations of transmission system in accordance with directions or regulations issued by Central Government from time to time.

Govt mulls penalties for curtailing renewable power generation

Taking serious cognizance of some states curtailing power generation from solar projects, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said his ministry is looking into how mandatory electricity production from renewable sources can be enforced.

"I have come across this issue wherein certain states are resorting to curtailing generation from solar projects and instead buying cheaper power from the exchanges.

"We are finding a solution whereby anybody who does not fulfil the 'must run' status, what can be done to either enforce that or penalise them (states)," Goyal told reporters on the sidelines of an IEEMA event.

Some states including Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have issued directives to curtail power generation from solar projects. Both the states backed down their commitment towards green power sources, claiming that they have already made provisions for it.

Power producers' body Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) had raised concerns that such decisions were affecting the generators. The government has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of power from renewable energy sources, with 100 GW from solar alone.

My View:

As we know that Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu being a renewable rich state in the country. Curtailing renewable generation can be due to:
A) To avoid instability in grid.
B) To avoid expensive power.

The Govt. should impose stringent penalties, then only states will follow. The real example can be seen from fulfillment of RPO by states, where we can see that some states are still not fulfilling RPO.



 

Wind turbines firm Senvion says big merger deal not in prospect

German wind turbines maker Senvion is not expecting to be part of any large-scale consolidation within the industry, preferring to focus on internal growth and possibly some further small acquisitions, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Some 84 percent of Senvion's sales come from onshore wind turbines. It is also the world's third-largest maker of offshore wind turbines, behind Siemens and MHI Vestas, a joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Denmark's Vestas.

Aiming to cut costs by increasing global scale, Senvion's local rival Nordex earlier this year took over the wind turbines business of Spain's Acciona, while Siemens and Gamesa are forging the industry's largest player.

"Big tie-ups need to pay off. At the moment, I don't see any product offering that would cause us to take such a step," Juergen Geissinger, Senvion's chief executive since last December, told Reuters at a wind power industry conference.

"Smaller acquisitions, like the one we recently did in India, are always on our mind though."

Senvion, which listed its shares in March, last month announced the purchase of the Indian wind power business Kenersys India Private Ltd, including a production facility of about 250 megawatts (MW), to take it into one of the industry's most promising markets.

"The Indian market has an annual volume of 4-5 gigawatts (GW). That makes it bigger than Germany," said Geissinger, who was chief executive of German car parts maker Schaeffler until 2013.

He said Senvion also hoped to benefit from an expected surge in orders in the United States in the fourth quarter, as wind farm developers seek to take advantage of key tax credits before they are phased out next year.

Senvion already has 1 GW of installed capacity in the United States but no local production. "Whether we will set up local production obviously depends on order backlog. That starts to make sense from about 1 GW."

Geissinger also reaffirmed Senvion's forecast for sales this year of 2.25-2.3 billion euros ($2.52-2.57 billion) and an adjusted margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about 9.5 percent.


My View:
Senvion being one of the top company in wind sector. They are not planning now to be more agressive in acquisition. I think they are learning from big firm like sunedision which failed miserably. Wind segment in India is now at backfoot as the new story is now solar. However still in renewable energy in India,the wind power sttill holds first place.

Modi govt to bid out Rs 4,697 crore power projects in first reverse e-auction

In a major change aimed at infusing transparency in the infrastructure sector, the Modi government will conduct its first-ever bidding of power transmission projects through reverse auction on an electronic platform and award six mega contracts worth Rs 4,697 crore through the novel initiative.

"The projects would be bid out in the next few months through the reverse e-auction route. The process will evaluate tariff-based competitive bids submitted by companies for the first time," a senior official close to the development told ETEnergyWorld. He added power projects financing firms Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) would act as the nodal agencies for implementing the electronic tenders.

The electronic bidding is being seen as a huge opportunity for some of the key players in the sector including Sterlite Power, Adani Transmission, Kalpataru Power, Alstom T&D and KEC International apart from the largest and the state-owned Powergrid Corp (PGCIL).

PFC will execute the bidding process of four projects including Rs 536 crore Transmission System for Ultra Mega Solar Park at Fatehgarh in Rajasthan, and Rs 863 crore additional 400 KV feed to Goa and an additional system for power evacuation from generation projects at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.

The power ministry's Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) will also bid out Rs 743 crore connectivity system for Lanco Vidarbha Thermal Power and inter-state transmission system strengthening in Madhya Pradesh apart from Rs 318 crore connectivity and long-term access to Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation's 450 MW from Shongtong Karcham hydro project.


In addition, Rural Electrification Corp will execute the bidding of Rs 916 crore New Western Region-Northern Region 765 kV Inter-regional corridor and Rs 1,321 crore Eastern Region Strengthening scheme.

"The projects may not be awarded this year. But we will start issuing the Requests for Qualification (RFQs) and Requests for Proposal (RFPs) beginning next month," the official said.
Apart from the six projects, the centre is currently working on two additional projects where RFPs have been issued through the previous manual process while the RFQs would be issued through e-auction.

The Modi government has ramped up pace of implementation of power transmission projects in a bid to end regional disparity in electricity supply and make round-the-clock power available to all the citizens by 2019 in Asia's second-largest economy. Power minister Piyush Goyal had last month launched the reverse e-auction process form bidding for power transmission projects on the lines the coal block auctions.

The minister had said the e-bidding and reverse auction of transmission projects will facilitate better price discovery. Currently, India has a transmission network of 350,792 curcuit km with a transmission capacity of 59,000 Mw. The government plans to raise it to 65,000 Mw by March 2017.

 

My View:

Carrying out a reverse e-auction in power transmission will help the competition to grow in transmission segment. The project which is included in bidding will help to improve the infrastructure. It also includes the transmission project of solar plant. It would be interesting to see the kind of bidding will happen in first ever reverse e-auction in transmission segment.



 

Solar projects in Maharashtra receive Rs 4.42 per unit bid

The proposed 450 mw grid connected solar projects in Maharashtra under National Solar Mission has received lowest bid of Rs 4.42 per unit and nine other companies submitted bids of Rs 4.43 per unit.

Lowest bidder was Vijaya Printing Press Pvt Ltd which offered to build a 10 mw solar plant at a tariff of Rs 4.42 per unit. This was followed by Solar Edge Power and Energy Pvt Ltd (130 mw). Others were Light Source Renewable Energy Holdings, Neel Metal Products Ltd (100 mw) and Canadian Solar Energy Holding (80 mw).

Jasmeet Khurana, Associate Director Consulting said: "The Maharashtra bid goes to show that new investor interest exists even at current tariff levels. UK based Lightsource and China based Canadian Solar are known to have been looking at opportunities in India. They have finally taken a plunge. Due to a big swell in new allocations over the past 6-8 months, many of the prominent developers are reaching investment and operational limits. This should open up avenues for new developers and investors waiting on the sidelines."

This was under Part-B of the National Solar Mission Phase-II which Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is implementing along with a large number of schemes under the National Solar Mission (JNNSM) including this one in Maharashtra.

This projects are also eligible for viability gap funding (VGF) although the lowest bid of Rs 4.42 did not ask for any such funding while the rest opted for viability funding of Rs 1.46 lakh per megawatt on the lower side to Rs 2.48 lakh megawatt on the higher side. VGF support is a Government Grant that is provided by SECI upon successful commissioning of the plant.

Under these schemes, solar power projects are set up by private developers on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis, either in government designated solar power parks or in any other location of the developer's choice. Power purchase agreements (PPA) are signed with SECI for 25 years.

However, Khurnana said that the underlying off-taker in the case of this bid (Maharashtra) is more bankable that some of the other SECI bids (in other states) and that does have an impact on risk perception and tariffs.

"This is aided by a rapid reduction in equipment costs due to the ongoing global supply glut. Maharashtra has the highest power consumption amongst all states in the country but it lags far behind many states in terms of adoption of solar power. The state will need to play an important role in future growth of the utility scale solar market in the country," he said.

My View:

The main factor is bankability of offtaker. If the offtaker is in good position, so investor will also be happy to bid for the projects. PPA of 25 years period is quite huge in perspective of solar power.

IPCL to adopt smart grid with USTDA in Gaya

India Power Corporation Ltd has entered into a partnership with US Trade & Development Agency to implement smart gird technology on India Power's distribution network - particularly to its Gaya Franchise in Bihar. It will boost efficiency and reliability while minimizing wastage.

A smart grid is commonly characterized by the application of digital processing and communications to centralize data flow and information management. American expertise will help overcome challenges like integration of new grid information - one of the key issues in designs of smart grids.

At present, electric utilities now find themselves making three classes of transformations: improvement of infrastructure; addition of the digital layer; and business process transformation, necessary to capitalize on the investments in smart technology. Much of the work going on in electric grid modernization, especially for substations and distribution automation, is now included in the general concept of the smart grid.

The opportunity to conduct USTDA sponsored technical assistance for IPCL will be completed by interested US firms through Federal Business Opportunities.


My View:

The initiative taken by IPCL is good one. The smart grid will help to reduce wastages which can improve the present condition in Gaya. It can become an ideal example if it becomes a successful project.

CleanMax eyes 400 MW rooftop solar installed capacity in 2 years

Buoyed by the Centre's increased focus on renewable energy sector, solar solutions provider CleanMax Solar is looking to enhance its rooftop installed capacity by nearly eight-fold to about 400 MW in the next two years, a top company official said.

"With a current installed rooftop solar capacity of 55 MW across the major metros in the country, we are looking at increasing it to up to 400 MW in the next two years," company's Managing Director Kuldeep Singh told PTI here.

He said the government's vision of 40,000 MW of installed rooftop solar capacity by 2022 gives the company a huge opportunity to grow.

"Along with this, a number of private and government entities are also coming forward where we provide bespoke rooftop solar solutions," he said.

The company, which enjoys nearly 28 per cent share in the total rooftop solar market, has presence in six metros including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai and Hyderabad.

When asked whether the government's ambitious target of 40,000 MW was achievable, Jain said, "The target is massive and we should not go much into the numbers. But the positive side to it is that there is improved activity and acceptability in this space."

CleanMax caters to clients across sectors like automotive/auto components, food and beverages, government establishments, academic institutions, IT/ ITeS and other manufacturing industries.

Founded in 2011, the company develops solar projects on a turnkey basis, providing power on a per-kWh basis, under long-term power purchase agreements, typically at rates cheaper than grid tariffs.

It also installs solar power plants on a capex basis, and can supply off-site solar power through open access in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

My View:

The target by Clean Max is quite ambitious. The competition is immense in solar rooftop segment. The offtakers are still not coming in full fledged manner. The policies and technology is also coming up in positive manner which is facilitating solar industry.

Lets hope that in future more efficient technology can come which can help the industry to grow.

Himachal cabinet decides to amend hydro policy 2006

Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Monday decided to amend the Hydropower Policy 2006 in respect to transfer of shares by Himachalis to non-Himachalis. Now Himachalis can sell or transfer 49% equity shares to non-Himachalis at any stage after allotment of projects upto 2 MW capacity and full disinvestment after two years of commissioning of the projects.

In case of bona fide Himachalis, to whom projects upto 2 MW to 5 MW capacity are allotted, they can sell or transfer 51% equity share to non-Himachalis at any stage after allotment of projects and full disinvestment after two years of commissioning of the projects. However, subject to the condition (in both the above cases), it was decided to levy some appropriate fee for transfer of equity.

The cabinet gave its nod to cancel four projects namely Joiner-II (3MW) in district Chamba, Kanda (0.80 MW) in district Sirmaur, Rawin (1 MW) in Shimla district and Chahod (2 MW) in district Mandi.

It approved the Himachal Pradesh Miscellaneous Adventure Activities Rules, 2004, which, besides existing HP Aero Sports and River Rafting Rules, also would include miscellaneous adventure activities like river crossing, zorbing, hot air ballooning, skiing, trekking, rock climbing, bungee jumping, rolling balls or water balls and zipline among others. However the objections and suggestions with regard to rules would be invited from the general public before finalization.

Cabinet approved amendments in section 3 of the Himachal Pradesh Tax on entry of goods into Local area Act, 2010. It also accorded approval to 100 units of free electricity per month to families affected by hydel projects as per subsidized tariff determined by Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) from time to time with respect to local area development committees of the districts and the balance amount equivalent to quantum of subsidy with state government.

This shall be done once in a year since the tariff is determined by HPERC. It was also decided to provide 35kg ration to the Above Poverty Line (APL) families in tribal areas. All three pulses would be provided to all ration card holders.





 

Essel Green Energy wins 270 MW solar project in Odisha

Essel Green Energy, an arm of Subhash Chandra's Essel Group, has won the bulk of the 270 MW tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for projects in Odisha.

SECI officials confirmed that Essel has been awarded 240 MW, while Jyoti Infrastructure has got 10 MW and IBC Solar Ventures India 20 MW.

As in several solar auctions this year, SECI set a reserve price of Rs 4.43 per unit, which the successful bidders offered without going lower. The winners were decided on the basis of the lowest viability gap funding (VGF) sought from the renewable energy ministry. Jyoti Infrastructure asked for VGF of Rs 49.15 lakh per MW, IBC sought Rs 49.25 lakh and Essel Green Rs 49.5 lakh per MW.

The Odisha project is the biggest that Essel Green Energy has won and is larger than its entire current solar portfolio of 225 MW across 12 projects, six of which have been commissioned.

It has one small hydro project and is building 17 others for a total of 82 MW. Six wind farms are under construction, while sites for another five have been identified for a total capacity of 500 MW.

This is the first major solar auction in Odisha. An auction of 20 MW was held in 2014 under the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. With thermal power priced low, the state has been a latecomer to renewable energy since the tariffs are not competitive. It is, however, identifying land to set up a solar park with a capacity of about 1,000 MW across 5,000 acres, with a total investment of Rs 6,500 crore. The winners of the latest auction will have to locate and develop their own land.



My View:

Orissa being coal state, solar power become a difficult task to bring. However it came and Essel green energy bagged 270 MW; which is highest for the company. The tariff is quite higher than current price of coal based power plant in Orissa. This decision is quite a positive state for solar mission.