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.

Nearly half the country’s coal fired power capacity remains unutilised this monsoon season

Nearly half the country's coal fired power capacity have remained unutilised this monsoon season as hydel plants generated close to 22,000 mw of cheap power every day in the last one month.

At this level of capacity utilisation, new thermal power plants can hardly recover their interest cost needed to service bank debts, while older ones struggle to make profits. "If capacity utilisation of plants fall further, power generators may be forced to back down a large number of units and a lot more power stations may come up for sale under stressed asset category," said a senior analyst who requested not to be named.

According to analysts, 70% of most thermal power projects' costs are financed through long-term loans. As a result, interest cost components are one of the largest expenditures in any power stations' books.

During the planning phase project developers assume that the plant can run at least at 75% capacity utilisation and provide for decent returns. However, if utilisation dwindles to around 50% plants are in for trouble. Expenditures far outstrip income at this level.

Data released by the government shows thermal power plants totaling 87,000 megawatts in Western India ran at 49% of their full capacity in July. Nationally, 46% of 211 gigawatt of coal-fueled power plants' capacities remained unutilised during the month.

Between July this year and last, South India's total installed capacity increased nearly 21% to 42,000 megawatt, but capacity utilisation fell 11% during the same period to 65% last month.

With a decent monsoon leading to hydel plants generating and injecting close to 22,000 mw of cheap power every day demand for coal fueled electricity has declined. Also, power demand has not been growing at the pace it was anticipated, leading to a mismatch between demand growth and capacity addition.

My View:

The coal fired plant will surely work with more efficiency in winter and summer session. However they can also try and sell in power exchanges. With cheap hydro and increasing renewable energy is possessing threat to thermal power plants.

India to get cross-border electricity trade policy soon

India has taken the lead in integrating the electricity grids of countries in South Asia, as in the case of European and South African nations.


The government is finalising a draft cross-border electricity trade policy to enable Indian producers seamlessly exchange power with neighbouring nations.

Once finalised, it will be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval.

The move follows a meeting of Saarc energy ministers in September 2014 that decided to set up a cross-border transmission interconnection for the member countries.

As per the draft policy, Indian developers of overseas projects will require a one-time single-window clearance for trade of electricity between Saarc nations, sources said. "The policy will immediately enable domestic firms in setting up power plants in Nepal and Bhutan to sell electricity in India.

Likewise, it will enable export of excess power from India," a senior government official said. Power plants of Tata Power, GMR Energy and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam totaling 5,000 mw are under construction in neighbouring countries.

India expects to be power surplus this year. The policy will help Indian power plants sell excess generation to other Saarc nations. It will enable the Ministry of Power to allow spot trade of electricity when it deems fit. But cross-border spot trade will have to wait as the buyers and sellers are not known.

As per the policy, the countries will set up enabling power transmission lines within their borders, while the common infrastructure will be set up in joint ventures. Companies getting into bilateral power contracts will have to lay dedicated lines by themselves.

My View:

Cross Border trading surely a great step towards improving the scenario of power sector in south asian countries. It will help the surplus countries like Bhutan to sell electricity at competitive price and the deficit countries like Bangladesh to buy. This will also help the indian generators who installed there power plants in neighbouring countries. Lets hope the dream of cross border trading become reality in coming days.

Puducherry to derive Rs 378 crore net benefit through UDAY

The union territory of Puducherry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the centre under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana for operational turnaround of the union territory's electricity department.

"An overall net benefit of approximately Rs 378 crore would accrue to Puducherry by opting to participate in UDAY, by way of cheaper funds, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses and interventions in energy efficiency during turnaround," the power ministry said in a statement.

With this a total of 16 states and union territories have joined the scheme with the combined debt of around Rs 2.51 lakh crore that would be restructured till 30th September, 2015.

UDAY will help Puducherry improve its electricity department's operational efficiency. It will be achieved through compulsory metering of distribution transformers, consumer indexing and geographical image satellite mapping for losses, modernisation and upgradation of transformers, meters, introduction of smart metering for high-end consumers and feeder audit.

Aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and transmission losses would be brought down, besides eliminating the gap between cost of power supply and realisation to 12% and 0.95% respectively. Reduction is losses are likely to bring additional revenue of around Rs 165 crore during the period of turnaround.

While efforts will be made by the electricity department of Puducherry to improve operational efficiency, and thereby reduce cost of power supply, the centre will also provide incentives for improving power infrastructure for further lowering cost of power.

Puducherry shall also be supported through additional coal at notified prices, low cost power from NTPC and other CPSUs. Other benefits such as coal swapping, coal rationalization, correction in coal grade slippage, availability of 100% washed coal would help the state further reduce cost of power. Puducherry is expected to gain around Rs 135 crore due to these coal reforms.

Demand side interventions in UDAY such as usage of energy-efficient LED bulbs, agricultural pumps, fans & air-conditioners and efficient industrial equipment would help in reducing peak load, flatten load curve and thus help in reducing energy consumption in Puducherry. The gain is expected to be around Rs 72 crore.

Further, with improved efficiency, the electricity department would be in a better position to borrow funds at cheaper rates for power infrastructure development and improvement.

Reduced levels of transmission and AT&C losses would mean lesser cost per unit of electricity to consumers. Further, an operationally healthy electricity department would be in a position to supply more power. The scheme would allow speedy availability of power to around 7948 households in union territory that are still without power.


Experts Comment:


UDAY is helping Distribution company as a whole to reduce there debt and improve efficiency. The main reason of increasing loss by discom is inadequate metering,improper collection efficiency,high transmission losses and the list goes on. Thus the effect of UDAY will be seen after 3-4 years in Indian Power Sector. Let's hope for best such that it can help distribution companies to grow at faster pace.

India announces Repowering Policy for wind energy projects

In a bid to infuse a new lease of life in India's wind energy sector, the Narendra Modi government today announced a new policy for repowering of wind power projects. The policy has the potential to turn around a bulk of the 27,000 Megawatt of the existing installed wind generation capacity in the country.



Repowering refers to replacing ageing wind turbines with more powerful and modern units in order to raise electricity generation levels at the refurbished wind sites. The process involves replacing old machines with fewer, larger and taller modern units which are quiter, more reliable and can produce more electricity.

The objective of the Repowering policy is to promote optimum utilization of wind energy resources by creating a facilitative framework, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said in a statement. India had started harnessing wind power around 1990 and the present installed capacity of over 27,000 Mw is fourth largest in the world after China, USA and Germany.

Most of the wind-turbines installed up to the year 2000 are of capacity below 500 Kilowatt (kW) and are at sites having high wind energy potential. It is estimated that over 3,000 Mw capacity installations are from wind turbines of around 500 kW or below. Repowering is required to optimally utilise the wind energy resources.

"Initially wind turbine generators of capacity 1 MW and below would be eligible for repowering under the policy. Based on the experience, MNRE can extend the repowering policy to other projects also," the ministry said.

As part of the Repowering policy, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will provide an additional interest rate rebate of 0.25 per cent over and above the interest rate rebates available to the new wind projects being financed by IREDA. Also, all existing fiscal and financial benefits available to the new wind projects will be available to the repowering project as per applicable conditions.

The repowering projects would be implemented through the respective State Nodal Agency or Organisation involved in the promotion of wind energy in the state. Under the policy, state transmission utility will provide augmentation of transmission system from pooling station onwards.

In cases where power is being procured by state discoms through PPA, the power generated corresponding to average of last three years' generation prior to repowering would continue to be procured on the terms of PPA in-force and remaining additional generation would either be purchased by Discoms at Feed-in-Tariff applicable in the state at the time of commissioning of the repowering project and allowed for third party sale.

States will also facilitate acquiring additional footprint required for higher capacity turbines. A wind farm or turbine undergoing repowering would be exempted from not honouring the PPA for the non-availability of generation during the period of execution of repowering. Similarly, in case of repowering by captive users, they will be allowed to purchase power from grid during the period of execution of repowering on payment of charges as determined by the regulator.

The ministry also clarified that no additional financial liability will be met by MNRE for implementing the Repowering Policy. The repowering projects may avail Accelerated Depreciation benefit or Generation Based Incentive (GBI) as per the conditions applicable to new wind power projects. Also, the policy would be reviewed by the Government as and when required.



Expert Comment:


It's been a long time for wind power in light of the nation. The wind power sector had faced so many tides; by adding huge amount of installed capacity from late 90's to early 2000's,then degradation after 2009 then again some rise. The repowering is one of the area which will help India to grow at faster pace in wind segment. Hope it will help to increase the CUF of old wind power plants.