Contents 6 Rock-bottom tariffs may rock solar boat 18 Coal vs renewables: Learning to live with each other 22 Solar storage to be the next wave 24 Solar, wind cannot go beyond 40% of energy mix 26 Renewables and thermal power will see a role-reversal in future 31 Thermal coal offers rise in December 32 Coking coal offers rise in December 33 India’s Oct coal, coke imports up 17% y-o-y 34 Coal India production up 2.58% in November y-o-y 35 India’s cement production in Oct down 3% y-o-y 36 Nov power capacity addition at 157 MW 37 Indian power plants’ coal stocks up 46% m-o-m 38 SCCL aims at 10% y-o-y growth in production 39 Post-acquisition, Komatsu sees expanded prospects in India 42 Heralding merchant coke making in India via recovery S3 route 45 US coal production up 8% during JanNov 46 Global coal demand to remain flat till 2022: IEA 47 Traffic handled by major ports up 3.5% in Apr-Nov 2017 49 Indian Railways’ November coal handling up 5% y-o-y 51 JMS aims to mine 10% of CIL’s 100 mt UG output by 2020 55 Corporate updates 58 E-auction data 60 Port data
4 Coal Insights, December 2017
6 | COVER STORY
Rock-bottom tariffs may rock solar boat
39 | Interview
The record low tariffs augur well for competition, but raise questions about sustainability of the renewables wave.
Post-acquisition, Komatsu sees expanded prospects in India By combining the various product lines, the expanded Komatsu offers a more complete product line for Indian miners.
42 | Technology
Heralding merchant coke making in India via recovery S3 route The new technology offers significant benefits for India’s merchant coke makers.
46 | International
Global coal demand to remain flat till 2022: IEA IEA forecasts restricted growth in India’s coal imports.
51 | Corporate
JMS aims to mine 10% of CIL’s 100 mt UG output by 2020 The company specialises in blast-free technology to propagate green mining.
Cover Story
Rock-bottom tariffs may rock solar boat Madhumita Mookerji & Arindam Bandyopadhyay
F
oreign tourists, especially those from the cold climes, are known to be attracted to India’s sunny weather. Not just the sun, there are large swat hes of the country buffeted by strong wind, especially those nearer the sea, in the southern region. And yet, about 70 percent of India’s electricity generation capacity is from fossil fuels. It is common knowledge that the country is largely dependent on thermal coal imports to meet its energy demands. But greater import dependence is a threat to the nation’s energy security as it introduces global market volatility into the mix. It also adds to a huge import bill leading to the loss of valuable foreign exchange. Thus, the need of the hour is to shift the focus towards renewable energy sources. After the Paris Climate Agreement, wherein the countries agreed to limit their emissions so as to contain the global temperature rise, the debate in support of developing the renewable energy sector has further grained traction. While all the sources of renewable energy – wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, etc. – have seen good progress in India in recent years, the Indian solar industry, in particular, has witnessed its best year in 2017, with nearly 4.8 gigawatts (GW) capacity being installed during the first 6 months of the calendar itself, which is more than all the solar capacity installed in 2016. The cumulative installed solar capacity now
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Cover Story stands at nearly 14.7 GW. The Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) forecasts nearly 9 GW of solar installations in calendar 2017, due to the robust project development pipeline slated to be commissioned by yearend. Currently, solar accounts for nearly 4.4 percent of the total installed electricity generation capacity in the country, and provided nearly one percent of the total power generated during 2016-17. A statewise break-up shows that Andhra Pradesh became the first Indian state to reach an installed solar capacity of over 2 GW, closely followed by Rajasthan with 1.9 GW. But, these are still small achievements if compared with the potential of solar in the country. As per the World Energy Outlook Report, 2015, India has solar potential of around 750 GW. This estimate is based on the assumption that 3 percent of wasteland in each state can be used for solar power projects, plus an assessment of the potential for rooftop solar. This represents nearly 3 times India’s total installed power capacity today. However, more recent estimates indicate that India’s solar potential is far greater than the estimates previously arrived at. India’s renewable energy target
As per the National Solar Mission or Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), India has set a target of having a total installed solar capacity of 100 GW by 2022. This is part of the ambitious renewable capacity expansion programme aimed at achieving 175 GW renewable capacity by 2022. Under this programme, apart from solar, 60 GW would come from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydroelectric projects. Further, the 100 GW of solar capacity would entail 60 GW of utility-scale projects
Objectives of JNNSM Long term ♦♦ To establish India as a global leader in solar energy ♦♦ To promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenges Short term ♦♦ To create an enabling environment for penetration of solar technology throughout the country, the mission’s target was revised to 100 GW in 2015 from the initial target of 20 GW.
(both solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar power or CSP) like solar parks, plus 40 GW of rooftop solar applications for commercial users and households, together with some small-scale schemes and off-grid capacity. JNNSM, a milestone policy, was launched on January 11, 2010 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The initial solar capacity target (grid-connected) under the policy was 20 GW by 2022, but this was expanded to 100 GW in 2015. It may be recalled that India’s installed solar PV capacity in 2010 was a mere 161 MW. As of October 2017, the total solar generation capacity stood at about 15.6 GW. The government aims to raise solar power generation capacity to 48 GW by early 2019, out of a targeted 100 GW from solar by 2022. When compared to coal-based power generation, solar is still at a highly nascent stage and the Government of India, to ensure a stable market for solar energy, has
These are still small achievements if compared with the potential of solar in the country. As per the World Energy Outlook Report, 2015, India has solar potential of around 750 GW. This estimate is based on the assumption that 3 percent of wasteland in each state can be used for solar power projects, plus an assessment of the potential for rooftop solar. This represents nearly 3 times India’s total installed power capacity today.
The target is to be achieved in 3 phases. 1st Phase: 2010-13 and 2nd Phase: 2013–17. At each stage, progress will be reviewed and a roadmap for future targets will be adopted. Besides, the government has offered a 25 percent capital subsidy for solar equipment production. The solar parks attracting the recent low bids get cheap or free land from state governments, a big implicit subsidy since 1,000 MW needs 5,000 acres.
already made it mandatory for state power utilities to buy a certain amount of this clean energy from independent power producers (IPPs). It is said that the duty structure for equipment needed to generate solar energy is more favourable compared to that needed for producing wind power. Also, the government is stressing on grid connectivity and subsidies for rooftop solar projects. Solar and wind tariffs
Interestingly, in the second quarter (Q2) of 2017, an all-time low solar tariff of `2.44 ($0.038) per kWh was discovered at the Bhadla Phase III solar auction in Rajasthan against `3.20 per kWh, a price at which NTPC sells electricity from its coal-based generation units. The lowest bid in solar reverse auctions declined by about 26 percent from Q1 to Q2, 2017. And this development kind of set off a trend in wind too, when a few months ago, wind power tariffs fell to a record low of `2.64 per unit in an auction conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 1 GW of wind power contracts. But why did these tariffs nosedive at such an important juncture in the development of the renewables sector? It is said that in the rush to build market share in this exciting sector, some players have become very aggressive in the competitive auction process and are bidding very low tariffs with fairly low returns.
Coal Insights, December 2017
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Interview
Post-acquisition, Komatsu sees expanded prospects in India
P
ost-acquisition of Joy Global by Komatsu, the combined entity sees huge prospects in India, particularly from the long shopping list of India’s main coal producing company, Coal India Ltd. By combining the Joy, P&H, Montabert and Komatsu product lines, the expanded Komatsu now offers a more complete offering of mining products, filling in the gaps that it previously did not offer, Samaresh Mitra, National Sales Head, OE, Komatsu Mining Corp Group, tells Madhumita Mookerji.
Excerpts: Do you foresee any green shoots emerging in the economy? What is your outlook? Yes, I am sure, there would be some surge in GDP in the near future, especially if the government continues to back up the industry with some sound policies. I think the first quarter’s sluggish growth was a temporary phase and we will surely see the GDP growth climb up to around 7.5 percent which was the peak position it had touched a few years back. Did the GST have any impact on the mining equipment sector? There was a little bit of confusion initially but I wouldn’t say the sector had deteriorated. In the longer term, as we
get more familiar, it is going to be a much simpler tax structure. We are increasingly learning about it as the days go by and coming to grips with it. After the acquisition of Joy Global by Komatsu, how synergistic has it been? The immediate synergy has been in the expanded product line. Previously, Komatsu’s core concentration in mining was on surface mining but now, as one company, we have more complete offerings for surface and underground mining. Where the underground market is concerned, it is a slow one but it is picking up. At Komatsu, we can surely benefit from this. Joy products have had a very good market capture rate in India, especially
in underground mining, so we expect to expand on that as part of Komatsu. Where surface mining is concerned, there was a basket of products which neither Komatsu nor Joy Global on their own could offer 100 percent to customers. But as one company we are now a very strong force to be reckoned with and we can offer complete mining solutions to our customers. So, which categories of products were not being offered by both entities? Komatsu, in the mining segment, had haul trucks and hydraulic excavators, motor graders and dozers. It did not have the electric mining shovels, blasthole drills, draglines and other surface equipment that P&H now provides as part of Komatsu’s offerings.
Coal Insights, December 2017
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TECHNOLOGY
Methods to lower costs in low production output plants
Heralding merchant coke making in india via recovery S3 route Abhijit Sen Abstract
India’s 125 crore population and the huge geographical landscape creates an enormous canvas of economic and infrastructural growth, which is largely dependent on the growth of the Indian steel industry. Steel continues to have a stronghold in traditional sectors such as construction, housing and roads; special steels are increasingly being used in engineering industries such as power generation, petrochemicals and fertilizers. This will necessitate substantial volumes of coking coal to fuel the incremental production. Hence, the metallurgical coke industry is also poised for a remarkable boost. The merchant coke makers who occupy more than one-third of the coke
market in India must improvise means to survive the country’s needs vis-à-vis global competition. In the present article, the author indicates at a new window wherein the merchant coke makers can switchover from the age old Bee-hive technology to a new Recovery type technology named ‘Semet-Solvat & Sen’ (S3), which can substantially boost up the economy of merchant coke-making in India. Introduction
The Indian coke industry is dominated by the integrated steel plants (ISPs). These units possess captive coking facilities. The production of coke by the ISPs is estimated at around 25 million tons (mt) as of 201516. Coke produced by these units is a blend of imported coal and indigenous varieties; hence, the coke quality differs with each producer and cannot be sold in the open market in large quantities. On the contrary, merchant coke making
Growth of crude steel production in India in coming decades
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A panoramic view of Adhunik coke oven plant during the night
capacity in India occupies a space of 12-15 mt, fully dependent on low ash coking coal imported from Australia, USA, Canada, Mozambique etc. But unfortunately, Indian merchant coke making is fraught with technical inadequacies on account of commercial viability. Due to a dwindling market condition and fluctuating demand, the merchant plants cannot operate on full capacity and are shut down for a considerable length of time off and on. This particular situation compels the manufacturers to use low cost material as well as refractory which can withstand thermal shock due to multiple heating up and cooling down. This very fact has kept the manufacturers away from the Recovery type coke ovens which are usually made of Silica refractory which is sensitive to temperature fluctuations and cooling down of Silica made ovens is practically impossible. Another two things which haunt Indian merchant coke makers are installation cost and operational skill. Technically very little innovative work has been done in merchant coke making beyond sole heating. Merchant coke making through the by-product recovery route has started making headway for the first time in postindependence India very recently, when a couple of entrepreneurs under the technical stewardship of the author himself set up two plants successfully: the first one at Anjar, Bhuj in Gujarat (presently named Carbonedge Industries) and the second at Adhunik Metalliks at Rourkela, Odisha.
CORPORATE
JMS aims to mine 10% of CIL’s 100 mt UG output by 2020
J
MS Mining Services is a leading player in the implementation of mass production technology in underground (UG) coal mining in India. It has expertise in all types of UG coal mining services and specialises in blast-less technology in an attempt to propagate Green mining, informs Dilip Kr Sharma, Executive Director, JMS Mining Services, who was recently present at the 7th Asian Mining Congress (organised by the Mining, Geological And Metallurgical Institute of India), where Madhumita Mookerji caught up with him for a freewheeling interview.
Excerpts What specialty does JMS bring to the table as a mine developer-cum-operator (MDO)? JMS started its business as a service provider of mass production technology for underground mines. We now provide end-to-end solutions for underground mining which include construction of mine infrastructure like inclines, shafts etc. We do the feasibility study, mine planning and design, supply equipment and also provide operations and
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maintenance services. We further provide end-to-end solutions for greenfield projects in underground mining. Our specialty is blast-less technology. We do not use blasting. We are the one who had introduced real-time strata monitoring systems in underground mines; we have introduced the concept of design monitoring, routine monitoring and real-time monitoring as part of the Strata Management System. In fact, we are the first to introduce continuous miner in India. We are also the first player to use the bolter miner technology in India – we did it this
year. JMS is credited with introducing the road headers machines for inclined drivages right from the surface to the underground coal seams. We introduced it this year in Eastern Coalfields. This is a cutting technology in stone in a 1 in 4.5 gradient. Do you focus only on underground mines? At present, yes. It is our strength and others’ weakness! We are working on one opencast mine, while the rest are all underground. Currently, we are involved in approximately 15 underground mines.
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Tear along the dotted line
Tear along the dotted line