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Power
India's dependence on thermal power to dip to 50% by FY22: Report
India's dependence on thermal power will reduce to 50 per cent by 2021-22 and 43 per cent by 2026-27 on the back of renewable energy (RE) capacity additions, a report said. Thermal power includes diesel, gas and coalbased electricity generation which contributes 63 per cent of total electricity generation capacity in India as per the report. "India is chasing ambitious RE targets and enhancing its T&D (Transmission & Distribution) infrastructure. Increasing RE use is decreasing dependence on coal. Contribution of the thermal sector will reduce to 50 per cent by FY22 and 43 per cent by FY27," said a report by Praxis Global Alliance and Zetwerk. The recent study by Praxis Global Alliance, a leading management consulting and advisory firm, and Zetwerk, an Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing products and services, highlights the impact of COVID-19 on the overall power sector including key segments - generation, transmission, and distribution. According to the report the installed power generation capacity has increased at 8.6 per cent CAGR over the period FY12FY19 and renewable energy is growing at the fastest pace.New private investment in the generation sector is expected to be largely in the renewable sector, it added. The report showed that owing to past bad experiences, long-term PPAs (power purchase agreement) in thermal power are unlikely to pick-up in the future.Renewables sector is likely to continue with long-term PPAs, it added.
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India's power output rises 2.6% in early August for first time in five months
India's electricity generation in the first 15 days of August rose for the first time since early March, provisional government data showed, as the country opened up industries and lifted restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus. Power generation rose 2.6% in the first 15 days of August compared with the same period of last year, a Reuters analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid operator POSOCO showed, compared with a 1.8% fall in July. In the second half of last month, electricity generation declined 3.1%. Power use has picked up from previous months when India was under a strict lockdown, mainly because of higher demand in the northern states and rising consumption in the highly industrialized western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Rajasthan, India's largest state by area, saw a 15.7% growth in electricity use. Other states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also saw an uptick in power demand. Renewable energy generation, which fell by nearly a fifth in July, rose 2.3% in the first half of August. Solar-powered electricity production grew 19.3%, while wind-powered generation fell over 10%. Power generation from coal - India's primary source of electricity - rose 4.2% in the first fifteen days of August, the data showed.
Coal India's fuel supply to power sector drops about 20% in AprilJuly
State-owned Coal India's fuel supply to the power sector registered a decline of 19.5 per cent to 126.30 million tonnes (MT) in the April-July period of the ongoing fiscal in the wake of slump in coal demand. Coal India Ltd (CIL) had despatched 156.86 MT of fuel in April-July last year, according to the latest data of the coal ministry. The despatch of coal by CIL in July fell 12.4 per cent to 32.76 MT, from 37.41 MT supply in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, it said. The coal despatch by Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) almost dropped by 47.2 per cent to 9.68 MT in the first four months of the current financial year, from 18.32 MT of fuel supplied in the corresponding period a year ago. The coal supply by SCCL last month dropped to 2.40 MT from 4.33 MT in July 2019. Demand for domestic coal is likely to be subdued in the second quarter of the current financial year due to lower demand from end-user industries amid the COVID-19 pandemic along with high inventory at power stations, India Ratings had said in a report. Thus, coal offtake reduced in June 2020 yearon-year but improved month-on-month with the gradual relaxation in lockdown norms, it had said.
Coal Ministry's go-ahead for 100% supply to thermal power units by CIL
Given the excessive coal stock available with Coal India Limited (CIL), the ministry of coal has approved the company’s plan to supply 100 per cent of the normative requirement of the thermal power units. The ministry has recommended increasing the ‘annual contracted quantity’ (ACQ) of coal to 100 per cent of the normative requirement of a non-coastal plants. It was 90 per cent earlier. The ACQ has been increased to 70 per cent for coastal plants. The decision of the coal ministry pertains to coal supply both under long term agreement signed with CIL and coal supply linkage via the auction route. CIL periodically holds auctions of coal for the power and non-power sector for short-term and medium-term coal supply contracts. This is in line with the recent Centre’s directive to reduce coal import. Last month, CIL launched a
special category of e-auction of coal for those companies and traders which import coal to meet their requirements. The company also informed the ministry that around 700 million tonne of coal would be available with CIL in the current financial year. It further said, the production from next financial year shall be as per the plans to achieve the 1 billion tonne coal production target by 2024.
Rs 68K crore of loans released under discoms liquidity package
As much as Rs 68,000 crore worth of loans under Rs 90,000 liquidity package announced for the stressed power distribution utilities have been sanctioned so far which is expected to create buoyancy in the sector. Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in May announced the Rs 90,000 crore liquidity infusion into cash-strapped discoms, facing demand slump due to the lockdown to contain COVID-19. "State-run non-banking finance firms REC Ltd and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) have sanctioned loans worth about Rs 68,000 crore so far under the Rs 90,000 crore liquidity infusion package for discoms announced in May," a source said. The loans under the package will be co-funded by PFC and REC in equal proportion. The loans would be sanctioned in two equal tranches. The package was announced on May 13, 2020. While announcing the package, the government had said, "At present the discoms have a total outstanding of Rs 94,000 crore towards power generation firms (gencos). However, later states demanded to expand the package to include outstanding dues towards power generation and transmission firms for the month of April and May as well.
Smart metering will improve discoms' efficiency, high cost a hurdle: Crisil
Smart metering will help empower discoms by improving billing efficiencies and reducing leakages, however, the scale of financial investment required is a major roadblock in its path, according to a report. India's traditional power metering system is inadequate, resulting in MBC (metering, billing and collection) inefficiencies, high commercial losses and revenue leakages, Crisil Ratings said in a report. Smart metering could empower discoms by improving billing efficiencies, enhancing customer services and reducing leakages, thus enabling financially distressed discoms to maximise revenues, it added. The report also noted that smart metering could also help meet the need for robust metering systems, given the rising dependence on renewable energy will result in a growing tribe of distributed generators with net metering requirements.However, it added that there are several stumbling blocks, including the scale of financial investment required. While the need for smart metering provides an opportunity for domestic manufacturers, they will have to ramp up production to compete with cheaper Chinese imports, the report said. Despite the benefits, only 3 million smart meters are operational in India compared with 270 million traditional meters, it said.
After 73 years of wait for power, 3 J&K villages along LOC on national grid
Negotiating months of heavy snowing and the Covid-19 lockdown, the Kupwara district administration connected three villages located along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Keran area to the national electricity grid, ending a wait since Independence for power supply. The job was not easy, officials said, recalling the acute shortage of manpower for the work after restrictions were imposed following the abroga
tion of Article 370 and the imposition of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic It is an arduous five hours journey to Keran from here on a fair-weather road that meanders through apple and walnut orchards of the Kashmir Valley and the Pherkian Pass at 10,000 feet in the Shamasbari Ranges. The job was not easy as the administration was faced with acute manpower shortage after the abrogation of Article 370 followed by seven months of snow in winters and the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
Make in India renewable energy to help government not just meet, but exceed power target, says minister
While the nationwide lockdown hampered economic activities and caused a dip in power usage as well, the demand for energy will boom in coming months as economic activities start with full force. While the nationwide lockdown hampered economic activities and caused a dip in power usage as well, the demand for energy will boom in coming months as economic activities start with full force. “Any apprehension that that demand will go down just no longer holds water as of now. I will say (the demand) will increase because the economy has not started full tilt as yet, and when it (does) … we are bound to grow,” Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh told. Further, the government will continue to push for Make in India in ramping up its renewable energy capacity despite it meaning a slowdown, if any, in adding to the country’s renewable capacity, he added. Meanwhile, the government is clear on its agenda to build power capacity and expects that it will not merely meet its target but also exceed it. “We believe that we have to switch over to renewables and we will not only meet our commitment, we will exceed it,” RK Singh said. Expressing confidence in the power sector’s revival, RK Singh said that the power consumption has gone up in 2020 despite coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns in activities. “We are already where we were (last year), despite the fact that we know all industries have not opened fully and, despite the fact that, in many parts of the country, there are still restrictions,” he said. In fact, it is expected that the pent up demand will release itself in coming months and the power consumption will grow again at the same rate as it was growing, if not faster.
Massive investment expected in India’s power transmission segment by FY25
Sabyasachi Majumdar, group head and senior vice-president (corporate ratings) of ICRA, said the Centre has lined up 14 transmission projects under the tariff-based competitive bidding (RBCB) route for evacuating power from 25-gigawatt RE projects. The domestic power transmission segment is expected to attract investments worth Rs 1.8 lakh crore in the next five years, according to a report by rating agency ICRA. It said evacuation infrastructure for renewable energy (RE) projects will drive investments in the power transmission segment. It added that in line with a shift in policy focus from conventional sources (coal and gas) to renewable power sources (wind and solar), the focus of the transmission segment is towards augmenting infrastructure for evacuation of power generated by RE projects. The government has also lined up another six projects in the intra-state segment, providing healthy pipeline for private sector players, he added. There is likely to be a slowdown in electricity demand and investments in the sector in 2020-21 amid the COVID-19-induced disruption but recovery is expected from 2021-22 onwards, he said.
Power Ministry proposes RPO for round the clock renewable energy
Power Minister R K Singh has proposed renewable purchase obligation (RPO) mechanism for round the clock (RTC) renewable energy, which will promote storage of electricity in the country. Under RPO, bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and capacitive users are required to buy a certain proportion of renewable energy or RECs (renewable energy certificates) in lieu of clean energy. Once the RPO is mandatory for RTC renewable energy, it would encourage investments in renewable electricity storage projects.
Solar capacity addition in Covid-hit second quarter of 2020 fell to a six-year low of 205 MW, plummeting 86% year-on-year, a report by consulting firm Mercom India Research showed. Large-scale installations accounted for 59%, while the rest was from rooftop projects. Total power capacity added since January was 2.3 GW, out of which about 85% came from renewable energy. Coal-fired plants accounted for 13% of new projects in the first half of the year, while wind energy's share was 14%.Rajasthan and Karnataka together accounted for 68% of solar installations in the quarter, it said. Mercom pegs cumulative solar projects online at 37 GW, with an additional 42 GW under construction. Data from the Central Energy Agency (CEA) showed renewable energy generation fell 24% year-on-year.
AISIA urges government to impose 50% basic custom duty on solar equipment
All India Solar Industries Association (AISIA) on Thursday urged the government to impose at least 50 per cent BCD (basic custom duty) on solar equipment for sustenance of domestic manufacturers. AISIA in a statement said that following the coronavirus-related disruption, the Indian solar manufacturing sector has witnessed a major downfall with exports witnessing a decline. "AISIA urges the government of India for immediate implementation of BCD for sustenance," AISIA said. It further added that, this is also the time when the government can further give impetus to the Prime Minister's Vocal for Local movement and help the local manufacturers strengthen their position in the domestic market. While Safeguard Duty and the recent decision by the government to provide land near ports to set up manufacturing units has been a step in the right direction, solar manufacturers are imploring for an immediate respite, it said.
Greenko, NTPC partner for energy storage, flexible, despatchable RE power supply solutions
Greenko Energies (Greenko) and NTPC VidyutVyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN), a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Ltd, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the possibility of development of Renewable Energy based round-the-clock (RTC), flexible and despatchable power. This arrangement will be for the round-the-clock supply and be based on integration of renewable energy (RE) sources and Pumped Storage projects. The value proposition of the potential offering will be to meet the evolving bespoke requirements of Discoms and other power consumers in India in real-time. Affordable energy storage is critical to the sustained growth of renewables, grid balancing and address limited generation flexibility in the Indian energy market.
