Indian Power Sector

The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (TANGEDCO) will soon issue tenders for two of its proposed power projects having a total power generation of 2,200 MW.

Speaking at the customer meet organised by power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) in Chennai, K. Balasubramanian, director of generation, TANGEDCO, said, “We will soon come out with a tender for the Uppur Thermal Power Project. It will have super critical boilers. Necessary clearances for the project have been obtained.”

He said the company will also float a tender for the 600 MW thermal power project at Ennore.

The 1,600 MW Uppur project planned at an outlay of Rs.9.600 crore, will come up at Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram district. Land necessary for the project (1,200 acres) has been identified.

According to TANGEDCO, the project will be set up on tariff-based competitive bidding and is to be commissioned by Dec 2015.

The company will also come out with a tender for one 600 MW thermal unit at Ennore near here at its existing power project complex. The project is to be commissioned by Dec 2015.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) will commission its piping plant in Thirumayam in Tamil Nadu in April this year.

According to A.V. Krishnan, executive director of BHEL’s boiler division, modernisation of the state-owned firm’s seamless steel tubes plant at Thiruchirappalli (Trichy) at an outlay of Rs.160 crore will also be over next year.

Speaking to journalists, he said, “We will commission the Thirumayam plant set up at an outlay of Rs.300 crore, in April. The plant capacity is 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). We are planning to make 17,000 tonnes of piping next fiscal.”

On the additional land needed for the plant, he said: “We have 40 acres for the plant. We are looking for additional 60 acres for employee township and shipping (storage) area.”

The higher official said the modernisation of the seamless steel tubes plant at Trichy would get over in 2013 and the focus will be on rolling out alloy steel while carbon steel would be bought from outside.

The Karnataka government will soon constitute a special committee to hasten the process of clearing projects proposed by power generating companies.

According to a higher official, the Group of Officers, under the Ministry of Power, will be constituted in a couple of weeks to simplify procedures concerning the granting of projects and clear the stumbling blocks.

According to another top official, “One of the major concerns expressed by developers has been the time taken for giving clearances, and a separate committee is being set up to address this.”

Several projects were put on hold as they were awaiting clearance from the Forest Department, it is claimed.

The second power generation unit of Bellary Thermal Power Station (BTPS), with a capacity of 500 MW, is set for commissioning in February-March.

An announcement in this regard was made by Shamim Banu on the sidelines of a national conference on “Renewable energy for Karnataka’s development and energy security” organised by The World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), a non-profit organisation working in the area of green energy.

This has given hope to the power sector in the State, which is reeling under power shortage, that at least a part of the increase in summer demand for power can be managed as this unit would generate about 10 million units of power a day.

Banu said that the State would add about 100 MW to its installed capacity from the renewable energy sector before March.

This would take the total capacity addition in this financial year from the renewable energy sector alone to 550 MW as about 450 MW had been added from this sector, she pointed out.

Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd (APML) has expressed its intention to terminate the power purchase agreement (PPA) it signed with state-owned Mahavitaran Ltd due to “reasons beyond the company’s control”.

According to reports, the move raises a question mark on power supply from Adani Power’s 3,300MW Tiroda power project in the state’s Gondia district and means the state government may be unable to meet its target of ending power cuts in Maharashtra by the close of 2012.

Maharashtra has been reeling under a power shortfall of 4,500-5,500MW for more than a decade, with power cuts ranging from four hours in urban areas to 12 hours in rural areas.

The company won’t be able to use coal from the captive block allotted to it for environmental reasons. It has offered to supply power at a higher price than agreed in the PPA.

The first 660MW unit of APML’s Tiroda power plant was scheduled to be commissioned in August and another 660MW unit by December.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the energy portfolio, said, “Our internal consultation process is on and we have not taken any final decision on this issue.

KEC International Ltd has secured two new orders worth Rs 371 crore for construction of transmission lines in India.

The first order valued at Rs 258 crore has been received from Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, an official statement said.

The order is for the supply and construction of 400 kV double circuit transmission line from Bhachau in Kutch district to Essar thermal power station in Gujarat. The total length of the line is 260 Kms and the contractual completion time is approximately 26 months.

The second order valued at Rs 113 crore has been received from Haldia Energy Limited, subsidiary of CESC Ltd. The order is for supply and construction of 400 kV double circuit river crossing transmission line between Haldia Thermal Power Plant and Subhash Gram. The contractual completion time for the project is approximately 18 months.

Ramesh Chandak, MD & CEO, KEC International Ltd said “The last few months have been very good for KEC in terms of securing new orders. We have continuously secured orders from across the globe and across our various businesses. The Haldia Energy Ltd. (CESC) order is the second successive order from the domestic private sector customer in the last two weeks.”

Welspun Energy has decided to set up one of its largest thermal power capacities in Andhra Pradesh.

The energy arm of Welspun Group, whose interests include textiles, steel pipes, retail and infrastructure, plans to set up the project on Andhra Pradesh coast

The project is expected to come up with an outlay of Rs7,500 crore and a capacity to generate about 1,320 mw in the initial phase.

“The project would be based on environment friendly super critical technology, requiring about 1,000 acres. The project would depend purely on sea water and would avoid any burden on fresh water sources of the state,” reportedly said a source.

“The project is still being finalised and we don’t see much of a problem in terms of environment clearances this time since it would come up on the coast and not interfere much with agriculture or irrigation,” the source added.

NTPC Ltd is planning to take up another mega project in South along with the 4,000-MW Kudgi project in Karnataka.

The power sector major, with an operating capacity of 4,450 MW in the Southern region, is executing expansion projects at Simhadri near Visakhapatnam, Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh, Kudgi in Karnataka, Kayamkulam in Kerala, and is planning another mega project, a 4,000 MW plant at Pudimadaka close to Visakhapatnam.

The Regional Executive Director of NTPC, Mr R. Venkateswaran, was quoted as saying by the Business Line, “The Andhra Pradesh Government is keen that we take up another mega project near Visakhapatnam. While NTPC was looking at considering this project during XII Plan (2012-17), the keenness shown by the State is encouraging us to consider it ahead of planned schedule.”

Venkateswaran said supply of coal and gas continues to be worrisome and requires a long-term perspective approach.

Around five to six more power plants are expected to begin operations in Gujarat soon.

State Energy minister Saurabh Patel said that more than 3,000 mw of conventional power generation capacity is likely to be commissioned in the coming few months.

“The state’s power generation capacity will increase from current 14,500 mw to close to 18,000 mw with commissioning of these projects. This will be a significant capacity addition in a very short period,” said Patel.

According to reports, Gujarat State Energy Generation (GSEG)’s 360 mw gas-based power plant at Hazira is ready for commissioning and could start power generation any day now. The 350 mw gas-based power plant of GSPC Pipavav Power Company at Pipavav is also nearing completion and is expected to be commissioned soon.

Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited’s (GSECL) 500 mw coal-based power plant at Ukai and Essar Power’s 600 mw power plant at Salaya are also expected to be commissioned in near future.

Producers in the power industry have suggested that available fuel be equally distributed among all thermal plants, though there is a perception that the government may not agree for such a move.

Players are seeking supply for new projects which have come up/ready to be fired between 2009 and January 19, 2012, with a capacity of about 20,000 megawatt.

According to them, the newer plants with better technology will be able to generate more power.

The coal and gas-based power developers, who met the senior ministers of the Government last week, under the aegis of the Association of Power Producers (APP), pitched for higher domestic coal supplies.

They also said that in line with the gas utilisation policy, the entire thermal coal production should be reserved for the regulated sectors such as power and fertiliser.