Power insight dec11 jan_12_facing pg

Vol.2 s No.5 s December 2011 - January 2012 s Mumbai

` 100RNI No.:MAHENG/2010/39548

Increasing dependency on nuclear generated power seems to be the only answer for a power starved India which aims at providing cheaper and cleaner energy for the 1.2 billion population 22

Next issue:sector Focus

special Feature

Renewable Feature

Coal

Budget 2012-13 Curtain Raiser

solar Power

Nuclear– Road to cheaper power

NuCl

eaR seCtioN sPoNsoR

We will reach the planned capacity

s. K Malhotra Head Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy

aggressive plans in Nuclear

Dr. eric lowen President American Nuclear Society.

26

24

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SIMULATIONS AS REAL ASTHE NEED FOR SAFETY

Power Insight | December 2011 - January 2012 | 1

Every country needs uninterrupted power to sustain its eco-nomic and industrial growth and India is no different. How-ever, India’s power sector seems to be clutched amidst issues

that hinder country’s smooth growth and development. With looming global economic crises - it is high time to take necessary steps so as to overcome the issues and get ready with strong foundation to meet the uncertainties of the future.

Where are we heading? With every five year plan GoI sets huge capac-ity addition targets but fails to meet them at the end, Eleventh five year plan period is no different... thanks to so many reasons viz. delay in allotment of projects, fuel linkage, environment issues, land acquisition problem, slow reforms, safety and many more leading to delay in imple-mentation and commissioning of projects. Of initially planned capacity addition targets of 78,000 MW (2007-12) which was curtailed during midterm to 62,000 MW, the country is expected to add only around 45,000 MW during the XIth plan period ending March 2012. Every sec-tor is prey to one or the other reason for sluggish growth momentum. If we talk of thermal power sector which accounts for more than two third of country’s power generation, it is going through a phase of acute fuel shortage and along with this any new project in thermal space raises the eyebrows of many environmentalists - since it is not environment friendly. Among clean power options, the country is blessed with im-mense hydro potential but to a large extent untapped. Hydro sector is the second biggest contributor to the country’s energy basket. However, the sector is also moving at a slower pace on account of more or less similar issues. Wind and Solar are two viable options with clean energy but per unit cost is dearer as compared to other sources. Nuclear is cheaper and cleaner but post Fukushima nuclear disaster the country has seen major protest from locals for shutting down the nuclear projects over safety issue, though India was quick to review its safety standards post Japan nuclear accident.

We are just few months away to step in the XII five year plans. India needs to add around 100 GW during these five years 2012-17 in order to meet the growing demand of power to feed its burgeoning population and growing industrial sector. We need to find solutions for the prevail-ing issues. The call of the hour is - a clear vision and a strong political will to move ahead in right direction to achieve better future - in order to sustain our economic and industrial growth momentum.

With best wishes to all our reader’s and associates for a very happy and prosperous year 2012!

Editor - in - Chief Pankaj V Chauhan Email : [email protected]

Editor-In-Chief: Pankaj V Chauhan

Consulting Editor: Renjini Liza Varghese

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All right reserved while all efforts are made to ensure that the information published is correct, Power Insight holds no responsibility for any unlikely errors that might have occurred. The information on products & projects is being provided for the reference of the readers. However, readers are cautioned to make inquires & consult experts before taking any decision on purchase of equipment or investment. Power Insight holds no responsibility for any decision taken by readers on the basis of information provided herein. All disputes are subjected to Mumbai Jurisdiction only.

Printed, Published, Edited and Owned by PANKAJ V CHAUHAN, Printed at MAGNA GRAPHICS (INDIA) LTD.,101, C & D GOVT. IND. ESTATE, KANDIVLI (WEST), MUMBAI 400 067 and Published from G-3A, JUNGLEE PEER DURGAH, K.A.GAFFARKHAN ROAD, WORLI, MUMBAI 400 018.

Editor: PANKAJ V CHAUHAN

RNI. NO. : MAHENG/2010/39548

Editor’s dEsk

Strong Political Will With clear ViSion!

| December 2011 - January 2012 | Power Insight Power Insight | December 2011 - January 2012 |2 3

Contents

Coverstory

22

50

42

40 46

news

Featured Interview

Industry Feature renewable Feature

special report events Calender

Product showcase

Wind Technology

ELECRAMA 2012 Jan - Dec 2012

New Product & Technology

national news

Global news

renewable Updates

041848

34

Vol.2 s No.5 s December 2011 - January 2012 s Mumbai

Nuclear– Road to cheaper power

Advrtisers Index :L3 MAPPS IFC

Uniflex Cables 7

IWES 9

DNE Transformer 11

Gold Stone Infra 13

Presswell 15

Wind Power 17

Pentagon 37

Bikaner 39

Inhouse Ad. 53

KEI IBC

Patel Engineering BC

- SwitchgearsPs.: Pictures are for reference only and bears no resembelance to any project or company.

Draft guide for Micro Grid - implementation

Srikanth Chandrasekaran Chair- India SIG IEEE-SA.

EPR reactor has im-proved safety standards

Patrick Teyssier Director Marketing & Strategy, AREVA INDIA

We will reach the planned capacity

S. K Malhotra Head Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy

Indian Nuclear Power Sector - Commitments & Challenges

G. R. Srinivasan Advisor, Nuclear Power Business, GMR Energy Ltd.

Aggressive plans in Nuclear

Dr. Eric Lowen President - American Nuclear Society.

Tremendous oppor-tunity for onshore development

Chintan Shah VP & Head Strategic Business Development, Suzlon

20

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26

24

31 54


India needs to rapidly in-crease energy consumption to achieve the ambitious target of 9% economic growth in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

“We have set for ourselves an ambitious target of 9% annual growth in GDP in the 12th Five-Year Plan. This high rate of economic growth would require our energy consumption also to increase rapidly,” he said at the National Energy Con-

servation Day celebrations.

The government has target-ed 9% annual expansion in the country’s GDP over the next five years, even though the country’s economy is passing through a difficult phase. Singh said since the

country relies on imports for a large component of its energy requirement, it is vi-tal to “re-double” efforts to enhance energy efficiency as a step toward reducing the energy intensity of the national GDP.

India’s atomic energy regu-lator has decided to renew the operational licence of all the 20 atomic power plants in the country on a short term basis till the installation of additional safety measures as suggest-ed after the disastrous Fu-kushima accident in Japan.

The regulator is also plan-ning to levy a licence fee as well as charge for other services to be financially self-sufficient. “Every nu-clear power plant in India has to renew its operational licence once in five years. With the accident in Fu-kushima reactors in Japan, additional safety measures

have been suggested. The NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) has to give us the road map for implementing the same,” SS Bajaj, chairman of Atomic Energy Regula-tory Board (AERB), said.

As a result, two of NPCIL’s power stations – Madras

Atomic Power Station (MAPS) and the first two units at Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) – are being issued limited period licence to operate since December 31, 2010, and March 31, 2011, when their licence came up for renewal.

The Government has as-sured the Parliament that nuclear energy is safe and clean and India needs nu-clear energy to meet pro-jected power demand of more than 50,000 MW in the next couple of years.

Stating this in the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of protest against

setting up of nuclear plant at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy said the Government is also con-scious of its corporate so-cial responsibility.

As regards nuclear energy, he said it is cheaper than several non-conventional

energy sources and said several countries were go-ing ahead with nuclear power plants. Citing the example of China, the Min-ister said the eastern neigh-bour will have the capac-ity to produce more than 50,000 MW of nuclear en-ergy in the next few years.

GMR Group has said that the first unit of subsidiary GMR Rajahmundry Energy Limited’s combined cycle power plant at Vemagiri, in Andhra Pradesh, was synchronised to the state’s power grid on December 9, adding 384 Mw capacity to the grid.

The GMR Group is setting up the 2x384 Mw com-bined cycle power plant ad-jacent to its existing plant

at Vemagiri. The first unit has been commissioned in a record time of 24 months. The second unit is expect-ed to be commissioned by February, 2012, GMR said in a statement. This GMR project was identified as a XI Plan project and accord-ingly, was shortlisted for gas allocation by the gov-ernment of India.

State-run NTPC said it has inked a pact with Electric-ity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) to provide operation and maintenance services (O&M) for a power plant in the neighbouring nation. The contract is worth about Rs. 43 crore. It is also the single largest overseas or-der received by NTPC, making its foray as an over-seas O&M operator. NTPC

would offer O&M services for the 2x120 Mw Gas-based Siddhirganj Peaking Power Plant near Dhaka.

“Services to be provided by NTPC includes Transition Management & Take Over services, O&M of owner’s facility, Recruitment & Training of owner’s staff, Health, Safety, Quality and Environment Management for a period of six years,” NTPC said in a statement.

With half a dozen power equipment firms slated to set up units in India, the government expressed confidence of meeting the domestic power demand and generating surplus for

export.

“We had only Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). Now, six big com-panies are coming in joint ventures and the country

will not face any power problem. I am confident that the country will export power to other countries,” Power Minister Sushilku-mar Shinde said during the Question Hour in the Rajya

Sabha.

The country’s total power generation is about 185,000 Mw, of which 108,000 Mw goes for consumption, he said.

Power sector nuclear Power

Energy consumption must be increased: PM

GMR adds 384 Mw from its sub-sidiary to Andhra grid

NTPC to offer maintenance ser-vices to Bangladesh

Government confident of generating surplus power for export

Indian nuclear plants to bolster safety measures

India needs N-power to meet growing demands

Prime Minister Dr Manmo-han Singh is now focusing on the nuke deals with Rus-sia and Japan to push for new nuclear power stations that has been stagnating for the past few months, after his government failed to evolve consensus to allow global retail chains to do business in the country.

Dr. Singh will be off to

Russia on a 3-day trip from December 15 while Japa-nese Premier Yoshihiko Noda is visiting India in the last week of December. The prime minister wants to use both opportunities to nego-tiate nuclear cooperation pacts.

Despite the delay in the scheduled commissioning of the first two reactors

at Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu due to protests, Dr. Singh is expected to sign new contracts for the third and fourth reactors at the same site during his visit.

Papers are also being pre-pared to sign a civil nuclear cooperation pact with Ja-pan to import nuclear tech-nologies that were put on

hold following Fukushima Daiichi power plant crisis that was caused by a tsu-nami and earthquake on March 11 this year. Sources said increase in the num-ber of nuclear plants in the country is on the top of Dr. Singh’s agenda in dealing with all nuclear power na-tions, as he knows that is the only way India can meet its growing energy needs.

PM to focus on Russia, Japan N-deals after retail FDI setback

NatioNal NEwsNatioNal NEws


India and the US are ex-pected to seek a common ground on the implemen-tation of civil nuclear deal when Deputy Secretary of State William Burns trav-els to New Delhi in De-cember second half amid attempts by two sides to avoid rhetoric in public.

The issue which has been a matter of contention due to India’s nuclear li-ability law is expected to dominate the discussions that Burns will have with Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and with other of-ficials.

Despite strong reserva-tions on this issue, after the Indian Government

issued the Gazette noti-

fication last month, the

Obama Administration

has decided to not to come

out with its view. India

and the US appear to have

agreed to avoid finger-

pointing in public on the

contentious nuclear li-

ability issue and are inter-

nally working to find out

a common ground. The

consequence of the new

approach is that the US

government has officially

held off any public com-

ment on the Implementa-

tion Rules, preferring to

work with India through

quiet diplomacy.

India, US seeking common ground on civil nuclear issue

The delay in commission-ing of two nuclear power plants at Kudankulam has led to escalation in cost to the tune of Rs 2,653 crore. The approved completion cost of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power project was Rs 13,171 crore, of-ficials said.

“The completion cost is now expected to be Rs 15,824 crore and the project is expected to be completed in 2012-13,” they added. The delay has been attributed to various reasons including delivery schedule of certain com-ponents from Russia and the ongoing protests in Kudankulam against the nuclear power plant.

The total expenditure on the project till Septem-ber this year has been Rs 14,122 crore. As per the original plan, the first unit was to be commissioned in December 2007, which was revised to mid-2010. This was further revised to September 2011 when the anti-nuclear protests broke out in Kudankulam.

Kudankulam plant delay costs pegged at Rs 2,653 crore

nuclear Power

Australia’s strategic ties with India are set to ben-efit from the ruling Labor Party’s decision to lift a ban on exporting uranium to the growing Asian power, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said.

Prime Minister Julia Gil-lard had pushed for the scrapping of the ban on ex-ports to the nuclear power, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-tion Treaty, to help meet its energy needs. “This will be

a deeply significant deci-sion so far as our strategic relationship with India is concerned,” Smith told Sky News.

Smith said he had no qualms about the prospect

of exporting uranium to the South Asian nation, which has fought three wars with neighbour Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. “This will advance Australia’s interests,” he told.

Australia uranium sales to India ‘will improve ties’

NatioNal NEws


NTPC’s Kahagaon unit received nine wagons of soil instead of coal from Eastern Coal India (ECL) Raniganj colliery, a senior official of the power major said today. A rail rake con-taining 59 wagons had ar-rived at the NTPC plant in

Bihar’s Bhagalpur district via the merry-go-round rail route from Ukhra in West Bengal. During un-loading, nine wagons were found to have soil in them instead of coal, Assistant General Manager (AGM), Fuel Management, T Go-

pal Krishnan said.

While the coal consign-ment from 50 wagons have been unloaded, the nine wagons filled with soil have been left untouched. ECL has been intimated about the incident and

asked to visit Kahalgaon to investigate the matter, he said. The 2340 MW Kah-alhgaon plant receives 11 to 15 rail rakes per day to meet coal demand, but this was the first time that such an incident took place, Krishnan added.

The government said that it will seek Indonesia’s co-operation for the accord of “special status” to Indian companies in the grant of coal blocks, a move aimed at bridging the widening demand-supply gap for the dry fuel at home.

The Ministry of Coal will “… Impress upon the provisional government/regional government to allocate blocks under their special status (most favoured nation type) to Indian government coal companies…,” the Coal

Ministry has said.

Seeking the allocation of coal blocks on a “nomi-nation basis”, an official document of the ministry has said it will be sending a team from the Coal Min-istry and CIL to Indonesia

to pursue the matter.

The decision to approach the Indonesian govern-ment was taken in a meet-ing of an India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Coal on November 24 and 25.

India to seek special status from Indonesia on coal blocks

NTPC receives 9 wagons of soil instead of coal

The coal ministry has turned down Coal India’s request to cut its produc-tion target for the year. The

state-run miner wanted its production target to be cut to 440mt owing to flood-ing in its mines during the

monsoon. According to Coal secretary Alok Perti the target of 447mt pro-duction was cleared by the Planning Commission and that the ministry does not want to reduce it. The coal ministry also fears that giv-ing consent to such a de-mand could have a bearing on global prices.

Coal India has produced 248mt till November, about 20mt less than the eight-month target of 274mt.

However, production has

picked up to some extent

in the month of December.

During 2010-11, the com-

pany produced 431mt and

supplied 424mt to its cli-

ents. It is to be noted that

the power sector which is

already reeling under coal

supply shortage will be af-

fected greatly if targets are

reduced further.

Coal ministry rejects Coal India’s proposal to cut output target

Coal & Gas

NatioNal NEws

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Global electrical solutions provider Crompton Greaves (CG), part of the USD 4 bil-lion Avantha Group, said it has successfully designed, de-veloped and tested its first in-digenous 1,200-kV class auto-transformer.

“The engineering major an-nounced the dispatch of its first 1,200 kV transformer to Power Grid Corporation of In-dia Ltd (PGCIL) in Bina, Mad-hya Pradesh. The transformer was tested successfully in Oc-tober at CG’s Transformer di-vision in Mandideep, Madhya Pradesh,” the company said in a statement.

transmission & DistributionBS TransComm has bagged orders worth Rs 244 crore for construction of trans-mission line, tower and substations related to pow-er projects in different parts of the country. The entity offers turnkey service and technology solutions to power and telecom sectors.

In a statement today, BS TransComm said the com-

bined value of these orders was Rs 244 crore. The com-pany has got an order for engineering, procurement and construction of a 765 KV Quad S/C transmission line for Raichur Sholapur Transmission Company Ltd. The contract is to be executed by July 2013. Ac-cording to the statement, the firm has bagged orders from Chhattisgarh State

Power Transmission Ltd for setting up of two sub-stations of 132/33KV in Raipur. Further, BS Trans-Comm has bagged an order from Power Grid for sup-ply of tower package for 765KV S/C Jaipur – Lakha ka Nangal Transmission line spanning 126 kilo-metre, associated with the Phase I Generation project in Orissa.

BS TransComm gets orders worth Rs. 244 crore Crompton Greaves develops indigenous 1,200 kV transformer

Reliance Power has com-missioned another 300-MW unit under its Rosa project in Uttar Pradesh, taking the company’s to-tal capacity to 900 MW of the 1,200-MW Rosa power project. The remaining 300 MW of the Rosa project is expected to be commis-sioned in March, 2012. Speaking on the occasion Reliance Power Chief Ex-

ecutive Officer J P Chalsani said the plant was operating at 85% capacity and Chi-nese equipment, sourced from the Shanghai Electric Company, was functioning well.

With an investment outlay of over Rs 6,000 crore, the Rosa project is the largest private sector investment in Uttar Pradesh. Once fully

commissioned, electricity generated from the Rosa plant would meet about 15 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s power requirement. Since UPPC is in a difficult finan-cial position, pointing over the payment issues Chala-sani stated that the compa-ny has the necessary secu-rity mechanism, including a Letter of Credit (LC), with the Uttar Pradesh electric-

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) which has recently, announced a Rs 83,000 crore investment plans in state of Orissa, in-cluding a 2,000 MW ther-mal power plant has now plans to invest Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000 crore for a 1600

mega watt power plant in West Bengal. However, the location of the project is yet to be identified.

The company officials had a meeting with the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee in December 2011to decide on the location of the proj-

ect. “We have got three-four options with us. The area will be decided based on the availability of water coal and land. It would be a 2x800 (1600 MW) power plant which will see an in-vestment between Rs 10,000 to Rs 11,000 crore in the

first phase,” said Shailendra Roy, senior vice president and head of corporate initia-tives, Larsen & Toubro.

The firm will construct and run the plant and also has plans to add another 2x800 MW in the second phase.

Reliance Power commissions another 300-MW unit at Rosa

L&T plans to invest in West Bengal

Projects

NatioNal NEws

ity utility in case there are pay-ment issues. He further added that Reliance Power expects to have a total installed capacity of 5,000 MW by December, 2012, including thermal, gas and renewable energy

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Founding investors of Su-zlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL), India’s biggest wind-tur-bine maker, sold a stake to raise cash for the company to invest in land and in-frastructure, the chairman said, rebuffing speculation

over other motives.

Suzlon needs to invest in property for wind farms and power distribution equipment to maintain its dominant share of the In-dian wind market, which

is expanding by 40 per-cent annually, according to Chairman Tulsi Tanti.

“We need some liquidity” to fund expansion, he said in an interview this week in Durban, South Africa, at

international climate talks. There’s “nothing wrong” with founding investors, known in India as “promot-ers,” selling small stakes that will bring big benefits, he said.

Delhi government has agreed to provide bailout package to Reliance Infra-structure-backed private discoms BSES Yamuna and BSES Rajdhani. The gov-ernment will help them out with fresh equity of around

Rs.500 crore. The deci-sion was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dik-shit. “We have taken the decision to ensure there are no power cuts in the city. It was decided after extensive

deliberation with the Cen-tre,” Dikshit said, without spelling out any details.

She added that the state government may also pro-vide financial assistance to the Tata backed NDPL,

though the company hasn’t demanded a bailout pack-age yet. A source said the government had agreed to help the discoms on the condition that they invest around the same amount on infrastructure

Tata Power said that it has tied up funds for its 25-MW solar project in Gujarat, which is to see an invest-ment of about Rs 365 crore. The solar photovoltaic (PV) power project at Mithapur will be funded through a debt equity mix of 70:30. The plant is expected to start power generation by end-December.

“The project financing comprises equity of Rs 110 crore and rupee term loans of Rs 255 crore,” Tata Pow-er said in a statement. The

Mithapur project is being developed by Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Power.

“Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited has suc-cessfully tied up the entire debt requirement through a consortium of domestic lenders, namely State Bank of India and Export Import Bank of India with SBI Capital Markets Ltd acting as the sole financial advi-sor and arranger,” the state-ment said.

Volume of power trading in the country tripled to 10.25 billion units dur-ing 2008-09 and 2010-11. About 3.31 billion units of electricity was traded during 2008-09, minister of state for power K C Venugopal informed Ra-jya Sabha.

Power trading in the country is undertaken through traders, power exchanges and directly

between distribution com-panies Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has granted licenses to 44 entities and permitted power exchanges for trad-ing in electricity. Traders had started operations in 2004-05. Power exchang-es India Energy Exchange commenced operations in June 2008 and Power Exchange of India began trading in October, 2008.

FinanceFunds raised to expand, not for margin call: Tanti

Delhi government agrees for bailout package to BSES discoms.

Power trading triples in 3 years: K C Venugopal

Tata Power secures funding for 25Mw solar project in Gujarat

NatioNal NEws


NatioNal NEws

Tata Power, along with its Norwegian partner SN Power, is scouting for hy-droelectric projects in India and Nepal. The company in partnership with SN Power already has two hydro proj-ects in its kitty, including the 880 Mw project coming

at Tamakoshi in Nepal.

When asked whether the two entities are looking for other opportunities, Tata Power Executive Director (Finance) S Ramakrishnan said, “Yes, the joint ven-ture is scouting for other opportunities both in India

and Nepal… The Tamako-shi hydro power project in Nepal is at an early stage of development and is await-ing government approvals.”

According to him, the com-missioning date would be decided after receiving necessary government ap-

provals. Earlier this year, they had bagged the 240 MW Dugar hydroelectric project in Chenab Valley in Himachal Pradesh. Tata Power has an installed ca-pacity of 3,648 MW, out of which 500 MW is from hydro projects.

Hydro PowerTata Power, SN Power scout for hydro projects in India, Nepal

The remote Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh is marching ahead to notch a record in the hydropower sector and is being hailed as the future powerhouse of the country with a 58,000 MW hydropower potential.

The district which has total hy-dropower potential of above 7,000 MW is the first of the 17 districts in the state to commis-sion many of its ongoing proj-

ects. The 2X100 KW Yapak, 2X50 KW Khrowtipani, 2X250 KW Matinala and 2X250 KW Teepani projects were commis-sioned recently while 2X50 KW Hatipani, 2X30 KW Ashapani, 2X100 KW Kachopani, 2X30 KW Maipani and 2X200 KW Langpani at Gamliang - are like-ly to be commissioned within a month.

The 16 MW Haleipani project, which is at an advanced stage, is likely to be commissioned with-in 2012. However, according to official sources, no steps have been initiated so far for erecting transmission lines for evacuation of excess power to be generated by the Haleipan project. Once the transmission lines are com-missioned the state would be almost self-sufficient and would not need to purchase power at high prices from outside.

Two major hydro projects in Mizoram - 815 MW Lungreng hydro-power project and 635 Chimmtuipui hydro-power project -are stuck for the time-being as they await a nod from the Centre.The Mizoram government is awaiting the clearance of the ministry of external affairs because going ahead with the project could have ramifications at the inter-national level with the catchment and sub-mergence areas of both the dams falling in neighbouring Myanmar as India and Myan-mar do not have a water-sharing treaty. The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) signed an MoU with the Mizoram government for the two project in 2010.

The hydro-power potential of the north-east is estimated to be 59,000 MW, which is about 40% of India’s total hydro-power potential, however only 2% of the total potential has been exploited so far. While increasing concern over the environmental impact of hydro-power projects in the region is being raised by various civil societies and social activists, many of the projects are fac-ing stiff opposition from the public.

Anjaw district of Arunachal excels in hydro power sector

Mizo hydel projects await Centre nod


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thermal Power

Karnataka Power Cor-poration owned Raichur Thermal Power Station is again facing coal short-age crisis. The station has eight units and two of them have stopped generation for want of coal. According to sources, Unit 2 and Unit 8 are closed. The optimum generation capacity of the station is 1,720 MW, how-

ever; only 1,200 MW is be-ing generated from opera-tional six units. While the station needs 25,000 metric tonne of coal per day to run all the eight units, the pres-ent stock in the station is only 10,000 metric tonne.

Only three or four rakes of coal is received by the sta-tion every day and that is

used to run the remaining units. The reason cited by the officials is non avail-ability of wagons, for which letters have been written to the Railway Department to seek more wagons. How-ever, as per media news, paucity of funds is the main reason for shortage of coal supply.

Green organisations in Vi-darbha came together to protest the upcoming large number of thermal power plants on the grounds that it would further degrade the environment of the re-gion. Their main demand included the cancelling permissions to 49 power plants slated to come up in

Vidarbha.

R B Goenka, convenor Vi-darbha Environment Ac-tion Group (VEAG) ques-tioned the need of more thermal power plants since the region is already self-sufficient in power and exporting energy. He said that such a large number of

thermal plants would affect environment drastically. While the water table will further lower, water and air pollution will rise drasti-cally.

The activists suggested al-ternative ways that would have lower environmental impact and would not be bi-ased against some region’s interests like setting up of power where there is re-quirement of power or near places having coal reserves and opting for 100 MW plants that use air cooling in order to save water used for cooling. Further, setting up underground transmis-sion cables and infrastruc-ture corridors were also recommended.

The five-unit Ennore ther-mal power plant commis-sioned 40 years ago is un-able to produce power to the full capacity due to wear and tear. Hence, the chief minister J Jayalalithaa has ordered to decommission the plant and go in for an ultra modern thermal facil-ity on the 90-acre plot. The chief minister announced that a new 600 MW high-tech coal-fired electricity generation station would come up on the same prem-ises by 2015 at a cost of `3,600 crore. A detailed project report, environmen-tal clearance, coal linkage guarantee and finalisation of bids are among the key tasks involved for setting up the new power plant.

According to sources, the Ennore plant would contin-ue to be operated for some more time until the com-missioning of new power projects such as the North Chennai Thermal Power Extension Project (2 x 600 MW) and the TNEB Limit-ed-NTPC joint venture Val-lur (1,500 MW) plant.

Raichur Thermal Power Station is again facing coal shortage

Ennore to get new 600 MW power plant

Green organizations protest Thermal Plants in Vidarbha


Global NEws Global NEws

State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) along with BYD has constructed the world’s largest battery ener-gy storage station. Located in Zhangbei, Hebei Prov-ince, this large utility-scale project combines 140 MW of renewable energy gen-eration (both wind & solar),

36 MW-Hours (MWh) of energy storage and a smart power transmission system. The State Grid system is demonstrating a stable so-lution for transferring vast amounts of renewable elec-tricity safely to the grid on an unprecedented scale.

This new project with the State Grid has outpaced other grid projects in China and, though independently designed by SGCC, is part of the national “Golden Sun” program. The first phase investment with 100MW of Wind, 40MW of Solar and 36MWh of Bat-

tery is worth over $500M USD (~3.3 Billion RMB). BYD’s battery energy stor-age system provides a solu-tion for the realization of energy storage in the smart grid that improves renew-able energy efficiency by 5%-10%.

Among key findings from Black & Veatch’s year-end Energy Market Perspective (EMP) forecast that renew-able energy capacity will more than triple, while dou-bling its overall percentage of the U.S. energy mix, by 2036. In addition, natural gas could overtake coal as the primary fuel for U.S. power generation. Robert Patrylak, Managing Direc-tor of Black & Veatch’s EMP service said, “Or-ganizations will continue

building out renewable en-ergy projects at a furious pace to take advantage of tax credit in-centives as

well as to meet state renew-able portfolio standards. Additionally, the presumed abundance of a reliable, cost-effective domestic natural gas supply supports continued construction of natural gas-fueled power generation.”

The Black & Veatch EMP is updated semi-annually and provides a holistic view of how the energy industry is likely to evolve. The subscription-based service provides Black & Veatch electric, natural gas, oil and financial clients with a base case of how key is-sues, such as regulation, legislation, technology, fuel supply, fuel prices and eco-nomic growth, will impact energy markets.

The new Cooper Power Systems 33 kV and 36 kV M.O.V.E.™ arresters pro-vide the highest level of Temporary Overvoltage (TOV) protection available in the industry to under-ground collector systems in wind and solar applications against lightning and other surges. The uniquely high TOV characteristics of the M.O.V.E. arrester enable it to survive and continue to protect. This increases the reliability of the entire

underground system. The DirectConnect M.O.V.E. arrester installs directly onto a 600A 35 kV bushing, replacing three components with one.

This specific design, results in a 50% shorter stack-ing height, reduces clut-ter in the cabinet, and al-lows more generous fitting of cable accessories into small enclosures. This de-sign saves material costs, and, based on time studies, reduces installation time

by 80%. The expanded M.O.V.E. arrester product line now ranges from 18 kV up to 36 kV. For durability, each arrester features MOV disks that are rigidly bond-ed into a single stack which eliminates air pockets, moisture, and pinched rub-ber between the disks that could compromise the cur-rent path and overheat the assembly. The MOV stacks are also buffed smooth for corona-free performance and improved reliability.

France and its national electricity supplier, EDF, have been told they will need to spend billions of euros on making their 58 nuclear reactors conform to tough new safety standards deemed necessary after last year’s atomic disaster at Fukushima in Japan. The French nuclear safety au-thority said in a report that none of the reactors needed

to be shut down immedi-ately but demanded a “mas-sive” investment to ensure the sites could withstand a Fukushima-style natu-ral shock. France has the world’s biggest dependence on nuclear power, which supplies about three-quar-ters of its electricity, all of it provided by EDF.

François Fillon, the French

prime minister, said the government would “ensure that nuclear operators will conform to all of the re-quests from the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), to the calendar they have im-posed”. The scale of new spending required is a blow to both the cash-strapped government and to EDF, which is already struggling with cost overruns and de-lays on a new reactor proj-ect at Flamanville in Nor-mandy. EDF estimates that the new measures will cost it €10bn. Eric Besson, the French energy minister, is to meet EDF and AREVA, which makes nuclear reac-tors, to discuss a timeframe for implementing the mea-sures.

ABB, the leading power and automation technol-ogy group, announced that its Raleigh-based Smart Grid Center of Excellence facility, is now operational and open for business. This new state-of-the-art Smart Grid Center of Excellence (COE) was created to dem-onstrate ABB’s technology and investment in the smart grid industry. The recent acquisition of Ventyx (a leading smart grid software firm based in Atlanta), in-vestment in research, and the productization of new technology have allowed ABB to become the leader in the modernization of the distribution grid.

The Center has functional systems which display the end-to-end solution where information technologies (IT) and operational tech-nologies (OT) converge to close the loop of automa-tion, control and data ac-quisition. In addition to the demonstration area, ABB has invested in a Systems Verification Center. This new service will allow customers to configure, test and install solutions which will reduce installa-tion time, site acceptance tests and the deployment of new advanced applications. ABB will host an official dedication ceremony for the Center in January, 2012.

ABB, the leading power and automation technol-ogy group, will invest over $400 million to double the capacity of its high-voltage cables manufacturing facil-ity in Karlskrona, Sweden, to meet growing demand for subsea cables. The in-vestment plan includes con-struction of new buildings and installation of addi-tional manufacturing lines at the existing plant. The expansion will be carried out in a phased manner and is expected to be completed by 2015. “This investment will help us to boost pro-duction capacity and meet the growing demand for high-voltage subsea power cables,” said Peter Leupp, head of ABB’s Power Sys-

tems division.

This move follows an in-vestment of about $90 mil-lion announced last year to build a new cable factory in the US - in Huntersville, North Carolina - for land cables used in alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) applications. The Huntersville plant, cur-rently under construction, is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2012. A ma-jor upgrade of ABB’s Karl-skrona facility has already been completed earlier this year. The new investment will further strengthen ABB’s leading position in the high-voltage cables market.

China’s State Grid and BYD Launch World’s Largest Battery Energy Storage Station

Renewables, natural gas to dom-inate US power sector

“DirectConnect M.O.V.E” arrester for safety of un-derground systems

France needs massive investment for Nuclear safety work

ABB Smart Grid Center of Ex-cellence

ABB to double cable production capacity in Sweden

Global news


culiarity of India? Which segment, the larger or the smaller players will be the target customers?

Agree that there will be more of small players in the mi-cro-grid segment. That doesn’t mean that the larger players have no presence. There should be a collaborative effort to bring in both the larger and smaller players together so that the customer is benefited. The model implanted in Sundarbun in West Bengal is a classic example of a project successfully ex-ecuted. The ministry of new and renewable en-ergy, West Bengal government and a Canadian company was involved in the above said project. So when we are planning for a larger grid in the national level it is imperative to look for bringing in government-private participation.

Do we have enough representation in IEEE-SA while drafting the India specific guidelines?

IEEE-SA, while developing standards for a coun-try, tries to include the remedial measures for the specified region, the tips for a smooth implemen-tation, and also the needed regulatory participa-

tion. However, I would like to bring in key participants from the energy sector in the country for standardisation. To capture India, there should be more participation from the industry like the vendors. I strongly believe that for the success of a national grid, people should understand the need for standardisation.

Throw some light on the highlights of the macro-grid implementation guide from the association?

IEEE 1547.4 is designed especially for those countries like Indian which started implementing distributed gen-eration networks with renewable en-ergy sources. This guide caters to the integrities of design, operation and integration of the distributed resource (DR) Island system. The grid operates autonomously with various sources of generation. Generation to storage of power (UPS) and distribution network which is of a smaller size are the main constituents of these independent grids. Like that of the national grid, load management, ensuring quality power, heat recovery plays a crucial role in micro-grids as well. There are different types of micro-grids in ex-istence, but they all share the ability to generate and distribute electricity in a defined geographical area. The aim is to standardise this process in the starting level for integration to the national grid in future.

How crucial is it for India to im-plement the above said guidelines while setting up the micro-grids?

In India, the smart gird implementa-tion has geared momentum as the government has accelerated the pro-cess of migrating to automated power control systems. The magnitude of opportunity is higher as the govern-ment has already taken the initia-tives for setting up DR as part of the ‘power for all programme.” This is

critical and the right time for India to standardise the micro-grids, as it is in the process of migrating to an in-tegrated transmission system sooner. The micro-grids are complex infra-structure and the connections to and fro from the larger grid must be well planned. While providing background information on the micro-grids, the draft touch upon sections of electrical loads, equipment, operations, protec-tions, controls and system studies. The primary design and structure of putting up the micro-grids will play a crucial role in ensuring the main grid integration.

Any new technology application comes with a cost tag. India price sensitive country like India, how do you see the implementation without burdening the customer?

There is a capital cost involved, but it is necessary for the country to have a technology oriented approach than the economics of it in this case. The tariff system will define the route for including the cost, and the regulators will play the key role here. However,

I personally, expect the government to pitch in the initial stages to make sure the technology is available in an af-fordable cost bracket as the target in the initial stages to be the rural areas of the country.

Your take on India’s smart grid implementation and adaptation of newer technologies?

This is the right point in India to ini-tiate the national integration process. This decade, for sure, is the time for establishing national grid. Technol-ogy applications here include Energy, IT and Infrastructure. IT for com-munication is better off as we have advanced in that segment. Smart me-tering- moved fast because of the in-frastructure in place. But technology for generation, storage and distribu-tion especially in a distributed system need more attention. Long way to go in this segment, so developing stan-dards in this level is very important and that is what is IEEE 1547.4 pro-vide through the guide.

What role IEEE-SA play in imple-mentation?

The role of IEEE-SA will be that of an advisor. The target is to ensure the integration to the main grid without reinvestment. This means bringing the micro-grid to a meaningful capac-ity. And that we see it happening say between 2025 and 2030.

What are the points taken into ac-count while designing the guide, considering the geographical pe-

The detailed guide designed for India’s micro grid application by the global standardisation Associa-tion (IEEE-SA) will render their assistance for the implementation and also integration of to the na-tional grid says Srikanth Chandrasekaran, chair- India SIG, IEEE-SA. Excerpts from the interview.

Renjini Liza Varghese

Draft guiDe for Micro griD - iMpleMeNtatioN

Srikanth Chandrasekaran Chair- India SIG IEEE-SA.

planning and engineering of a micro-grid needs spe-cial attention. a) A clear map of the electricity loads, electric power system and

the size of micro-grid to be determined

b) Configuration of the electrical equipments (capacitors, voltage regulators etc)

c) The source of power (in this case –solar, wind bio-mass etc)

d) Load management equipments (to ensure quality power and manage fluctuation)

e) Parameters like the allowed imbalance of voltage to put in the right kind of automation system.

f) Provision for future expansion of the grid as the demand is growing

iNtEractioNiEEE-sa iEEE-sa

iNtEractioN


SPoNSoR SPoNSoR

There are 400 nuclear plants world over and in India 20 operational plants put to-

gether produces 4780 Mw. Increas-ing dependency on nuclear generated power seems to be the only answer for a power starved India which aims at providing cheaper and cleaner energy for the 1.2 billion population. While globally nuclear energy constitutes to 17 % of the total energy, in India it is 4 per cent. The target is to increase it from 4 % to 25 % of the total of the country’s energy basket by 2050.

Nuclear energy with its carbon-free emission track record, could benefit countries seeking both power expan-sion and winning plaudits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Sadly, the disaster of Japan’s six-reactor Daichi Fukushima nuclear power complex by an earthquake and subsequent tsu-nami, has made a number of countries to reconsider their nuclear plans. But it is in rising BRIC economic super-power India that the ultimate future of nuclear power may be decided, as current and proposed nuclear power plant facilities come up against grow-ing public opposition in the world’s largest democracy. However, delay in implementation and resistance from locals is casting a shadow on coun-

try’s nuclear programme. Recent pro-test at Jaitpur and Kudankulam has delivered a cracking punch giving a severe blow to India’s ambitious plan to roll out nuclear energy on a large scale.

Nine years after the project was kicked off and days before attain-ing commercialisation, Kudankulan Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in southern state of Tamil Nadu hit road block. Owing to the safety concern surfaced post Fukushima Nuclear ac-cident in Japan following a devastat-ing Tsunami. A reason well accepted, but does this means pro-economical activities be surrendered to a group of people with vested interests. Follow-ing the nuclear disaster in Japan, India along with its global peers was quick to review its safety standards. How-ever, this didn’t seem to satisfy those who were looking for mileage out of the protests in Kudankulam.

A project which has started its work in 2002 should have commenced its trial run (loading of fuel in this case) by December 2011. However, the lo-cal protest has stalled the work and scheduled safety run by Nuclear Pow-er Corporation of India (NPCIL), the operator of KNPP. One could be left wondering why this protest in such a

late stage of implementation when stopping work at this point, and putting off plans to set up four more reactors at the same site, will be a big blow to both India and Rus-sia. The possible answer could be - the easy mileage

Increasing dependency on nuclear generated power seems to be the only answer for a power starved India which aims at providing cheaper and cleaner energy for the 1.2 billion population. Delay in implementation and resistance from locals is casting a shadow on country’s nuclear programme. Severe protests erupted days before commericalisation of its first large nuclear project in Kudankulam, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu send out not so encouraging signal to the global com-munity. Bringing the work in KNPP to a standstill makes one wonder why this hue and cry after 9 years of the commencement of work in the site? Do we have the Political will to detach electricity from the vote bank politics.


Nuclear – roaD to cheaper power

India’s nuclear capacity/ plans Year wise addition Capacity/ targets Current capacity 4780 Mw Target by 2020 20,000 Mw Target by 2033 63,000 Mw Target by 2050 Close to 200,000 Mw

NuCL

EAR

SECTIoN SPoNSoR

Nuclear Power Nuclear PowersEctor Focus sEctor Focus

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tic addition would be around 45,000 Mw. India’s per capita consumption of electricity is low compared to its global peers. In 2010 the per capita consumption grew to 685 units from 448 units in the year 2000. This is ex-pected to reach 1200 units in the year 2020.

To bring down the demand supply

gap, the country has structured a combination of thermal, nuclear and renewable energy capacity additions. Thermal segment is marred with fuel supply constrain, renewables fail to ensure continuous supply. To add to the woes, the supply from both these sources has a higher generation cost as fuel cost in the first case and higher equipment cost in latter. Moreover,

emission from thermal power like fly ash and other pollutants increase the level of concern as India is fighting to bring down the greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission ac-cording to the UNFCCC

directions. When it comes to carbon emissions India stands third behind China and US with an emission of 38 % from power sector alone.

What is the solution to ensure capacity addition without increasing the emis-sion levels? As the power demand is anticipated to grow in a higher rate, plants with higher capacity could be the remedy. Taking into account all the facts, nuclear power emerges as the one word answer. Words of Dr. S Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic En-ergy Commission resonates India’s quest for cheaper and less pollutant power. “In 2017 nuclear power will cost Rs 4 per unit,” pointed out Ba-

Per capita consumption Country Units of consumption World average 2800 kwh United States of America 14000 kwh China 2500 kwh India 717 kwh

We will reach the planned capacity: MalhotraIn a conversation with Renjini Liza Varghese, S. K Malhotra , Head Pub-lic Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, emphasis the need for stronger provisions at the government level to disseminate right information about nuclear power

How adversely did the global development post Fukushima casted a shadow on India’s N-power programmes?

Not much has changed in Indian nuclear power programme post the Japan incident. However, the government has taken adequate measures to ensure safety measures of the country’s 20 operational plants by immediately reviewing the standards. We have proceeded with our planned programmes. The Rajas-than Plant was launched a couple of months post Fukushima. We are confident about the safety measures in place. As Dr. Banerjee says, safety gets priority over production of energy in the nuclear plants.

But domestically India is facing a lot of challenges includ-ing resistance from the locals. What went wrong in Ku-dankulam? What made the locals stand against the project in such a late stage of Implementation?

Kudankula is a typical example of politically motivated protest. The plant started its work in 2002. Nine years later, if there is this intense protest that means these are with a vested interest. The state, the centre and the locals were upbeat about the plant in the beginning. Agree that the protest has baffled DAE, it may

be that we failed to read the under current in the right time. Till date no responsible person has expressed shelving of the project.

How much delays do we except before the plant go on-stream in Kudankulam? How much cost escalation in case of further delays?

A delay of two to three months is what is calculated now. Though there is protest outside the plant, the work is going on inside the plant. There will be escalation of cost as the project in the beginning was scheduled to be completed in 2007 which was revised to 2010. But giving a figure out will be difficult. (It is recently reported that the delay led to escalation in cost to the tune of Rs 2,653 crore. The approved completion cost of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power project was Rs 13,171 crore which is expected to be Rs 15,824 crore)

Again in Jaitapur there is protest going on. Is there any review on the implementation of this project as reported?

Land acquisition has earned protest in Jaitapur. One should un-derstand, out of the 1000 acres, ¾ of the land ear marked for the project are barren land. The 25% agricultural land under acquisition is being compensated as per the government rule. Compensation is given to both barren and agricultural land and there is no displacement. There is red is lot of wrong informa-tion floating around which triggers unwanted anxieties about nuclear power plants. Here is where media is expected to take a pro-active role in disseminating the right information and the useful properties of nuclear power.

What are the measures DAE taking to reach out to the peo-ple to wipe out the wrong information?

DAE has started reaching out to the villages through multiple communication chains. This includes, awareness classes, ex-hibitions and interactive session with the aim of changing the perception about nuclear plants. Majority of the nuclear plants are in the rural areas of the country. So now the awareness programmes are concentrated on the schools and panchayats in the vicinity.

India has been talking about the three phase implementa-tion of the nuclear programme. How far are we from the third stage of the envisaged third phase?

The first phase is successfully implemented and we have reached the commercial domain here. In this decade the con-centration is on fast breeder reactors (FBR) for the required plu-tonium for the next stage. That is the third stage when we start

using thorium. We expect the technology to mature by 2022, which will be the take off point for the n-power production. Middle of the centuary is what we target to be in the third stage i.e; a capacity of 2,00,000 Mw.

What will happen to the existing power plants, which are more than 40 years old? Are we looking at the decommis-sioning?

Going forward the dependency on the first stage technology will reduce. The old PHWRs will be decommissioned in next fifty years. The oldest plants are working fine and the safety stan-dards were revamped recently. In the case of Tarapur, a 41 year old plant, the safety measure up-gradation recently cost almost the plant cost.

There are reports of Sri Lanka conducting radiation mea-surement studies in case of an accident in Kudankulam. How do you addrees a neighbouring country’s concern on safety?

First of all, Sri Lanka doesn’t have a NPP. They have all the rights to conduct studies on the safety concerning their people. I hope the right people are doing the studies and scientific assess-ments are in the right directions. In future, if Sri Lanka raises any concern, ministry of external affairs of our county will be backed with scientific facts to clear their concerns. Nothing has officially happened in this regard till now.

that can be gained through the protest in a short time.

This is the first larger nuclear plant in the country built by Russia’s Atom-stroyexport, comprises of two WER-100 reactors. The total capacity of the plant is 9,200 Mw. In the first stage of implementation, it is aimed at 2 X 1000 Mw. After the protest and road blocks by the locals, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) expects a delay of three months in the project. The first 1,000 Mw is expected to be on-stream by March 2012 and the second unit by June 2012. According to the agreement, Russia will supply fuel through the life span of the plant,

though India will reprocess and keep the plutonium for its indigenous pro-gramme.

Current situationIndia which reels under severe power shortage aim at improving the supply demand gap with aggressive capacity addition plans. Currently, the country has a 15 % peak hour deficit. Even af-ter putting in place the Electricity Act of 2003, power continues to remain as a sensitive political issue in the coun-try. For a higher growth, the electric-ity segment has to grow proportion-ally. Assuming the country registering 8 per cent growth in economy, the

power sector has to grow over almost double of the economic growth. The statistics available shows that 40 per cent of the country still has no ac-cess to electricity. This means huge opportunity for in all three segments, generation, transmission and distribu-tion and the capital investment could amount to six lakh crore.

The government through ministry of power targeted to provide power to all by 2012. But seeing the slippage in the current Five Year plan in capacity addition, the aim appears to be a dis-tant dream. The targeted capacity ad-dition was 75,000 Mw, now officially revised to 55,000 Mw. And a realis-



SPoNSoR SPoNSoR

The glitches and road blocksLack of supply of fuel (in this case uranium) adversely affected the coun-try’s nuclear programme in a larger way. India can now breathe a sigh of relief as international community has agreed to supply Uranium.

Let us come back to the areas of con-cern which is probably slowing down the N-plans domestically. In 2011 nu-clear power constitutes a mere 4 per cent in the energy basket in India, by 2050 if things move as per schedule, the target is to attain a 25 per cent with roughly around 2,00,000 Mw. Let us examine the problems faced by In-dian nuclear industry; the prominent hurdle is the strike or the resistance by the locals in the areas of nuclear plant sites. According to S. K Mal-hotra, Head Public Awareness Divi-sion, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), “the lack of awareness or little awareness is the culprit in this case. The local community tend to believe the distorted picture put in front of them.”

Now the question is, can India afford to give into such politically motivat-ed anti-nuclear protests? The major concern is how to tackle the fear of harmful radiations induced into the minds of the people living near the

plants. According to one of the senior person who has been part of the coun-try’s nuclear programme (not wished to be named) gave a very convincing answer for this. “I have been part of setting up most of the nuclear power plants in India, if it is the question of radiation, my body was exposed to more radiation over the years, if the fears are true, I wouldn’t have been sitting here and talking to you. So the hue and cry about harmful radiation is a voice arising out of sheer ignorance and little knowledge.”

Malhotra added to the above said “The regulatory body and DAE are positive as the safety measures put in place are in line with the IAEA standards and guidelines.” And all plants are safe, but there should be more education programmes in this regard, he agreed.

According to Dr Banerjee, “Indian nu-clear projects are much safer than Fukushi-ma plant and post Fukushi-ma tragedy the safety commit-

tee constituted by the government has reviewed all the plants in India and the report submitted says safe and secure.” NPCIL recently has expressed its willingness to allow international safety inspection inside nuclear plants in the country.

Civil Nuclear BillOn the one hand, India is fight-ing with domestic issues and on the other hand international suppliers are keenly watching India’s step on the implementation of nuclear liability law code. The Parliament passed the Nuclear Liability Bill in 2010. The in-ter-ministerial consultation regarding the law code is completed and now waiting to be tabled in Parliament to be enforced as an Act.

According to K T Kotwal, Member of L&T Board and President of heavy engineering, “the aversion towards nuclear power is because of the visual effect the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomb attacks. One should take the effort to make people under-stand the positives of nuclear radia-tion.” He continued that, Chernobyl

Aggressive plans in Nuclear: Dr. Eric LowenPost Fukushima disaster the slowdown in nuclear energy implementa-tion is not going to dither America’s aggressive plans says Dr. Eric Lowen, President - American Nuclear Society.

What are the measures taken by the American nuclear society post Fukushima in terms of enhancing security?

As a professional society, one of chief roles is education, of our members, of the general public, of schoolchildren, and of pol-icy makers about nuclear power’s favorable impact on energy generation. Since Fukushima, we have significantly increased our focus on education and have extensively communicated to our constituencies the safety and security aspects of nuclear facilities in the United States and worldwide.

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy post Fu-kushima, what impact has it created in America’s nuclear programme?

In fact, Germany’s decision is not new but dates back to 1999 and is, of course, a chiefly political decision. In the US, we focus more on our own energy future than that of the world. With the American publics’ favorable opinion of nuclear power we have a different political climate regarding nuclear than do the Germans. We as a Society are pushing hard to achieve licensing for some next generation designs and are supporting in every way possible new builds in the US.

How much delay has Fukushima created in America’s nuclear programme?

The NRC was very aggressive in evaluating plant safety after Fukushima, and the Congress remains supportive of nuclear power. Support among US citizens for inclusion of nuclear in our energy portfolio is still very strong. We’re focusing on new construction, new designs, and continuing to lead the world

in the nuclear science and technol-ogy community. We fully expect that America will embrace these new de-velopments.

India is the only country which went ahead with imple-menting nuclear energy programme post Japan’s Fuku-shima disaster. Your comments?

I have just returned from leading a delegation of distinguished scientists and engineers associated with the American Nuclear Society to the India Nuclear Energy 2011 Summit. We were very impressed by what we saw and learned. The Indian people and government recognize that nuclear energy can be used to raise the standard of living in a way no other technol-ogy can match by providing stable base load electricity.

Your expectation on the global nuclear energy sector. Also elaborate on uS programmes.

Plainly, nuclear energy is achieving a renaissance around the world, as others also recognize its important role. Of course, other technologies, such as Small Modular Reactors are just beginning to be appreciated to advance an even faster rise in standard of living in developing countries and there is no reason to think that will stop or even slow.

As a professional Society, we are, within the United States, also doing all we can to promote the message and the promise of nuclear science and technology, in order for us, as a nation, to enhance energy availability and security in the most carbon free way possible.

nerjee. He also said that safety will be given priority over production in the case of nuclear energy. He reiter-ates that nuclear power is highly cost effective even after adding on all the cost upgraded safety measures in line with that of the international safety standards. Though tariff is a govern-ment prerogative, it is calculated that nuclear power will be cheaper than the power produced using conven-

tional fuels like coal and gas.

Energy released by fusion of 1gm of Uranium 235 is 1Mw-day; to get an equal amount of energy using thermal source requires 3 tonnes of coal. In the recent past the country has faced a near black out owing to the short-age of coal. And ensuring coal supply for power plant in was a Himalayan task for the utilities when the sole

domestic supplier, the state owned Coal India was incapable to meet the demands from the power plants. The near black out situation echoed the necessity of developing nuclear pow-er sector in a faster way. Both domes-tic and international experts are of the pinion that India cannot move away from nuclear energy to meet its ever increasing electricity need.


Energy demand projection if the economy grows at 8 per cent Year Energy requirement Peak Demand Installed Capacity (Billion units) (GW) (GW)

2007 761 107 153 2012 1097 158 220 2017 1524 226 306 2022 2118 323 425 2027 2866 437 575 2032 3880 532 778


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While the suppliers are tight lipped on the impact if India implements the civil nuclear liability bill act, they also are optimistic that the country will ad-dress the concerns by them with due diligence.

India’s Nuclear PlanAs India doesn’t have the fuel or the international fuel supply, the coun-try started developing its indigenous programme using thorium as a fuel. India is rich with 25 % of the thori-um deposit in the world. India going forward will be in a position to sup-ply technology for those countries aiming at developing thorium based plants. The moratorium imposed on Uranium import affected India’s nu-clear programme. The ban was lifted in 2009 which is helping the country in its N-programs considerably. The country has signed a landmark nucle-ar power deal with the United States and opened up its estimated US $150 billion nuclear power market to pri-vate reactor builders such as GE and Areva.

Though India has found some large Uranium deposits in the country in

2011, the officials are not upbeat about it, as typically it takes a longer time in getting the required clearances for mining. The plan is to go ahead with importing the fuel. The Tumalappalli mine in Andhra has confirmed 49,000 tonne of ore and there are indications that it could hold reserves totalling three times its current size says the Department of Atomic Energy. This is estimated to sustain 8,000 Mw of power for 40 years.

The earlier estimates shows that In-dia has a uranium reserve of 61,000 tonnes, however it is considered as poor quality ore. The calculation is that with this reserve, India can sus-tain 10,000 Mw PHWR for 40 years. So if the latest Andhra find of Urani-um be added up, then the country will

be in an advantageous position.

On the other hand has large thorium deposit which needs to be converted to Uranium 233 in a reactor. India put in place a three phase programme to achieve the set target and thus con-tribute to the country’s clean energy capacity addition. The officials feel that India will be pioneer in thorium based technology and will be able to export it to the global peers as there is considerable amount of R&D been done in this segment.

The country has envisaged on a three phase programme to attain the nuclear power production target. The phase- 1 programme emphasised on build-ing pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) using domestic Uranium. Phase -2 which is currently under way focuses on reprocessing spent

EPR reactor has improved safety standards: Areva The current generation 3+ reactor comes with advanced safety measures which ensures higher tolerance level in case of an earthquake.

Post Fukushima Daiichi power plant tragedy, nuclear energy sector is wading through a tough phase as resis-tance have increased. Areva’s take on it?

We understand that Fukushima has raised a number of con-cerns about the safety aspects of nuclear power. We would like to clarify that the plant at Fukushima was a Generation 2 reactor. The industry has moved forward by leaps and bounds. Generation 3+ technologies have taken into account many of these aspects. If faced with a Fukushima-like event, the EPR reactor would have had properly functioning emergency power systems and the water needed to ensure cooling. But more importantly the imperatives behind nuclear power re-main. The world has to address the twin issues of growth and global warming. Today, nuclear power and Generation 3+ re-actors are the only ones that help solve both these problems with clean, efficient and safe power.

What consequences do we anticipate on the industry after Fukushima?

As the growing demand for electricity around the world and the need to reduce CO2 emissions are still a reality, nuclear energy remains an essential component of the energy mix to provide low-carbon, affordable and base load electricity. Many countries such as China, UK, South-Africa, Czech Republic have already announced their plans to move forward with their nuclear programme. Nevertheless, the nuclear industry will need to reinforce public confidence in nuclear safety to emerge as even more robust as the results of Fukushima.

Elaborate on the security measures implanted by Areva in EPR post Fukushima incident?

The design, and specifically the EPR’s seismic tolerance, would have allowed it to withstand the earthquake. It would also have withstood the tsunami, and all air-cooled diesel gen-erators would have been operable. An EPR plant in Fuku-shima would have been in a safe shutdown mode following the normal procedures. The EPR was in fact purpose-designed to offer maximum resistance to major hazards.

The EPR already has multiple layers of active and passive

safety and cooling systems. While we believe that there are sufficient safe-guards already in place, we always work towards meeting any additional customer or safety authority require-ment.

Areva’s point of view on India’s nuclear programme as the country has a very aggressive capacity addition plans by 2050?

AREVA believes very strongly that India’s proposed capacity addition is very much in line with India’s growing power re-quirements and we welcome the same.

How far have you progressed in the Jaitapur project? And what kind of delay are you expecting in the implementa-tion of the project?

We do not share specifics of customer negotiations, however we wish to state that we are in active engagement and dia-logue with our potential customer, NPCIL on a number of sub-jects.

Does the local agitation in Jaitapur cause/ pause a threat to the project, Areva’s view on the same?

As you are aware, NPCIL is the owner operator of the pro-posed Jaitapur project, while AREVA is just one supplier, albeit an important one. It would be out of place for us to comment on other’s business.

How do you see the Indian nuclear sector panning out in comparison to the global scenario?

We strongly believe that India will draw up the most appropri-ate power strategy. Nuclear we believe will be one of the key elements, as is already envisaged. AREVA will work hard to support India’s plans.

Where do you see the maximum orders coming from?

AREVA believes that the growth of nuclear will come from the developing world and ASIA. We look forward to being a part of that growth.


nuclear disaster is brought out as an example whenever we speak about

nuclear power. However, the number of casualty in Chernobyl from nuclear

radiation is in two digits and not in thousand as projected.

What is nuclear liability bill?

The Bill aims to provide a civil liability for nuclear damage and prompt compensation to the victims of a nuclear inci-dent through a no-fault liability to the operator, appointment of Claims Commissioner, establishment of Nuclear Damage Claims Commission and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

After this bill becomes an act, India will become a member of the international convention on liability in the civil nuclear arena.

The bill effectively caps the maximum amount of liability in case of each nuclear accident at INR1,500 crore (US$300 million) to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant.

This is one of the last steps needed to activate the 2008 Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement as the United State nuclear reactor manufacturing companies will require the liability bill to get insurance in their home state.

The bill will require amendments in the Atomic Energy Act 1962 allowing private investment in the Indian nuclear power program. The issue of an accident is sensitive in India, where a gas leak in a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal city killed about 3,800 people in 1984 in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

Capacity addition targets Type of reactor Operating Projections Projections 2020 2030

Heavy Water Reactor 4,460 Mw 10,000 Mw 10,000 Mw Light Water Reactor 320 Mw 9,300 Mw 22,000 Mw Fast breeder Reactor - 1,500 Mw 1,500 Mw Total 4,780 Mw 20,800 mw 33,500 Mw


SPoNSoR SPoNSoR

fuel from phase 1 to get Plutonium for breeder reactors. And in phase-3, use the U233 (obtained from thorium) and use it with Plutonium.

ConclusionThe country has come a long way from struggling to find Uranium sup-ply in the starting phase to the making the NSG waive NPT clause in allow-ing the international community to trade with India in the nuclear seg-ment. So in this stage what India is looking from its global counter parts are a) the availability of fuel (Urani-um) b) the permission for reprocess-ing fuel to produce plutonium for its indigenous programme and c) Supply of fast breeder reactor (to convert tho-rium into Uranium, India needs fast breeder reactor).

Post Fukushima event, countries like Germany had announced a roll back on its nuclear plans and decommis-sioning of its existing plans. Accord-ing to experts, it is purely a political decision rather than issues connected to safety concerns. American nuclear society agrees that there is a delay of six months in their programme.

In our country, with the waiver from NSG and agreement with US, the sector has been opened up for global suppliers like Areva and GE. How-ever, for achieving the set targets, India needs to tackle issues in the domestic front like that of protests, environmental clearance hassles, land acquisition, clarity on implementation of civil nuclear liability act etc. The need of the hour is consensus among the suppliers, the operator, and the lo-cals at the site of the plant. The suc-cess of India’s nuclear programme will purely depend on how fast the government address the above said areas of concern. w

India’s nuclear infrastructure time line

• 1946: The Atomic Energy Research Committee chaired by Dr. H. Bhabha was formed

• 1948:TheAtomicEnergyActwasintroducedtocreateanAtomicEnergyCommission (AEC) and the legal framework for its operation.

• 1952:Afour-yearplantodevelopIndia’snuclearinfrastructureunveiled.

• 1954:TheDepartmentofAtomicEnergy(DAE)wascreated.

• 1955:BritainprovidesIndiawithsixkilogramsofenricheduraniumfuelrods, detailed engineering drawings, and other technical data for the con-struction of a “swimming pool” type research reactor. Members of the US Joint Committee on Atomic Energy visit India to promote the expansion of peaceful applications of atomic energy. The Atomic Energy Commission of the United States agrees to sell ten tons of heavy water to India for use in the nuclear research reactor under construction at Trombay.

• 1956:Canada agrees to supply Indiawith half the initial uranium fuelrequired for the CIRUS research reactor, and the United States agrees to sell 18.9 tons of heavy water for the reactor.

• October6,1961:Indiasignsanagreementtocooperateinthepeacefuluses of atomic energy with the Soviet Union.

• September21,1962:TheIndiangovernmentenactstheAtomicEnergyAct of 1962, which allows for enhanced secrecy and mandates central governmental control over atomic energy.

• August8,1963:TheAgreement forCooperationbetweenUSand Indiaconcerning the Civil uses of Atomic Energy is signed.

• October6,1967:India’sDefenseMinisterSwaranSinghannouncesbe-fore the UN General Assembly that India will not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

• May18,1974:IndiaconductsanucleartestatPokhranintheRajasthandesert.

• 1978:USCongresspassestheNuclearNon-ProliferationActwhichpro-hibits nuclear trade with states that have not placed all reactors under full-scope safeguards. The United States stops giving India nuclear as-sistance.

• September2008:TheNuclearSuppliersGroup(NSG)removedthebanon India’s participation in international nuclear trade.

• October2,2008:IndiasignsanagreementwiththeUnitedStates,whichlifts a three-decade US moratorium on nuclear trade with India by provid-ing assistance to India’s civilian nuclear energy program and expanding US-Indian cooperation in energy and satellite technology.

iNDiaN Nuclear power Sector

Necessity of Nuclear Power to IndiaElectricity demand in India is increas-ing rapidly. Coal provides 68% of the electricity at present, but reserves are limited. Coal Imports are costly and large Imports by India & China may encourage OPEC like Cartels. Gas provides 8%, hydro 14% & Nuclear 3%. The per capita electricity con-

sumption figure is expected to double by 2020, with 6.3% annual growth, and reach 5000-6000 kWh by 2050. By 2050 a gap of 80000MWe will exist & this needs to be closed by Nuclear.

The debate on whether to have Nucle-ar Power for India or not is going on for the last thirty years. With twenty Nuclear Power Plants operating and Seven under construction, having

completed 345 re-actor years safe, reliable & viable operation with more than 3000 manu-facturers, 100 EPC Contractors and ma-ture industry of five decades, it is too late to ask this ques-tion. Constructive criticism and debate should now be on what additional safe-ty and commercial upgradation should be done to make Nuclear Power safe, secure, reliable, vi-able and acceptable especially after Fu-kushima, what type of Nuclear Power

Plants should be built, what are specific needs of our culture and for our country, which technology, in addition to Pres-surized Heavy Water Reactors, should India absorb for domestic use and tap huge export potential, what additional steps should be taken to speed up put-ting Thorium usage into commercial domain, how to further accelerate Dr. Bhabha’s Three Stage Program, road map to make India an important global nuclear player similar to IT now etc.

For balanced energy mix, energy in-dependence and security, climate change and avoiding green house gases, sustainable development, tap-ping 25% of World Thorium being in India capable of producing three lakh Mega Watts for three hundred years and the huge potential of India being a major global Nuclear Player in a de-cade (like IT, auto industries etc now) and many other reasons, Nuclear is inevitable for India. Moreover there is no alternate established bulk energy source after exhaustion of Fossil fuels as Fusion is still far away. Thus the Energy mix for India should be on Four pillars, Thermal including Coal, Gas etc, Renewable including Hydro,

G. R. SrinivasanAdvisor, Nuclear Power Business, GMR Energy Limited, Formerly Vice Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India & Director-Projects, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.

- coMMitMeNtS & challeNgeS


For balanced energy mix, energy independence and security, climate change and avoiding green house gases, sustainable development, tapping 25% of World Thorium be-ing in India capable of producing three lakh Mega Watts for three hundred years and the huge poten-tial of India being a major global Nuclear Player in a decade (like IT, auto industries etc now) and many other reasons, Nuclear is inevitable for India.


SPoNSoR SPoNSoR

clude Seismic, flooding (Both due to heavy rain or upstream dam burst and downstream dam not damaged), TSUNAMI, extreme high velocity winds etc. All safety equipment are located above maximum flood level or Tsunami levels taken for about 100 years from historical data and proba-bilistic approach. For earth quakes, data around 300km is taken and a de-sign basis earthquake is determined. Each safety equipment is qualified by shake-table tests or if too big by calculations and computer modeling. Nuclear sites are not located in high earth quake areas. This is one of the codal requirements.

Due to the above the Madras Atomic Power Plants stood the Tsunami and the Kakrapara Atomic Plants stood the Bhuj earth quake.

Objectives & Ambitions of Indian Program- In-dia, a future Global PlayerIndia has a flourishing and largely in-digenous nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000 MWe Nuclear capacity on line by 2020 and 63,000 MWe by 2032. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050.

India could also become a global res-ervoir of skilled nuclear manpower, a manufacturing hub, a pioneer in Tho-rium and Fast Breeder technologies, a huge Nuclear Service Provider and much more.

Since India will soon assume a global role, it should align itself with Inter-national regimes in many areas such as Export controls, design practices, Physical protection, Nuclear Security & prevention of proliferation, Nuclear

Safety, Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage etc.

Fears existing in sur-rounding population:Genration 3+ NPPs which India is im-porting have features which will re-sult in none or minimal action in Pub-lic domain even in Fukushima type of accidents. Proven & Tested reactors are of Fukushima type and if we want a high degree of safety we have to go for untested reactors. In fact there is a good possibility of even not writing off these reactors after natural disas-ters that Fukushima faced. After in-spection & checks there is a possibil-ity to restart the Nuclear Power Plants as design features of these Generation 3+ reactors may totally protect the re-actors.

Fear exists in the mind of costal popu-lation including tribal population & fisherman about damage to environ-ment including marine life. The dis-charge temperature limits to environ-ment for NPPs is the same as it is for Thermal Plants i.e. 7°C more than in-let. For plants installed prior to 1999 it is 10°C (It is still so in many coun-tries) which is also safe. (In fact in many coastal locations in India, at any spot the daily variation in temperature itself is 10°C). These limits, both of absolute maximum temperature and differential rise in temperature, are as per international standards and Indian stipulations and have been arrived af-ter intense study. The adverse effects of thermal discharges into coastal wa-ters & other water bodies have been widely studied & documented. These will not cause any damage to marine life or Flora & Fauna. The radioactive Waste discharged to Environment will be as per Radioactive Waste Disposal

Act being practiced for 345 reactor years & increase in fish catch at all NPP locations prove that marine life is not affected. Reports of the fishery department at each of the six NPP lo-cations in India from the time the re-spective plants commenced operation reinforce this conclusion.

EconomicsWhen India Imported PHWR from Canada for Rajasthan and BWR from USA for Tarapur, it was feared that those will be uneconomical. Now In-dia makes cheapest PHWR reactors in the world. Tarapur sells at less than a rupee per unit. Thus even though the Imported reactors now planned could be initially costly, by building fast, local manufacturer of maximum equipment (Indian manufacturers can make equipment 30% cheap with same Quality and Reliability), build-ing through Indian EPC Contractors, Operating for 60 years and efficiently with Plant Load factor greater than 90%, the Levellised Tariff will be comparable to the nearest Conven-tional Thermal Power Plant of the same vintage.

Private Sector Participa-tionPrivate Sector are playing a vital role in equipment manufacture and con-struction/EPC contracts for past five decades. Government has announced that they will allow minority share in operation of NPPs. This could be a first step towards full privatization. Since heavy investment, detailed long term planning etc are required due to uniqueness of Nuclear Industry, Po-litical Consensus & Long term Policy Declaration is a necessity.


Nuclear & fourthly Energy Efficien-cy, Improved energy intensity, Con-servation, Smart grids, demand side controls etc. Nuclear Industry will change but the need for Nuclear will not change. However constructive criticism and debate is required to fine tune the policy. Political consensus is a must. Media would continue to play a major role. The way all these are playing vital roles in the last few years on many issues augurs well and gives confidence that the country would chalk out a mature, effective and best suitable Nuclear Road Map for India.

Indian Nuclear Power ProgrammeIn The Three Stage Indian Nuclear Power Program, the 1st Stage con-sisting of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors is already in the Industrial domain. Work is in progress in the 2nd Stage of using Fast Breeder Re-actors. This increases the potential of the 1st Stage which is 10,000MWe to 3,00,000MWe. The Second stage uses recycled Plutonium from 1st Stage. The energy potential can be further increased with the develop-ment of Thorium in the Third stage using U-233 as fuel (India not using Thorium is like asking Arab countries

not to use oil). Work has commenced in the Third Stage also and India is operating a research reactor, the only one presently in the world, KAMINI using U-233 from Thorium. The above indicates why India follows a Closed Cycle.

With the availability of Imported Ura-nium from Areva, Russia & expected soon from Kazakhstan (First gains of the global trade made possible due to NSG Waiver) as well as increased domestic production, NPCIL is antici-pating to double its power generation in this fiscal year. The installation cost for indigenous PHWRs is Rs. 7 to 8 Crore/MWe and the average tariff for 2008-09 was 234 paise per kwhr.

Fukushima Accident & Impact on Indian Pro-gram:Under the orders from Government, seven committees have submit-ted Post Fukushima reviews on all Nuclear Power Plants in India and implementation is in progress. This includes review of Kudankulam NPP also. Greater openness & transpar-ency will be practiced in the decision making process. Public Acceptance will be given importance. Only Nu-

clear that poses no threat to society & environment will be accepted by the public. It should be seen so also.

Design against natu-ral disasters including earthquake, tsunami etc:During the application for site, pre-liminary safety details of the NPP need to be submitted including a guarantee that all AERB limits and codal requirements will be adhered to. Only such details which are ir-reversible later on a detailed future review are seen at this stage. During the period between authorizations for excavation to commissioning, a detailed three tier review of each de-sign detail is performed. For example, for Narora Atomic Power Project this review process consumed more than 500000 technical man hours. A simi-lar amount of effort has already been spent on the review of Russian design at Kudankulam.

Present Indian NPPs go through elab-orate review process with respect to them being capable of withstanding natural disasters including extreme meteorological conditions. These in-


iNdustry FEaturE switchgears switchgears

iNdustry FEaturE

SwitchgearSiNDuStry with proMiSiNg future

An efficient power supply system is the key ingredi-ent for a country’s economic

growth; unfortunately, in India short-age of electricity is one of the major limitations sustaining our growth momentum. With current installed generating capacity of over 180000 MW, the country recently faced a peak demand gap of about 16% due to coal shortages. To sustain the eco-nomic and industrial growth drive the government is focusing more and more on increasing generation capac-ity to fulfil energy requirement and bridge the mounting demand-supply gap. However, increasing genera-tion capacity alone will not solve the situation since the current installed transmission capacity for evacuation is heading bottleneck, further a cause of serious concern is outdated distri-bution system with huge AT & C loss-es. Hence there is an urgent need for enhancement and up-gradation of the transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure to evacuate additional power across the country, which calls for a corresponding investment in transmission & distribution sector.

The government has pulled out all the stops to attract investment in this sec-

tor and has taken various steps to make the sector at-tractive for inves-tors. Ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), nuclear power program, JVs by public & Private sector for manufacture of plant equipment in-cluding supercriti-cal 800 MW tur-bines & boilers and Balance of Plant (BOP) equipment etc., too are under progress to help debottleneck the power generation program. Renew-able/Alternative energy initiatives like wind, solar-thermal, biomass, mini/micro hydel, etc. are gathering steam. This scenario presents a huge opportunity to the Indian electri-cal equipment industry, particularly Switchgears.

Industry OverviewIndian industry’s need for continued uninterrupted power supply has led

to the rise in demand for switchgears, which are indispensable not only for transmission and distribution of pow-er but anywhere where there is a need to access and control electricity. The switchgear industry in India is a de-veloped industry, producing and sup-plying a wide variety of switchgear needed in the industrial and power sectors. This industry is highly orga-nized with around 25-30 leading play-ers, however about 15 of these leading players, controls more than 90% of the market share. It is estimated that the

The Indian switchgear industry is fully geared up to produce, supply and export a wide variety of equipments that are required by the expanding industrial and power sector. The industry has moved up to next level to extra high-voltage power transmission technology with the introduc-tion of 1200 kV SF6 Circuit Breaker. Amidst challenges and prevailing threat the future holds lot of promise for this industry.

present size of the Indian switchgear industry, is around Rs. 12,000 Crores. During the financial year 2010-11 the industry grew by about 21% in terms of volume however overall exports decreased by 8%, whereas imports in-creased mainly for MV/HV by more than 25%. The industry is capable to meet the domestic demand and manu-factures the entire voltage range from 240 KV to 800 KV.

The industry has moved to higher level with first 1200 KV SF6 circuit breaker being recently introduced by Siemens for PGCIL 1200Kv Test sta-tion at Bina, MP. The launch of the 1200 kV SF6 Circuit Breaker is a significant milestone in this journey contributing towards sustainable de-velopment of the nation’s economy by enhancing efficiency of the pow-er sector. If we talk of utilities and industries, they predominantly use vacuum based switchgears, which is an upgrade from air and oil tech-nology. In the higher voltage range, utilities are now adopting SF6 based technology for increased safety. Go-ing by current trends, the MV and LV segments will continue to grow while the HV and ultra high voltage (UHV) segment has even brighter prospects.

A conservative estimate is that the in-dustry will grow at the rate of 8-10 per

cent per year. The LV and MV market will reach $4,173.2 million by 2015, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2 per cent. The two major markets for switchgears are the government and private sec-tor. Growth drivers for LV switchgear are building segments, new indus-tries and infrastructure development while for HV and extra high voltage (EHV) segments; growth stems from power generation and transmission sectors, which are directly linked to generation capacity. For the MV seg-ment, this would be the distribution sector including programmes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and Re-structured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (R-APDRP) be-sides the core sector industries.

Market Scenario: The Indian switchgears industry has shown a healthy growth post econom-ic dip of 2008-09 registering around 15 per cent in 2009-10. Alongside the industry also saw the demand grow-ing at a rate of 20-25 per cent during the period. Financial year 2010-11 was a year of positive growth for

switchgear industry in India. HV (High Voltage) and EHV (Extra High Voltage) switchgear resulted in a 28% growth due buoyancy in demand from Power Grid, IPPs (Independent Power Producer) and some utilities. While constrained demand of medium volt-age breakers for substation projects also got a fillip and resulted in huge growth of more than 30% during the period. On the other hand low voltage switchgear products like contactors, MCBs ( Miniatures Circuit Break-

ers), MCCB’s (Moulded case circuit breakers), etc. continued to witness a growth of more than 20% due to sustained demand from cement, steel, OEMs (Original Equipments Manu-facturers), construction and infra-structure sectors.

As an innovation-led technology leader, Siemens has opened up a new dimension in the high-volt-age power transmission technol-ogy with the introduction of 1200 kV SF6 Circuit Breaker. Spanning over long distances and with a transmission capacity of 8000 megawatts (MW), the new 1200 kV system will have low transmis-sion losses.

Currently, the MV & HV switch-gear segments are suffering from overcapacity due to lack of orders. Inadequate demand could be due to insufficient planning by the us-ers and delay in finalizing tenders.


iNdustry FEaturE switchgears

Currently, the MV & HV segments are suffering from overcapacity due to lack of orders. Inadequate demand could be due to insufficient planning by the users and delay in finalizing tenders. Unfortunately bunching of orders also creates supply-delivery problems, Also L1 ( lowest quoted price) procurement system followed by all utilities i.e. procuring products at lowest price creates a hurdle for bringing good quality material in the system. Further insistence on repeat-ed type testing of products in spite of inadequate type testing laboratories poses additional delays and harm to the equipment.

Latest Trends: The Indian switchgear industry is a mature industry and continues to in-

novate and upgrade its products to meet the evolving/future needs of its customers. If we look at the prevail-ing trends then it is interesting to note that in low voltage category, there had been shift from electromagnetic to numerical relays along with electri-cal sensors being getting replaced by electronic sensors and there is more and more use of magnetic actuators. It is also quite notable that there has been increased use of improved ma-terials for cost saving and making switchgears environment friendly. While on the other hand in High and Extra High Voltage range there are more compact and intelligent switch-gear in use. With package substations and smart grids available now the in-dustry is moving to a higher level of 1200Kv range. The Indian switchgear

industry is all ready with products and solutions of global standards.

Opportunities Government planned a capacity addi-tion of around 1,50,000 MW during the period of 10 years from 2007-2017. However with huge slippage in capacity addition targets during XI th five year plan ending 2012, the gov-ernment will work more aggressively on capacity addition front during the XII plan period (2012-17) to compen-sate the shortfall of the previous plan. All these efforts will also open up equal opportunities in Transmission sector to evacuate the power. Since HV & EHV switchgears derive their demand from power generation and transmission sector, the segment has bright prospect for growth in times

Challenges & Threats:• Weak financial position of Electricity Broads (EB’s)

which has worsened over the years adversely affect the switchgear industry since it has to largely depend on EBs for its sales.

• High input cost is draining away the profit marginssince the industry has to face stiff price competition.

• InLV&MVsegment the industry is facing increased& unhealthy competition from unorganized sector and Chinese imports at cheaper rates.

• SinceinIndiaallocationoffunds&investmentsinR&Dis quite low the industry lacks product innovations.

• ThereislackofIntegration/Assimilationofnewtech-nologies into development of new products in the sec-tor.

• Procuringproductsatlowestpricefollowedbymostofthe utilities creates a hurdle for bringing good quality material in the system.

• Power Sector, though offers big opportunities aheadfor HV and EHV segment but sadly the country lacks

test facilities for HV switchgear.

• Onesidedcontractsbytheuserindustries/PriceVari-ation contracts not accepted by many users is cause of deep concern amidst rising input cost.

• The industry faces challenges of improper procure-mentplanning/bunchingoforderscoupledwithentryofunprovencontractors/sub-contractorswithminimaltechnical knowledge.

• Lackofstandardspecificationanddesignparametersclubbed with increasing trend of customisation is ad-versely impacting the delivery schedule as well as tak-ing away benefits of economies of scale.

• ThenewClauseof consequential damageswhich inshort means an organisation supplying equipment is not only responsible for the supply but also for the damages arising out of the equipment.

• Uncertainty&slowpaceofreformsisanotherareaofgrave concern.

• Theindustryisalsomovingthroughphaseofunderuti-lization of installed capacity.


iNdustry FEaturE switchgears

ahead. Further power plant modern-ization and refurbishment is also ex-pected to additionally support growth of the switchgear market, since nu-merous power plants in India are nearing the end of their service plan, thus requiring overhauling and mod-ernization and the replacement of LV, MV and HV switchgear.

On the other hand Infrastructure sec-tor is one of the most important thrust sectors in the Eleventh & Twelfth Five Year Plan of the Government of India with an estimated investment of $475 billion over next five years (2012-2017); at an average GDP growth of about 7.6 percent and massive invest-ments from the private and public sec-

tor are expected to drive the growth in infrastructure segment which includes modern-ization of crucial economic and social infrastruc-ture, such as new hospitals, com-mercial com-plexes, IT Parks, Shopping Malls, Ports, railways, Metro, roadways and schools etc I n f r a s t r u c t u r e development is expected to ben-efit the Ring Main U n i t s ( R M U s ) , Intelligent Switch Gear, Air insu-lated and Mould-ed Case circuit breakers market for switching, control and gen-eral protection ap-plications.

The prices of real estate are firming up and continued growth of the residential sector is likely to drive the MCBs, ELCBs and MCCBs market which has already clocked a growth of more than 20% over last fiscal. Also, India’s indus-trial sector, with most of the indus-trial divisions reporting growth in output in the fiscal will pave way for the LV & MV switchgear demand. An increase in process automation levels at industrial infrastructure is set to increase the market for ISGs, RMUs, MCCBs, ACBs and C&Rs. Further, the renewable energy market in India which has grown from about 2400 MW to 20,100 MW, offers big

opportunity for switchgear industry. The growth in this segment is likely to sustain at current/higher levels per-cent over the next 4-5 years and is ex-pected to support LV and MV switch-gear market growth, as these products are required for general protection as well as switching. The MCCB and MCB markets are expected to benefit considerably from alternative energy expansion.

Road Ahead:The industry though blessed with im-mense potential and loads of oppor-tunities ahead is not free from chal-lenges. There is dire need of standard specification and design parameters by user segment. The manufacturers also need to look into better produc-tion efficiencies and economies of scale to fight price competition and to cut down unhealthy competition from cheap and sub-standard prod-ucts. Also L1 (lowest quoted price) procurement system followed by all utilities is bound to creates a hurdle for bringing good quality material in to the system. There is much need to take concrete steps to encourage R&D activities for innovative products and to bridge the technological gap.

The future holds lot of promise for this industry. The government fo-cus on the power sector for adding capacity, improving power quality, strengthening transmission and initi-ating steps for privatisation of SEBs along with rural electrification would ensure continuous growth, both up-stream and down-stream, at least for the next few years. The current sce-nario is marked by capacity building in many industries along with real estate growth and increased emphasis on infrastructure development augurs well for the switchgear industry.

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sPEcial rEPortElEcraMa 2012

elecraMa 2012

ElEcraMa 2012sPEcial rEPort

a MoveMeNt Now,beyoND juSt aN exhibitioN!

ELECRAMA serves as the largest confluence of the Power T&D sector, ranging

from 110V to 1200kV, HVDC and Power Electronics, ELECRAMA of-fers an international framework for display, discussions and deliberations amongst global T&D fraternity com-prising of business, thought leaders, technologists and professionals from the Utilities, Industry and Academia. ELECRAMA is the world’s largest

electrical T&D exhibition held bien-nially in Mumbai, India since 1990. From its humble beginnings in 1990 which saw 283 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors, it has grown to be the world’s largest one-stop-shop for electri-cal and industrial electronics with 95% of the Indian Electrical Industry manufacturers across the entire T&D value chain conforming to global standards come together to showcase their development and manufacturing

strength. The ninth edition ELEC-RAMA 2010 hosted 1,243 exhibitors from India and 23 countries, and at-tracted 1,05,209 footfalls into the ex-hibition.

Now it is time for ELECRAMA-2012 which took off to with a flying start on July 2011, in splendid ELEC-RAMA style when IEEMA and the ELECRAMA-2012 organizing com-mittee held a curtain raiser preview

The World’s largest convergence of the power transmission and distribution community and the premier showcase of Indian Electrical Sector is back again with its 10th edition of ELECRAMA 2012 - schedule from 18th – 22nd of January 2012 at Mumbai (India). The event is organized by IEEMA, a 64 year old non-profit industry association representing the Indian electrical & industrial elec-tronics industry with over 750 members with a combined annual turnover over US$22 Billion

of ELECRAMA-2012, a high profile event attended by leading luminaries of the Indian Power sector including chiefs of key Indian Utilities, regula-tory bodies and allied institutions rep-resenting and reflecting the breadth and strength of the Indian Power Sec-tor. Ms. Indra Prem Menon, Chair-person ELECRAMA 2012 said: “In-dia is on the cusp of infrastructure revolution and the Power sector has a key role to play. As per estimates, US$ 600 billion (Rs 27,00,000 crore) of planned investments in Power gen-eration, transmission and distribution are at various stages of progress and

ELECRAMA 2012 will play a huge catalyst role in bringing investors, manufacturers and decision makers together. At IEEMA we are glad to present this ‘India Power Factor’, a global platform that will position In-dia in the right perspective.” January 2012 - New Year with new opportuni-ties is here to welcome ELECRAMA 2012 which offers industry profes-sional across the globe an unparal-leled experience and lasting value, beyond just an exhibition.

Mr. PV Krishna, Director General IEEMA and Organizing Secretary of Elecrama said, “ELECRAMA

2012 will provide opportunities for visitors to forge technology partner-ships, close business deals, and as-sess vendors’ capabilities. Above all, ELECRAMA 2012 will bring to the fore the value proposition of ‘Made in India’ and of ‘right technology @ right price’. Concurrent conferences will throw light on technology trends, O&M, developing smart power grids”.

ELECRAMA as an exhibition fea-tures the biggest names in the global electrical T&D industry, and a per-fect launch vehicle to introduce latest products and technology. The five day

showcases products and technology through the entire voltage spectrum, conforming to global standards and specifications and also provides a window to the future by showcasing concepts, prototypes and innovations conjured by young engineers from leading technical institutions. This enables a healthy interaction inter-face for future professionals with the

widest cross section of T&D industry giving it a must attend event status amongst global exhibitions. The event aims at brings together manufacturers and suppliers to interface with key customer segments like private and public T&D Utilities, EPCs, Consul-tants and members of the government and policy makers.

The 10th edition is expected to sur-pass all previous editions, with over 1250 Exhibitors, along with 30+ VIP delegations from over 130 countries is expecting around 110,000 footfalls during the five day event. ELECRA-MA is an ideal venue for industry pro-fessionals, business people and tech-nologists to come together on a single global platform.

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Product showcasE New Product & technology New Product & technology

Product showcasE

Victaulic, the world’s leading manu-facturer of mechanical pipe joining systems, has introduced installation-ready product line and Advanced Groove System (AGS) product line at the ACREX trade fair at BIEC, Banga-lore. Both product lines give contrac-tors, engineers and owners an un-matched competitive edge, cutting piping system installation time and making installations safer.

Installation-ready technology is de-signed to address the industry’s need

to compress project schedules and remain competitive. It is the fastest and safest pipe-joining method currently available. The installation-ready coupling in-stalls up to ten times faster than other pipe-joining methods such as welding, brazing, soldering or flanging.

The Victaulic patented Advanced Groove System (AGS) is the strongest and most depend-able mechanical piping joining system for 350-1525mm size

piping systems. With a two-piece housing and a wedge-shaped groove that delivers pressure ratings up to 2,400 kPa, Victaulic AGS couplings offer exceptional assembly speed and reliability. In addition to simpli-fied and faster installation, Victaulic couplings, fittings and valves are lighter in weight yet with higher inte-gral strength and require less space than traditional products, minimizing the plant room footprint while maxi-

mizing HVAC system performance.

“The Victaulic grooved system works equally well with a variety of piping materials, including carbon and stainless steel, and with a wide range of pipe sizes,” says Pankaj Soni, Victaulic Country Manager In-dia. “This makes it the ideal choice to compress schedules in the HVAC industry where it offers the com-bined advantages of design versatil-ity, highly reliable operation, and fast installation.”

Founded in 1925, Victaulic is the world’s leading producer of mechan-ical pipe joining systems. Headquar-tered in Pennsylvania, USA, Victaulic has manufacturing and distribution facilities worldwide and employs more than 3,500 people. The compa-ny develops products for a full range of industrial, commercial and institu-tional piping system applications.

For more information,

visit www.victaulic.com.

Victaulic exclusive installation-ready line and Advanced Groove System lineCooper Corporation Pvt. Ltd. is a pioneering company which built India’s first diesel engine way back in 1922 and is a market leader in centrifugal castings and has added to its very popular Ecopack Range of gensets. The company has launch its new range of 4 and 6 cylinder Engines which will power the Cooper Ecopack gensets in the power range from 100 KVA to 200 KVA.

The gensets are presently produced at Coopers State of the Art production facilities in Satara, Maharastra. These are developed with Stanadyne mechanical injection sys-tems using 750 bar injection pressure and achieving CPCB II norms which are going to be applicable from June 2013 onwards.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Farrokh Cooper, Chairman and Managing Director, Cooper Corporation said, “We are delighted to present our new Ecopack gensets in the In-dian market as this is a step towards our commitment to offer state of the art integrated technological solutions to

our valued customers. Today, these gensets already com-ply with future emission norms which are applicable from July 2013! We are confident of a great market success in this product range. Not only are they Environmenly friendly but also save extensively on fuel and maintenance costs.”

Further these gensets also have a gas variation which the company is developing to meet the market require-ments using mixture type of gas systems. Available with rotary fuel pump and CRDI options, the engines will have 4 valves per cylinder and turbo charged with charge air cooling. The engines are of compact size which occupies less space per unit output. Euro IV compliant for automo-tive application, flexi fuel option (diesel, CNG, LPG) with B10lifeof7,000hours/250,000kmsaresomeofitssa-lient features which is a formula for success and sure to be a hit in the market.

For Further Information visit:

www.coopergenset.com www.coopercorp.in

Cooper Ecopack Gensets break new ground !

Mesh Cable trays are the ideal solutions for safe and economical cable routing. OBO’s patented GR-Magic Cable trays are also quicker to install. The screw less quick mounting guarantees the shortest possible installation time even for complex installations. The versatile and perfect accessories along with various dimensions of mesh trays ensure that the product range is complete to the smallest detail. The mesh trays as well as accessories are available in electro galvanized for indoor & protected areas, Hot dip galvanized for outdoor and open atmosphere areas, 304 & 316 grade stainless steel for food, tunnel & offshore applications standard sizes available are with side heights 35, 55 & 105mm and width ranging from 50 to 600

mm . OBO GR Magic Mesh Cable trays are well accepted worldwide due to the above advantages combined with

the technical properties guaranteed by IEC 61537. E-mail : [email protected]

OBO GR Magic Mesh Cable Tray. OBO offer cable support system made by pro-fessionals for the professionals.

The new ÖLFLEX® SERVO FD 796 CP motor cable is be-ing launched with the tag line “Seven in One” with good reason: The new premium cable can replace seven servo motor cables at once, offering users a whole range of ad-ditional benefits such as: • Allowsmuchfasterspeedandaccelerationswhich

increases the economic efficiency of the machines • Multi-standard=fewerpartvarieties=costsavings• Suitableforthemostimportantservomotordrivesys-

tems of leading manufacturers.• Benefit:Themodifieddesignofthecontrolpairsbrings

less voltage drop and allows significant higher working voltage of the associated circuits.

High-speed multiple changes of the power chain’s position is exactly where the new premium cable from Lapp shows its excellence. The proportional run-up and braking times have been reduced by up to 96%. The new cable offers an exceptionally long service life, is compact and lightweight. Key features include: • Dynamicperformanceinpowerchains:Accelerations

upto50m/s²• Travelspeed:upto5m/sandtravellengthsupto100m

• Lowcapacitancedesign: Dependent on electrical operating conditions of the drive, EMI interfer-ence levels may be reduced

• Halogen-freemateri-als -Flame retar-dancy and Oil resistant

• UL/CSA:VW-1,FT1.IEC/EN:60332.1-2Product finds application in connecting cable between servo controller and motor, in power chains or moving machine parts, for use in assembling- & pick-and-place machines - particularly in wet areas of machine tools and transfer lines and for assembly lines, production lines in all kinds of machines. It establishes the Stuttgart-based Lapp Group firmly in the Champions League of international servo cable manufacturers. First dimensions are made available from Dec 2011. The products that will be replaced can be ordered until end of Feb 2012.

ÖLFLEX® SERVO FD 796 CP – “Seven in One”


Product showcasE New Product & technology

Deccan Enterprises is having a state-of-the-art manu-facturing facility at Hyderabad, India. It markets its insu-lators under the brand name ‘Decosil’. Design and man-ufacture of Insulators is certified by DNV Nederland to ISO9001:2008. The company also has a well-equipped in-house R&D facility recognized by Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India. Deccan has now success-fully developed 765 kV Silicone Composite Insulators for the first time in India. These Insulators were designed with the help of 3-Dimentional Electrical Field Modelling software and meets all relevant International and Indian standards. DECOSIL Insulators have Unique and follow-ing features:

• DECOSILInsulatorstringconsistsoftwolongrodin-sulators cascaded with 4 grading rings for the ease of installation and stringing.

• DECOSIL Insulators are directly moulded over theend fittings ensuring positive sealing at the triple junction.

• DECOSILInsulatorsarelightinweight-1/10thweight

of equivalent Porcelain string.

• DECOSIL Insulators have excellent Pollutionperformance with its unique hydrophobicity property of Silicone rubber.

• DECOSIL Insulatorsdoesnotneedanymainte-nance- No cleaning required.

Earlier this year Deccan became the 1st company in the world to design, manufacture and test suc-cessfully 1200kV Silicone Composite Insulator. Today Deccan is India’s no. 1 manufacturer of Silicone Com-posite Insulators for transmission lines and railways. Decosil Insulators up to 400kV are working satisfacto-rily all over India in many utilities like Power Grid, Gu-jarat Transmission, UP Transmission, AP Transco, TNEB, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, West Bengal etc. By install-ing DECOSIL Insulators, the transmission lines shall be largely free from flashovers.

For Further information contact: [email protected] or visit their website: www.deccan.in

765 kV Silicone Composite Insulators:

Motwane introduces its Digital High Voltage Insulation Tester 5KPI which is a versatile industrial grade diagnostic insulation tester. It is a microprocessor based insulation tester for diagnosing insulation of all types of electrical equipments in electrical utility and large industries. 5KPI is suitable for testing insulation resistance of Power Trans-formers, Distribution Transformers, Motors & Generators,

Current Transformers, HT Cables, Circuit Breakers and other switchgears. 5KPI is designed and developed in Motwane DSIR accredited research laboratory and is manufactured under stringent manufac-

turing process.

The instrument comes in an easy grip tough industrial grade casing with detachable lid.

Information is displayed on large

backlit LCD for easy viewing during dim light condition. User defined algorithm for conducting spot insulation test-ing, polarization index, dielectric absorption ratio, dielectric discharge, step voltage and breakdown voltage test with three programmable timers. The instrument has internal memory for data storage (upto 1000 readings) and PC software for data management.

5KPI provides Programmable test voltage 250 ~ 5000V, In-sulation Resistance upto 10TΩ, leakage current upto 3mA. Simultaneous measurement of Voltage, Current and Capaci-tance,Digitalandanalogdisplay,Mains/BatteryOperation.5KPI is a fully intelligent insulation tester providing unique solution for complete insulation testing with 5 diagnostic modes PI, DAR, DD, SV and BDV, comes with international certification of CE, EMC, IP 65 & CAT IV to ensure equip-ment as well as human safety.

For further details contact: [email protected]

MOTWANE 5KPI - THE DIAGNOSTIC INSULATION TESTER


EvENts calENdErJanuary - december 2012 rENEwablE iNsiGhts

Focus - wiNd tEchNoloGy

Event & Proposed Date Proposed Venue Organisers Conferences

ELECRAMA 2012 18th-22nd Jan’12 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai IEEMA

3rd International Wind 5th-7th Feb’12 CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex, India Wind Power Assocation Conference & Exhibitions Coimbatore

AES 2012 - Alternative 9th-10th Feb’12 Gujarat niSpana Innovative Platforms Energy Summit 2012 Pvt Ltd

Energy Tech India 2012 10th-12th Feb’12 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi India Trade Promotion Organisation

Renewable Asia 2012 16th-19th Feb’12 Palace Grounds, Bengaluru Triune Exhibitors Private Limited

2nd India Solar Energy 23rd-24th Feb’12 New Delhi Noppen (Shanghai) Co Ltd Summit 2012

India Wind Energy 19th-20th April’12 Chennai Noppen (Shanghai) Co Ltd Summit 2012

Power Gen India & 19th-21st April’12 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Inter Ads Central Asia

World Renewable Energy 25th-27th April’12 Convention Centre- NDCC, Energy and Environment Technology Congress & Parliament Street, New Delhi Foundation Expo’2012

Nuclear Energy 2012 25th-27th Sep’12 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai UBM India Pvt Ltd

Renewtech India 2012 25th-27th Oct’12 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai MCO-Winmark Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd

Power India 2012 6th-8th Nov’12 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai MCO-Winmark Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd

Intersolar India 2012 6th-8th Nov’12 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai MMI India Pvt. Ltd

6th Renewable Energy 7th-9th Nov’12 National Capital Region of Delhi Exhibitions India India 2012

4th Renewable Energy 16th Nov’12 The Residency, Coimbatore Exhibitions India 2012 Conference

Wind Power India 2012 28th-30th Nov’12 Chennai Trade Centre Complex, WISE Chennai

Ps: The above mentioned Venues and Dates are subjected to change depending upon the final call being taken by the Organiser of the event.


rENEwablE uPdatEs rENEwablE uPdatEs

solar Wind

Biomass

Adani Group, with com-missioning of a 40 MW solar power plant in Kutch district, Gujarat has made it foray in the renewable energy sector. The group plans to expand the capac-ity of this plant to 100 MW in future. The Solar Power Plant is using Solar PV

Technology and has over 4,00,000 Solar PV modules mounted on 21,600 struc-tures, which are erected on 1,30,000 foundation. The power generated from this solar plant will be evacu-ated through a 66 KV line linked to a substation in Netra, located 20 km away

from the project site.

Adani Power, a company of Adani Group, which plans to become a 10,000 MW company by March 2013 is currently operating 3,300 MW at Mundra with four units of 330 MW and 3 units of 660 MW, and is

in the process of commis-sioning two more units of 660 MW by March 2012 to achieve the final plant capacity of 4,620 MW. The company also plans to com-mission 1,320 MW at Tiro-da enhancing operational capacity of Adani Power to 6,000 MW by March 12.

India’s move to reduce so-lar-power costs by forcing companies into auctions has paid unexpected divi-dends both for the govern-ment and for the renewable sector. The cost of solar power broke the Rs 10/unit barrier in a reverse auction process conducted recently by the Government of In-dia]. Solar power is hur-tling towards ‘grid parity’ – a concept which means parity in costs with conven-tional fuels.

This has significant impli-cations for India – a coun-try with a growing hunger for energy and faced with significant shortages in fos-sil fuels; blessed, however,

with plenty of sunshine. While still higher than conventional power cost, which is at Rs 3.50-Rs 4.0/kwh, this development is significant because it shows that prices have declined at a much faster pace than was initially anticipated.

Against the regulated tariff of Rs 15.39/kwh, the medi-an price discovered for 350 MW of projects is Rs 8.5/kwh and the lowest is Rs 7.49/kwh. Last year under a similar auction, the median price discovered was Rs 12/kwh and a lowest price Rs 10.9/kwh.

Wind power develop-ers in Andhra Pradesh filed a petition before the Andhra Pradesh Electric-ity Regulatory Commission (APERC), the body that fixes power tariffs, for hike in prevailing power tariff in the state however it is still pending.

The tariff in Andhra Pradesh is among the lowest. The state at present allows Rs 3.50 per unit. Among other states, Maharashtra is al-lowing Rs 5.37 per unit and a generation-based incen-tive of 50 paise. Rajasthan has recently raised the tar-iff from Rs 4.22 to Rs 4.46

and a 4 per cent evacuation incentive.

Andhra Pradesh, in terms of wind resources, is a good destination. However, the lower tariff is making it difficult for the companies here. The sector is not see-ing any significant invest-ments due to the low tariffs. The state has 4,700 mw capacity allotted and of this 2,000 mw has been sanc-tioned and the remaining 2,700 mw is under consid-eration. About 32 projects are commissioned in the state and 62 are in the pipe-line.

Moser Baer Clean Energy, the renewable energy ver-tical of Moser Baer India, said it is investing US $1 billion (Rs 5,100 crore) for setting up solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 300 Mw in the country and abroad in the next nine months.

“We are well-funded right now, we raised around US $1 billion in the last 12 months. We commissioned 100 MW in solar projects from April-September,

2011, and would add 300 MW more through solar in the next nine months,” Moser Baer India Execu-tive Director Ratul Puri said.

These projects would be set up in Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan in India, as well as abroad in countries like Germany, Italy, the UK. “It would be half and half, that is, 150 MW projects in India and the same abroad,” Puri said.

Suzlon Energy said it had received approval from the South African government to supply wind turbines for the upcoming Cookhouse Wind Energy Facility at Eastern Cape. It is one of the leading renewable en-ergy projects in that coun-

try. South Africa’s Minister for Energy, Dipuo Peters has announced her depart-ment’s approval of the facility, which will utilise Suzlon’s 2.1 Mw turbines.

“South Africa needs more energy and it also needs thousands of decent and

sustainable ‘green’ jobs. The wind energy sector is well positioned to deliver both of these requirements and more,” Suzlon Group Chairman and Managing Director Tulsi R Tanti said .

Octant Industries Ltd is implementing the Biomass cum Thermal Power Proj-ect in the state of Orissa, Sambalpur District. The Company is taking all nec-essary steps and placing orders with various reputed agencies for fast implemen-tation of the proposed pow-er project. The State Bank

of Hyderabad have also ap-praised the said project and giving necessary financial assistance for the same. The Project is also appraised by Power Finance Corpora-tion of India Limited and the Company is also taking steps to tie up with them for financing the Power Proj-ect.

Further the Company has informed that the castor oil division is in line with get-ting the orders and execut-ing the same to meet the budgeted revenue for the year 2011-12.

The Company also adopts global business standard to ensure their expanding

range of foreign custom-ers who will satisfy with Company’s quality prod-ucts. As a part of forward integration, the Company has already taken adequate steps for building its Agro Farming Division and the Government is also giving necessary support for the same.

Adani Power commissions 40 MW solar power project

Solar power gets unexpected boost at auction in India

Andhra wind power developers seek higher tariff

Moser Baer to spend US $1 bil-lion on solar plants in 9 months

Suzlon to supply wind turbines for South Africa project

Octant Ind to implement Biomass project in Orissa


rENEwablE FEaturEwind technology wind technology

rENEwablE FEaturE

The upward swing in the oil prices in the current century starting 2003 compelled both

the developed and the developing countries to explore the green energy sources. If the crisis in the 1970’s paved the way for intense research in wind technology, the post 2003 period is entrusted the need to reduce carbon emission. One of the best ways to achieve the target of reducing the im-pact on global warming is to harness the renewable energy segment. The technology maturity, the regulations in place in different countries, in wind enabled the developers to choose wind power.

From a single turbine installed in a courtyard of a house in Glasgow in Scotland by James Blyth to large off-shore wind farms, technology has re-fined this sector in a major way. The earlier use of windmills was to power batteries, divert water to the agricul-tural land also in cargo ships. Large numbers of windmill water pumps were introduced in United States in the 1940. Along that in 1941, a wind machine developed by Smith-Putnam

fed electricity to the grid. A transition from powering water pumps to cater-ing to larger purpose of electrifying homes. This wind turbine was differ-ent from the earlier wind mills which were in use, 75 foot blades, which is 10 times as powerful as the largest turbine existed then and 1000 times powerful than majority of the turbines in use at that point of time. This ma-chine a 1.25 Mw ran successfully for a period of 1100 hours.

Wind energy was a viable option even in the early period in the scattered geo-graphical populated area where grid was non-existent. The earlier form of single tower windmills gave way to higher kw turbines in the second half of the 20th century. Europe being the first to make inroads in developing wind energy, UK was successful in connecting the wind-generated power to the grid in 1951. The turning point in the history of wind power occurred in 1978 when the world’s first multi-megawatt wind turbine was construct-ed. It pioneered many technologies used in modern wind turbines and al-lowed Vestas, Siemens and others to

get the parts they needed. This power plant was capable of delivering 2Mw, had a tubular tower, pitch controlled wings and three blades. It was built by the teachers and students of the Tvind School.

In 1980’s and 1990’s Europe made a significant advancement in wind energy with larger farms. The world realised the possible deployment of wind energy globally and started ex-ploring the potential. If what we saw in the 1990’s was close to 1 Mw tur-bines, currently the world is installing 2 Mw and above capacity turbines on-shore and 5 Mw and 7 Mw turbines in offshore wind farms. The redesign and improvement in shape figured in the volatility of wind speed, and de-veloped to capture maximum wind at any given point. Though India is far behind from developing offshore wind farms in the country, it can still boasts of being the fifth largest wind energy producer in the world. In the last two decades country has made its foot prints in wind energy with wind farm installations in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Undoubtedly, large

A journey that started in the second half of 19th century progressed through sea change when reached the 21st century. From the low capacity wind turbine, believed to be first developed by Professor James Blyth of Anderson College Glasgow (now Strathclyde University), to say 5 Mw and above offshore turbines now, the sector has witnessed a sea change in technology development


biggerturbiNeS, More eNergy

capacity turbines are an imperative part of the installations now. The ad-vanced/ bigger capacity turbines are definitely a boon, increases the com-mercial viability of the project signifi-cantly.

According to Tulsi Tanti, chairman of Suzlon, the home grown turbine man-ufacturer, “Wind energy in India is expected to grow between 30 and 40 per cent in the coming years.” How-ever, he added that India is far away from having offshore farms. He con-tinued that technology wise, India is on par with the global peers; however it may take another five years before India gets into offshore wind farms.

The uncertainties prevailing over the availability of conventional fuel sources have forced the countries to harness the sustainability of wind-powered electricity, good news in-deed, as a higher level of dedication towards research and development activities seen in this sector. The end result of the ever climbing oil prices and hassles involved in finding coal supply for power projects is that the majority of the global countries have increased their target on renewable energy.

European Union pointed out that in 2010, 40 per cent of the investments in power sector was in renewable en-ergy segment and out of which wind energy had a sizable 17 %. They are optimistic that the rate of investment in renewable energy and in wind sec-tor in particular will see a healthy growth in the coming years. Wind energy grabs the attention because of the fast phased R&D results and up-gradation in technology.

India’s current installed capacity in wind is 14,158 Mw as on March 31, 2011 while the total installed capac-

ity globally stands at 194,000 Mw. By 2020 the country is expected to attain a capacity of 25,000 Mw in wind en-ergy. China leads in wind generated electricity in the world.

The accessed wind potential in the country is 50,000 Mw with a hub height of 50 m and with 2% land us-age. And there are recent studies which revised the potential higher with 80 m height and 6-7% land use, to onshore capacity of 676,000 Mw and offshore -214,000 Mw. The numbers appears appealing in a big-ger way; however, intermittent power supply is a concern.

Wind energy sector also had initial glitches in terms of lack of data on wind speed, elevation, geographical specification in particular location and so on. 1 Mw and smaller capac-ity turbines still remains the favourite choice list of Indian wind farm de-velopers owing to the inadequate in-frastructure in the country and lower wind density. “Wind farms typically are located in the remote areas in a state. Road accessibility and other connectivity to these areas are still a constrain. Connectivity to the grid will be another area of concern, as you require grid connection in case of a large wind farms. Now we have 2.1 Mw and above turbines available, but the Indian roads are not capable of transporting this huge shipment. So Indian developers are contained with

smaller size turbines,” said one of the developers who do not wished to be named.

For a country like India where land acquisition invites a lot of resistance, one would say, it should look at op-tions, which is more viable. However, with the offshore technology in place, wind would continue to dominate the renewable energy segment. The cost of wind energy is a reasonable Rs 4.2. The offshore wind will cost a bit higher owing to the increase in instal-lation cost. “Developers like OGCPL while developing a wind farm, uses the ground (space between the tur-bines) to grow the fuel of bio-fuel,” said R Kulothungan, VP Projects, Ori-ent Green Power Company Limited.

This is a viable solution for intermit-tent power supply, if the developer can implement the hybrid use of two source of generation. This will ensure the continuous supply to the grid. Here comes in the use of smart grid technology, by which the developer will be able to realise the low inten-sity wind time and device the use of second source fuel to supply power.

In India, with the government aggres-sively proceeding with the National Solar Mission, the developers feel that the growth in wind segment can take a back seat in the medium term. However, they are optimistic about the growth and feels that wind power will continue to find its prominent plays while developing renewable energy as a whole. The best example, one of the developers pointed out, is Gujarat the state gives equal thrust to wind and solar.

The break-up of projects imple-mented in prominent wind poten-tial states (as on March 31, 2011)

World’s Wind Capacity Country Capacity Global 194,000 Mw China 44,733 Mw US 40,180 Mw Germany 27,215 Mw Spain 20,676 Mw India 14,158 Mw


rENEwablE FEaturE wind technology wind technology

rENEwablE FEaturE

The Types of Wind Tur-binesWorld over there are three types of wind turbines commonly in operation. The turbines can rotate either vertical-ly or horizontally. The most common and popular are the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT towered), then the vertical axis (VAWT Savonius) and the VAWT Darrieus.

HAWTThe oldest type of turbine in the world upgraded to the latest capacity with increase energy output. These tur-bines in the commercial production domain have the following features. A three bladed-the length of the blade varies from 20 to 40 meters- tower (tower height between 60 to 90 me-ters) with a computer controlled mo-tors. A gearbox is put in use to step up the speed of the generator. In a normal scenario, the turbines are retained at a constant speed; but variable-speed turbines that use a solid-state power converter to interface to the transmis-sion system can collect more energy.

An unusual high speed wind can dam-age the blades. The safety features- the wind sensor- ensure the protection of the blades by applying the inbuilt brakes and blades terminates its ro-tation. Utmost care is taken to over-come the turbulence while the blade rotates. Majority of the horizontal turbines are kept in upward wind po-sition. There are down ward wind po-sition turbines are also in use, which, incase of a high speed wind situation allows the blades to bends and facili-tates the wind to pass through. The latest E 126 7.5 Mw capacity turbine in Estinnes Windfarm in Blegium has a unique 2 part blades.

VAWTUnlike the HAWT, the key difference is that the turbine need not be in place pointing to the wind flow direction. The motor and the shafts are arranged vertically in these turbines. These tur-bines are favourite choice for a geo-graphical terrain where there is high volatility in wind directions. Because of the rotational speed owing to the 360 degree movement of the aerofoil

increases the cost of production.

Darrieus wind turbine “Eggbeater” turbines, or Darrieus tur-bines named after the French inven-tor, Georges Darrieus have higher ef-ficiency. However, the less reliability and the need for an external power source to run the turbines make it less popular.

Small wind turbines may be used for a variety of applications including on- or off-grid residences, telecom tow-ers, offshore platforms, rural schools and clinics, remote monitoring and other purposes that require energy where there is no electric grid, or where the grid is unstable.

John O’Halloran, president, technol-ogy, Suzlon Energy says “The wind energy segment has reached satura-tion in the high wind terrains. Now the concentration is to tap high energy yield in lower wind density areas. World over wind turbine manufactur-ers are coming out with more yield machines for this segment.”

The current century marked the rise of floating offshore wind farms. The late 10190’s and the beginning of the century concentrated on the fixed off-shore wind farms. The reliability in the source of wind density is what at-tracts the companies to look at float-ing wind farms. While in onshore the highest installed capacity is that of 5 Mw turbine however, there are researches on to develop a 10Mw tur-bine. As far as the capacity goes up, the higher yield from the same area of land.

The futureWhile the world is fast moving to-wards floating turbine technology, India is far away from even explor-

ing the potential onshore. According to experts India has an ability to uti-lise the existing opportunity before it moves to offshore technology. Though offshore ensures a minimum wind density at any given point, the capital intensity in the segment could pause a hurdle in the coming years. The best thing, which happened in Indian wind sector, was the interest among private investors/developers in setting up of commercial wind power projects. The gross potential is 48,561 Mw and a total of about 14,158.00 Mw of com-mercial projects have been established until March 31, 2011.

Globally, offshore wind power be-gan to expand beyond fixed-bottom, shallow-water turbines beginning late in the first decade of the 2000s. The world’s first operational deep-water large-capacity floating wind turbine, Hywind, became operational in the North Sea off Norway in late 2009 at a cost of around US $62 million to build and deploy. These floating tur-bines are a very different construction technology—closer to floating oil rigs rather—than traditional fixed-bottom, shallow-water monopile foundations that are used in the other large off-shore wind farms to date.

From US and Europe now Asian countries are making its footprints in floating technology. In the later part of 2011, Japan announced its plan to build a multiple-unit floating wind farm. This farm will be with six 2-megawatt turbines that will be off the Fukushima coast of northeast Ja-pan where the 2011 tsunami and nu-clear disaster has created a scarcity of electric power. The evaluation pahse of the project is expected to be com-plete in 2016. Japan also has plans to build as many as 80 floating wind tur-bines off Fukushima by 2020 at a cost of some 10-20 billion Yen.

State-wise Wind Power Installed Capacity In India WState Gross Potential Total Capacity (MW) (MW) till 31.03.2011Andhra Pradesh 8968 200.2Gujarat 10,645 2175.6Karnataka 11,531 1730.1Kerala 1171 32.8Madhya Pradesh 1019 275.5Maharashtra 4584 2310.7Orissa 255 -Rajasthan 4858 1524.7Tamil Nadu 5530 5904.4Others - 4Total (All India) 48,561 14,158

The existinrbines • The Enercon E-126 has a rated

capacity of 7.58 Mw,[ has an overall height of 198 meters, a diameter of 126 m, and is the world’s largest-capacity wind turbine since its introduction in 2007.

• At least five companies are work-ing on the development of a 10Mw turbine onshore: American Superconductor

• Wind Power Ltd are developing a 10 Mw VAWT, the Aerogenerator

• Sway AS announced the pro-posed development of a prototype 10 Mw wind turbine with a height of 162.5 m (533 ft) and a rotor di-ameter of 145 m (475 ft).

• Astralux Ltd are developing verti-cal axis magneto levitated 10 Mw turbine with 230 m height and 260 m rotor diameter

• Clipper Windpower were develop-ing the Britannia 10 Mw HAWT, but terminated the project due to financial challenges.

• The turbine with the largest swept area is a prototype installed by Gamesa at Jaulín, Zaragoza, Spain in 2009. The G10X – 4.5 Mw has a rotor diameter of 128m.

• The tallest wind turbine is Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laa-sow. Its axis is 160 meters above ground and its rotor tips can reach a height of 205 meters. It is the only wind turbine in the world taller than 200 meters.

• Le Nordais wind farm in Cap-Chat, Quebec has a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) named Éole, which is the world’s largest at 110 m. It has a nameplate capac-

ity of 3.8Mw.

• The turbines currently operat-ing closest to the South Pole are three the Enercon E-33 in Ant-arctica, powering New Zealand’s Scott Base and the US McMurdo Station since December 2009. Although a modified HR3 turbine from Northern Power Systems operated at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in 1997 and 1998. In March 2010 CITEDEF de-signed, built and installed a wind turbine in Argentine Marambio Base.

• Four turbines at Rønland wind farm in Denmark share the re-cord for the most productive wind turbines, with each having gener-ated 63.2 GWh by June 2010

• The world’s highest-situated wind turbine is made by DeWind installed by the Seawind Group and located in the Andes, Argen-tina around 4,100 metres (13,500 ft) above sea level. The site uses a type D8.2 - 2000 kW / 50 Hzturbine. This turbine has a new drive train concept with a spe-cial torque converter (WinDrive) made by Voith and a synchronous generator. The WKA was put into operation in December 2007 and has supplied the Veladero mine of Barrick Gold with electricity since then.

The world’s largest—and also the first operational deep-water large-capacity—floating wind turbine is the 2.3 MW Hywind currently operating 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) offshore in 220-meter-deep water, southwest of Karmøy, Norway. The turbine began oper-ating in September 2009 and uti-lizes a Siemens 2.3 Mw turbine


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Could you compare the technology which India used in the 90’s when the first wind farms were set up and the current technology?

There is indeed a shift in the technol-ogy. Most evident is the shift towards higher capacity turbines – from a few kilowatts to Multi MW machines. Technology has improved in almost all aspects of the turbines – earlier machines were stall controlled, con-trols were located in the nacelle, they were more electro-mechanical opera-tion oriented. But now most of the ma-chines have advanced pitch controlled and have in-built controllers for safety purposes. Advanced power electron-ics and condition monitoring software are also now an integral part of the system. SCADA connectivity helps in

detecting any uneven operational mal-function (controllers are programmed accordingly), and reacts aptly, reduc-ing machine downtime and enhancing design life of the machines. Reliabil-ity of the components is amplified by means of appropriate national and international test standards such as IEC, DEWI etc. There is increased emphasis on power conditioning and machines incorporate power condi-tioning systems such as LVRT (Low Voltage Ride Through) or FRT (Fault Ride Through) harmonics controller. Even in terms of towers, the earlier erected lattice type structures are now replaced majorly by tubular towers. Concrete towers for bigger machines are also being tested primarily for cost effectiveness (in certain places) and to address logistic/transportation

challenges. Several optimized blade designs with advanced aerodynamic capabilities delivering higher energy yields and lower dynamic stresses are now available.

What is the latest equipment from Suzlon’s folder? Give the specifics?

At Suzlon we have recently launched our new S9X series wind turbine gen-erators based on Doubly Fed Induc-tion Generator (DFIG) technology, which features larger rotor diameter and higher hub height for enhanced performance in medium to low wind regimes. It also offers better grid compatibility in line with grid com-pliance norms in India. The DFIG technology facilitates extracting max-imum energy from the wind at low wind speeds by optimizing the turbine

With an expertise in the field of policy & power sector regula-tory frameworks encompassing renewable energy & climate change coupled with an extensive experience in tariff set-ting, financial modeling etc. - Chintan Shah, Vice President & Head Strategic Business Development & State Head for Maharashtra & MP at SUZLON Group of Companies Limited - shares his views with Power Insight over technological evo-lution in wind power sector and future prospects. Excerpts from the interview:

opportuNity for oNShoreDevelopMeNt

speed, while minimizing mechanical stresses on the turbine during gusts of wind.

Why is India still opting for smaller capacity turbines?

The prevalence of smaller capacity turbine is often dependent on inves-tors as well as technology suppli-ers/manufacturers. In India, several smaller investors prefer to invest in smaller capacity – and hence cheaper – wind turbines. However, with the entry of utility/IPP players and corpo-rate investments this trend is rapidly shifting to multi-MW wind turbines in India. Several manufacturers/technol-ogy providers are offering wind tur-bines with capacity of more than 1.5 MW to 2 MW for the past few years.

How far is India from offshore wind farms?

For India, offshore wind farms are definitely not a distant dream. How-ever, harnessing offshore wind energy potential requires in-depth research. The government agencies have al-ready started several studies and nu-merous private players have shown

interest in the same. In parallel, we understand that the Government has initiated the creation of a conducive policy framework for opening up off-shore wind energy utilization in the future. Though there is still some way to go before it materializes - we need several ancillary services and a robust supply chain. Also, with an estimated 100,000 MW of onshore wind po-tential in India, and just over 15,000 MW harnessed - there is tremendous opportunity for onshore development.

Elaborate on India wind segment? Which all states do you see the maximum business coming in for Suzlon in the domestic market?

India has one of the best public policy regime for renewable energy - NAPCC (National Action Plan on Climate Change), CERC Tariff Reg-ulations , and market based instru-ments like REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) – that are helping drive demand for wind energy which could reach 4,000 – 5,000 MW per annum. States such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kar-nataka are leading wind markets in

India and would continue to be so. Also, conducive policy environments created in newer states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh would also see wind energy installations increas-ing in these states

In comparison to China, where does India lacking in developing the wind energy?

India and China have very different priorities and it would be unfair to compare them. Unlike China, wind energy in India is fully dominated by private sector players and offer com-pletely different economies of scale. China has indeed emerged as the larg-est player in wind energy in the world, and the growth has been phenomenal. On the other side, India has had a steady growth approach for more than a decade. In any growth economy, there are challenges and both China and India are no exception to this. In India a very solid public private partnership to address the infrastruc-tural challenges both on the logistics and the transmission front will help us move forward in the wind energy space.

“With an estimated 100,000 MW of onshore wind potential in India, and just over 15,000 MW harnessed - there is tremendous oppor-tunity for onshore development.

Chintan Shah

| December 2011 - January 2012 | Power Insight56

last word

Power sector continue to wade through troubled waters. Last October it was a near black out which created night mare for both the power

minsitry and the utilities. In the winter session of parlia-ment, a seemingly worried Power Minister Sushil Ku-mar Shinde’s stated that the generation cost is climbing up owing to fuel cost and logistical cost. Can we read it as an indication of a tariff revison? However, polls in different states may keep a status quo for the time being. Recalling here that majority of the states in the country have not revised the tariffs in many years.

Government, though had an ambitious plan of adding 75,000 Mw in the current Five Year Plan, is expected to add only 45,000 Mw. This itself is a commendable achievement as the number is larger than what India achieved post-independence period put together. The intensity of the alarm raised by the Power Minister is higher, when given to understand that the government had already scaled down the capacity addition target for the next Five Year Plan (2012-2017) even before com-mencing (the planned capacity addition is 1,00,000 Mw).

Thermal power generation sector- marred with severe fuel shortage, nuclear power facing resistance in the plant area, hydro- slower development of projects, Re-newbales- yet to be a sizable contributor (now contrib-utes between 5-10 per cent of the total energy basket). In short the states which have resorted to power cuts in winter months may be forced to continue load shedding through the summer as well. Power cuts a normal feature in summer has arrived as early as October with 2 to 5 hours of load shedding a day.

Was it lack of foresight which led to such a crisis in Oc-tober? The highlight of the fiasco was that the price of exchange traded power which stayed in the lower price range rose substancially. Needless to say, it added pres-sure on the margins of the distribution utilities whose health is already in a deteriorated state. The IIP’s which eyed the bigger pie in the government’s aggressive ca-pacity addition plans is pulling all strings to complete the projects. Any delay will spirall the project costs.

Shortage of coal forced the thermal plants to either shut down or reduce generation drastically. The excess mon-soon, delay in coal mining, employees strikes, shortage of rail rakes, delay in getting environment clearance for mines culminated into this severe crisis. The Telen-

gana protests and strike in Singareni Collieries in Andhra for prolonged period also resulted in supply shortage. The last minute juggleing from various ministries like coal, railway and power ensured coal supply to power plants on a priority basis eased the situation.

The distribution companies breathed a sigh of relief as the situation didn’t last long. Not surprisingly, the whole and soul supplier of coal in the country, Coal India tried to pass the buck. The blame game started when the Western Coal Fields ltd (subsid-iary of Coal India Ltd) accused Mahagenco, the Maharashtra state owned generation company, of not clearing the coal stock in time. Mahagenco re-taliated with highlighting the poor quality of coal supplied by CIL. It also came to light that majority of the generation companies did not meet the man-datory stock requirement of thirty days. The genera-tion utilities pointed fingure at the the fluctuation in price to non-availability coal for this. In some cases the generation utilities had stocks to run the plant as low as four days.

Adding to the fire the CIL expressed its inability to meet the demand owing to reduced output. The dip in domestic supply has forced the utilities to increase their dependency on imported coal. From Indonesia to Australia and South Africa, the companies are scout-ing for mines. While Australian coal comes with more energy efficiency, the higher shipping cost made the IIPs to settle with the Indonesian coal. However, the change in mining rules and royalty payment in Indone-sia makes it a costly affair for them.

Why the companies were not complying with the man-datory requirements stock? Why is Coal India not able to meet the demands? Will the country face similar situ-ation repeatedly?

While the industry is lobbying for commercial coal min-ing to address the problem, there is too much of resis-tance. According to experts, it may take a longer time before we see commercial mining in the sector. Not for-getting there are newer technologies available in the mar-ket to increase the energy efficiency of coal. But surely will add on to the cost. So let us wait and see and be ready for more power cuts in the coming months!!!!!

Renjini Liza Varghese Consulting Editor

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