NTPC temporarily closes Badarpur plant on Delhi Govt order
State-run NTPC shut its Badarpur power plant temporarily following Delhi government's order in the wake of worsening pollution levels in the national capital region. "It takes one day to close down a power unit. Now, it has been completely shut down temporarily as per Delhi government's order issued yesterday to bring down air pollution in the city," a source said. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced steps taken by the Delhi government to deal with air pollution in the city, which included temporary closure of NTPC's Badarpur plant. The Delhi government had decided to shut down the coal-based Badarpur power plant, considered one of the key pollutants, for the next 10 days beginning. "Two units of 210 MW each were running at the Badarpur plant, which were generating around 300 MW of power. But, it is still not clear that who will bear the fixed cost during this temporary closure of the plant," the source said. Under the power purchase agreement, the consumers (power distribution companies) are required to bear a fixed cost. But, since it is closed down due to environmental reasons, the discoms are in no mood to pay that cost. Earlier, environmentalists had also expressed concerns over the pollution caused by fly ash from the Badarpur plant and demanded its closure in view of the rising pollution levels in the city. Yesterday, Kejriwal had said, "All DG (diesel generating) sets, except those used in emergency services in hospitals and mobile towers, will not be allowed for the next 10 days." The Chief Minister had also said power connections will be provided even in unauthorised colonies to tackle the menace of DG sets. Power connection does not mean regularisation though, he had added.
Read more at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/ntpc-temporarily-closes-badarpur-plantdelhi-govt-order_7920841.html?utm_source=ref_article
NTPC to power huge energy cost reduction: CMD Gurdeep Singh
Exuding confidence that Centre’s UDAY scheme will help revive debt stressed discoms, NTPC Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Gurdeep Singh on Monday said electricity demand is going to increase in future. The central government had launched UDAY scheme to help discoms reduce debt and improve their financial position which will ultimately help them buy power required for their customers. They were unable to buy power from generating firms despite having demand from their consumers.
NTPC Limited (previously known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited) is an Indian PSU Public Sector Undertaking, engaged in the business of generation of electricity and allied activities.
It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 and a “Government Company” within the meaning of the act.
The headquarters of the company is situated at New Delhi.
Singh was addressing employees’ on 41st raising day of the company today at Engineering Office Complex at Noida.
He also spoke about efforts of NTPC’s to bring down energy charges by stopping import of coal, ensuring better quality coal through third party sampling and coal rationalisation.
Singh urged NTPC’s Power Management Institute and research arm NETRA to play a crucial role the company’s development.
NTPC is the third largest power company in terms of coal based power generation capacity, 2nd in PLF, 3rd in machine availability and 7th in terms of electricity generation, among the top twenty coal based power generating companies globally, which is a matter of great pride for NTPC family said Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD ,NTPC addressing the employees on the occasion of 41st raising day of the company today. He also shared the new Vision and Core Values of the company on the occasion.
Speaking about Environment Management, he said NTPC has to ensure minimum impact on the environment from its power stations and carry forward the slogan “Low cost Low emission” to maintain its position as a leader in the sector.
NTPC is creating additional carbon sinks by planting one crore saplings during this financial year and the upcoming Telengana Thermal Power Project shall be most modern complying with the latest environment norms, he said.
Inclusion of safety as a Core Values is to ensure safe practices in all areas of Company’s operations, he added.
Singh lauded Team NTPC’s efforts for achieving highest generation on September 9, 2016, performance of Koldam Hydro project, start of work at Pakhri Barwadih coal mine, for being the first company to issue Masala bonds, Consultancy Wing for providing services to nearly 18000 MW projects in the country and construction of toilets for Swachch Bharat campaign under CSR.
State-run NTPC is the third largest power company in terms of coal based power generation capacity, and among top 20 coal based power generating firms globally.
http://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=332248
The black spots in India’s coal story
When Mohan Kumaramangalam, the then minister for coal, pressed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to nationalize Indian coal mines, he had not imagined how the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act of 1973 (Act) would turn into a Frankenstein in the 1990s. Most coal mines were nationalized and the National Coal Development Corporation morphed into the Coal Mines Authority of India Limited, which is now the holding company Coal India Limited. But just two decades after nationalisation, a succession of weak governments decided to circumvent the act by allotting ‘coal blocks’ rather than coal mines to private parties. Coal India was not able to meet India’s fast growing needs for more coal and it was felt that limited privatization would spur quick development by bringing in private investment and augmenting coal output required desperately by new power plants. These coal blocks were allotted free of cost.
A small royalty was chargeable on the quantity of coal mined. This low cost was justified due to the ‘pass through’ cost in generation of power. This means that any charge levied on allotting these coal blocks would have a direct effect on the cost of power produced. No cost led to unscrupulous allotments of short lived ‘coal blocks’, tying up India’s rich coal resources. Coal India was deprived of new mines, while the private sector enjoyed grabbing these blocks for free. Most never started production. With coal blocks not producing much coal, India was back to square one. Coal output stagnated at about 300 to 400 million tonnes, while new coal-fired power plants were sprouting up and required 200 million tonnes more than the domestically mined coal. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country’s largest state owned power producer, panicked in 2010- 11 with just two days worth of coal in hand.
On many occasions the Manmohan Singh government had to allow duty free imports of coal in order to meet the increasing demand. While imports took care of immediate needs at the cost of a huge dent in India’s already negative balance of trade, power supply grew. India now has more than overcome the hump of power scarcity. In this era of shortages, power plants insisted that Coal India meet its obligation to supply them coal. In a rush of administrative decision making, the Prime Minister --who also held the charge of the coal ministry - instructed Coal India to meet at least 80 per cent of its committed obligations. Many power producers weren’t getting enough coal and this was an effort to push for efficiency and make Coal India more responsible.
The situation seemed to heal when the NDA government welcomed the cancellation of all coal blocks by the Supreme Court in 2014. Moreover, quick amendments to the Act enabled fresh auctions and re-allotment of coal mines to public and private power producers. This time however, for a price. Coal India’s output has jumped from 450 million tonnes in 2014-15 to about 540 million tonnes in 2015- 16. The target for 2016-17 is 600 million tonnes, despite a slow market. Even with the current slowdown in the economy, the government is pushing forward with these targets, hoping that import of coal can be replaced by domestic production.
However, several power plants have been built to use imported coal. Due to the difference in ash and moisture content, these boilers are designed differently and will not be able to use Indian domestic high ash coal efficiently. Others with older boilers had made some adjustments to be able to use a mix of imported and domestic coal and continue to happily do so, resulting in imports continuing at about 180 million tonnes. The government has not imposed any import duty on coal and the attraction for import is greater as many power producers have invested in their own coal mines overseas and set up establishments to run them.
Transfer pricing benefits could also drive unrelenting imports. The coal ministry claims that Coal India will start exporting its surplus coal rather than curtailing its production or lowering its prices. Coal India decided recently to actually increase its prices of all power grades across the board. In a slack market, any producer would lower its prices, but interests other than efficiency seem to determine administrative decisions in the coal sector.
With NTPC strongly supporting this move, coal prices will go up and Coal India will continue to make huge profits. It helps when both ministries are under common management. It is not just the government that benefits; it is also the private shareholders. Another 10 per cent of Coal India’s shares were sold to private investors in early 2015 and with this the private holding now is 20 per cent. Interest groups lobby to influence administered decisions and NTPC’s loss will be Coal India’s gain, with 20 per cent leaking out to private investors. These anomalies seem to be evident to the experts at Niti Aayog, but no comprehensive energy policy has been finalized so far. In the interest of freeing Coal India from administered prices, with a decade of eAuction price mechanisms running successfully, Niti Aayog is rumoured to be in favour of market pricing for coal.
The Ministry of Power is vehemently opposing this. India needs to make some hard choices fast and these anomalies need to be cured. A coal regulator might help, if the budget allows for the added salary burden on the exchequer. Why does India want to increase its coal production so late in the day, when the whole world is closing its coal mines? Tripling coal output will no doubt lead to tripling India’s pollution as well. India’s climate goals hide the fact that we plan to keep spewing more greenhouse gases as long as we keep on growing at a fast pace, because our climate targets are geared to the total energy consumption of the total GDP.
These dichotomies lay hollow India’s claims at being a responsible global citizen. Prime Minister Modi, though not an economist, will no doubt have to take the final call. If the past two decades of liberalized policy making can be cited, the nation’s experience with Prime Ministerial decision-making has been pretty poor, even in the hands of experienced economists. The primary call needs to be taken on the fact that the nation is built on the backbone of public sector enterprises, which seem to have done their bit in contributing to building India. How far right do we want to go?
Could India and China Grow Without Coal
With the COP21 climate change treaty coming into force on November 5, stories about India’s rapidly declining air quality – New Delhi’s air pollution reached a mind-numbing, record-breaking 999 micrograms per cubic meter (40 times the safe limit) on October 31 – can only persuade decision-makers that the current status quo is untenable. Indeed, with the data on carbon emissions clearly showing that the earth is getting warmer, that weather patterns are becoming ever more unpredictable, and that societies are sicker from mounting pollution-related complications, the world’s transition to clean sources of energy simply can’t wait any longer.
There is, however, a greater truth, a truth not ordained by facts, but by the technological challenges associated with reducing CO2 emissions to the levels mandated by the COP21. While there is a consensus that renewables should occupy a larger slice of the global energy mix, emerging countries remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels, especially on coal. Despite an encouraging report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the capacity production of renewables has surpassed that of coal for the first time, the agency also forecast a 33 percent increase in the use of coal by 2040.
When it comes to renewables, the capacity to produce power does not relate to actual production, since, for example, the sun does not always shine, nor does the wind always blow. This is what’s known as the problem of intermittency in energy policy parlance. Germany, for instance, provides the best example of what happens when traditional energy production means are drastically replaced with renewables. The Energiewende program of retiring the country’s nuclear reactors by 2022 and replacing them with green technology is undoubtedly the most ambitious such experiment in the world.
However, despite scuttling Germany’s nuclear program en masse, renewables were unable to make up the shortfall, forcing the country to require help from an old foe, coal. Indeed, coal is now being burned at ever-higher rates, reaching its highest level in Germany’s energy output in 20 years in 2013. Since the price per megawatt of energy produced by the country’s brand new solar panels and energy turbines is significantly higher than that of nuclear reactors, many companies (from chemicals maker BASF to carbon fiber producer SGL Carbon) have been relocating abroad in order to save costs.
The IEA’s coal forecast largely refers to developing countries, with India being routinely named as the main force driving up coal consumption. The reason for that had been discussed at length during the negotiations leading up to the COP21 – renewables are simply too expensive to satisfy the imperative of providing power to the hundreds of millions of people that have no access to electricity. The Indian case is a telling example: the reasons for the country’s incessant energy demand are numerous, but the key driver is urbanization. While instrumental in promoting economic growth, urbanization highlights the need for increased energy production, especially for the traditionally energy-intensive construction sector. The sheer scale of the urbanization trend is breathtaking: the EIA is forecasting that 315 million Indians will move to cities by 2040.
Moreover, even if environmentalists should be applauded for their unrelenting fight in creating awareness and shaping policy, their determined spirit may have caused a blinkered belief against traditional forms of electricity production that have triggered an inability to engage in unbiased debate. Many voices proclaim that the continued use of coal will do more harm than good and echo the words of Pan Yue, former vice minister of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration, who said in 2005, “The [economic] miracle will end soon because the environment can no longer keep pace.”
Unfortunately, most commentators disregard the effective technologies being employed that limit carbon emissions. Indeed, for the 2,400 additional coal-fired power plants planned or under construction, two-thirds of which are in China and India, technological know-how can represent a sure-fire way to curb the environmental (and economic) damage incurred by burning fossil fuels.
While carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been widely discussed in this context, it is not the sole tool in the sequestration of carbon emission toolbox, thereby making “clean coal” possible. Proven, off-the-shelf technologies such as high efficiency, low emission (HELE) coal-fired power plants are a reality and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 20 percent across the entire sector. Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL), an Anglo-Indian firm, has demonstrated the viability of a “coal scrubbing” technology by capturing 97 percent of carbon emissions form a coal-fired plant in Chennai, India. This technology has not only been lauded for its effectiveness, but also for its lower cost when compared to similar processes, making it a viable economic proposition for countries like India.
It is imperative then that an ideal balance be struck between the advantages of economic progress that alleviates poverty and the damaging effects of climate change and air and water pollution. In the wake of the COP22 in Morocco, dialogue should be sustained so as to push policy formation that addresses both concerns. A combination of existing and newfangled technologies in curbing emissions from coal may help render coal more environmentally friendly, allowing for a gradual and sensible transition to cleaner energy sources in the global energy landscape.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/could-india-and-china-grow-without-coal/
Warm Regards
Anurag Singal
Sr Manager –Business Development
Essel Mining & Industries Ltd
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