U.S.-INDIA GREEN PARTNERSHIP TO ADDRESS ENERGY SECURITY, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND FOOD SECURITY

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 24, 2009

FACT SHEET: U.S.-INDIA GREEN PARTNERSHIP TO ADDRESS ENERGY SECURITY, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND FOOD SECURITY

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a Green Partnership, reaffirming their countries' strong commitment to taking vigorous action to combat climate change, ensuring their mutual energy security, working towards global food security, and building a clean energy economy that will drive investment, job creation, and economic growth throughout the 21

st century. Toward that end, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama agreed to strengthen U.S.-India cooperation on clean energy, climate change, and food security by launching the following initiatives:

• The two countries agreed on a comprehensive

Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation on Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy, and Climate Change. Through this Memorandum, both countries will work jointly to accelerate development and deployment of clean energy technologies and to strengthen cooperation on adaptation to climate change, climate science, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use.

• Prime Minister Singh and President Obama agreed to encourage the mobilization of public and private resources to support a fund or funds that would invest in clean energy projects in India. This represents a major step forward in U.S. – India partnerships to strengthen their economic growth and energy security, while also addressing the threat of global climate change.

• Prime Minister Singh and President Obama affirmed that the Copenhagen outcome must be comprehensive and cover mitigation, adaptation, finance, and technology. Moreover, it should reflect emission reduction targets for developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries. There should be scaled-up finance, technology, and capacity-building support. There should be full transparency as to the implementation of their mitigation commitments and appropriate processes for review.

Both leaders resolved to take significant mitigation actions and to stand by these commitments.

• In addition, the two leaders launched an

Indo-U.S. Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative, supported by U.S. and Indian government funding and private sector contributions. This new Initiative will include a Joint Research Center operating in both the United States and India to foster innovation and joint efforts to accelerate deployment of clean energy technologies. Priority areas of focus for this

　

Initiative may include: energy efficiency, smart grid, second-generation biofuels, and clean coal technologies including carbon capture and storage; solar energy and energy efficient building and advanced battery technologies; and sustainable transportation, wind energy, and micro-hydro power. The Initiative will allow the two governments to leverage expertise from both countries including government, private industry, and higher education to accelerate the development and deployment of new clean energy technologies. The Initiative will facilitate joint research, scientific exchanges, and sharing of proven innovation and deployment policies.

• The Initiative's work will be complemented by two

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) on Solar Energy and Wind Energy. Through the MOU on Solar Energy, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) will partner with India's Solar Energy Centre to develop a comprehensive nation-wide map of solar energy potential. More than two dozen U.S. and Indian cities will partner to jointly advance solar energy deployment. The MOU on Wind Energy between NREL and India's Centre for Wind Energy Technology will focus in particular on supporting efforts to develop a low-wind speed turbine technology program.

• The U.S. and India will increase cooperation on

unconventional natural gas including on coal bed methane, natural gas hydrates, and shale gas. The two countries will also work to reduce emissions from land use, including deforestation, forest degradation, enhanced sequestration, and sustainable management of forests.

• Working with India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide technical support for Indian efforts to establish an National Environmental Protection Authority focused on creating a more effective system of environmental governance, regulation and enforcement.

• They agreed to launch a new Agriculture Dialogue and agreed on a

Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation and Food Security that will set a pathway to robust cooperation between the governments in crop forecasting, management and market information; regional and global food security; science, technology, and education; nutrition; and expanding private sector investment in agriculture.

• In support of food security and climate change objectives, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will work with India's Ministry of Earth Sciences

to more accurately forecast monsoons, and thereby reduce risks associated with climate change and to develop early warning systems to protect people and crops from the adverse effects of extreme weather.

• In support of these and other initiatives, including continuing cooperation on nuclear power, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama agreed the Governments

　

of India and the United States will continue to engage regularly through the new U.S.-India Agriculture Dialogue, the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue and the U.S.-India Global Climate Change Dialogue.

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

Ills of Indian Energy Sector and Strategies to Overcome

Ills of Indian Energy Sector and Strategies to Overcome
11.18.09   Bharathi Seeni, Senior Associate Consultant, Infosys Technologies

Email This Author Comment On Article About The Author More Articles By This Author Introduction: Asian development bank report projected India's total energy consumption at 1279 MTOE by 2030. Per capita electricity consumption for India stood at 631 Kwh as compared to US per capita of more than 13338 by 2007. With targeting an ambitious 8 to 10% GDP growth in the coming years its per capita consumption also should increase accordingly. During my research on this paper, interestingly I found that it is not the lack of resources in our hands hampering our growth, but it is the lack of initiatives, improper proceedings and poor implementations done at the central and state levels that led to our downfall (For example The Electricity Act 2003 bill was passed way back some concepts like "open access" is yet to be practiced in some of the states like Bihar). This paper presents the strategies to be adopted with the implication of an Integrated and co-coordinated framework, which would definitely take to the Path of Energy Security. The Ills: Coal: Coal as a fuel accounts for nearly 55% of the total energy need of India. The principal carbon asset is been relegated to political inattention and a rock solid monopolistic ideologies. Private investment is moving at a very slow pace even after the enactment of Coal Mines Amendment Bill, 2000. Coal India Limited with 95% of mines under its belt hardly gives any room for others private players to get in. Without an independent regulator, the entire sector is plagued with low productivity, Investment shortages, shoddy management and poor labor relations. Oil and Natural Gas sector: India's foreign import dependency on oil is to grow to 85% by 2012. Government again failed to pilot the Petroleum Bill, 2002. The New Exploration and Licensing Policy, which came in 1999 with lucrative incentives, is of moderate success. Dismantling of Administrative Pricing Mechanism was done in 2002 but still, government is reluctant to cede control over pricing. The demand for natural gas could go up to 160-170 MMSCMD over the next five years. Open access could be introduced in phase after framing appropriate regulation, which could stimulate a competitive environment. Both these sectors are in need of an empowering and independent regulator. Power sector: The aspects given in the Electricity Act 2003 like open access (section 42), competitive market (section 66), etc doesn't seems to happen in actual practice, which resulted in financial closure for about 15000 MW for IPP's and in turn resulted in slow progress of reforms. By 2008 alone the total power subsidy to the states stands at 13876 crores which nearly cover a whopping 1% of our GDP. With an energy shortage of 7.7% and peak shortage of 12.3%, the ambition of electrifying India by 2012 with more than Rs. 9 trillion as emphasized in National Electricity Policy (section 3) remains as a question mark. What is an Integrated Energy Strategy? The concept of Integrated Energy Strategy is not the one that requires a centralized action, but certainly involves a system of coordinated decision-making and actions that bring various energy activities into a common framework, which is represented, in the table below. Why an Urgent Need for India? Only at the time of formulation of five-year plan, the sector looks as a whole, rest of the times it acts as an individual sector even if one's strategy hampers other. For example, the power sector reforms are not only hampered because of its modernized technologies like FBT, but also because of lack of coal and gas supplies. Recently a 500MW power project jointly owned by NTPC and Sail power co. limited came to closure because of lack of coal supply. The coal sector also suffers by not getting the return from the power sector, because of lack of revenue collection in the power sector. Hence it is high time for India to adopt an "Integrated Energy Strategy", which is been already employed successfully in countries like USA, Australia, U.K. etc. Formation of National Energy Companies Association (NECA): There is a need for direct involvement of the players with the government in framing the strategies. So far it has been very less. The earlier discussions clearly underline the need for an apex body that can coordinate and promote the energy sector. In the Indian context, his has been successfully demonstrated in the software industry by NASSCOM. So, all the players in the energy sector should join hands and form an association called "National Energy Companies Association" or NECA. It could also have its members for advising from leading consultancies, research firms, and also some senior government experts. NECA's vision should be to make the sector globally competitive and make India to achieve its vision 2020 in energy. Some important functions of NECA include: Assisting the ministries in framing the strategies, major policies, decision making and to provide super fast solutions. Promoting the energy sector as a lucrative and challenging business among the ignited minds of the youth. This could propel young people to get in to the business. Facilitating the inter sector coordination among the fragmented ministries and there by Assisting them in framing the strategies and also avoiding the inter sector harming. Promoting the Indian brand abroad and positioning it's over whelming energy resources, quality services, huge business opportunities and the endless consumers. This could be done through advertisements, road shows etc, which could encourage some foreign investments which is been dried up after the Dhabol Imbroglio. Integrating dissemination-using technology, so as to form as a portal on the energy sector targeted at sharing the information for example familiarizing importance of GIS, Smart grid, etc. Recommendations for Government Roles: The fragmented ministries of Coal, Oil, Gas, Power, Non-conventional, atomic energy, forest and almost all the energy-oriented sectors always should act together as an integrated force with a Common Independent Regulator. This seems to be impossible at present with no regulators for these sectors (excluding power) but it could be implemented in a long-term view for the betterment of the entire sector. The unbundled SEB's should be corporatized. This would make way for reducing the Rs.28000 crore burdens on them. SERC's should be totally free from the political clout while setting the tariff. And also, the innovative ideas for new public investment by utilizing out large FDI's should come out. Restructuring state owned oil, gas and power companies to make them participate in an Internationally Competitive Environment and diversifying their assets across the globe where ever possible just like China which has its assets in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia. In this issue, India too has knocked the door with New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP), Creation of data center for oil in South East Asia and Australia. ONGC investing 3.5 Billion dollars overseas since 2005, NTPC planning to set up a power plant in SriLanka, etc. But still the progress has to be rapid in order to compete with China. More privatization and private-public partnership should be encouraged at all levels. Joint ventures like Singareni Collieries Companies Limited (Andhra Pradesh government having a stake of 51% and rest to the Central), Northern Delhi Power Limited (Tata power having 51%, rest to state government) should come out. Modernization of technology like clean coal technology, strategic petroleum reserves, fluidized bed technology, coal liquefaction etc, which could save millions of dollars. More than spending billions on the foreign crude oil India could spend on exploiting the oil reserves found in Deccan and also the 83% unexploited hydro potential. In subsidy issues, the government more than adopting the Public Distribution System, it could adopt a more transparent System by which the poor should be able to choose from a specially designed set of services tailored to meet their end user requirements. More emphasis has to be given to exploit renewable. Till now hardly 3% of the total 130000 MW of renewable potential has been exploited and also the Nuclear power constitutes only 3% with the overall energy mix which should be increased to at least 5 to 6% to improve our Energy Security in the future. Mass Energy Awareness Mission Program: The concept of energy and its conservation has to be taken out of the ivory tower where it is ensconced and popularized at the street level. The government is already promoting it through Bureau of Energy Efficiency, which initiated the Renewable Energy Development Agencies, operating in 3 states but it has to be formed in all the states. Massive advertisement campaigns should be held through all media's, so that a layman would come to know about Energy conservation benefits. To inculcate it among the children, the government should make a compulsory subject of "Energy and its Importance in schools". On over all, a mass awareness energy program should be formed and promoted from city to village levels. Conclusion: References 1) http://www.powermin.nic.in/ 2) http://www.coalmin.nic.in/ 3) http://www.petroleum.nic.in/ 4) http://www.eia.doe.gov/ 5) http://www.cea.nic.in/

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

CSE editorial - Making water-excreta accounts

====================================
Making water-excreta accounts
(Editorial by Sunita Narain)
====================================

How will India supply drinking water in cities? Many argue the problem is not inadequate water. The problem is the lack of investment in building infrastructure in cities and the lack of managerial capacities to operate the systems, once created. This line of thought then leads logically to policy reform, to invite private investment and hand over public water utilities to private parties to operate.

As a result, private-public partnerships have become the buzzword in water management circles. The problem is that this strategy assumes too much, knows too little. It has no clue about the political economy of water or sewage in India (and other similar countries). It, therefore, makes a simple assumption that if water is 'correctly' priced - what is known as full cost pricing - it would facilitate investment from the private sector and provide a solution to the water crisis facing vast regions of the developing world.

As a result, municipal water reforms have become synonymous with the World Bank promoted scheme of 24x7 - supply of constant water so that pressure in water pipes will reduce leakage from adjoining sewage pipes and reduce the enormous health burden caused by dirty and polluted water. In the 24x7 water distribution scheme, governments hive off parts of the city water distribution to private contractors. The key presumption is the contractor will reduce water distribution losses - currently estimated to be between 40-50 per cent of water supplied in our cities.

The reasoning is impeccable, except that it forgets the cost of the system has to be affordable, so that it can be sustainable. In India, few municipalities rarely compile water and sewage accounts. But our recent research in compiling city-level data shows a pattern difficult to miss.

Almost all cities - of the 72 we surveyed - are struggling to balance their accounts and failing. The one expense that is killing them is the cost of electricity - to pump water from long distances to the city and then to pump water to each house and to pump the waste from the house to the sewage treatment plant. Bhubaneswar, for instance, brings its water from the river Mahanadi, some 30 km from the city, and spends 56 per cent of costs on electricity. Pune, which has invested in creating a citywide water distribution network, spends roughly Rs 25 crore annually to pump roughly 800 million litres daily of water it supplies to its people.

Thus, when cities search for new sources of water, they rarely consider what it will cost them to bring the water to the city. The plan is sold as an infrastructure project. The costs are paid for as capital expenditure. But what are not considered are how the project and the length of the pipeline - or canal - will impact the city's finances, and indeed if the city can spend, month after month, on its electricity bill to pump the water. What is also not considered is how the city, which spends higher and higher costs of electricity, will spend on the repair and maintenance of the pipeline. And, if it cannot, will it be able to supply water to all. In other words, can it afford to subsidize all and not just the water-rich.

But this is yet half of the sum. The other half involves not water, but the waste the water will create. The agency will have to price the cost of taking back the waste - the more the water supplied, the more the waste generated - conveying it and then treating. More costs.

Even this is not the full story. If the agency cannot pay for the sewage disposal system, its waste will pollute more water - either the water of its downstream city or its own groundwater. Remember, also, we all live downstream. The cost of pollution makes water economics more difficult. For instance Agra, located downstream of Delhi and Mathura, spends huge amounts of its water budget on buying chlorine to clean water. Now it wants to get another source of water - how long will that stay 'clean' is another question.

The fact is no municipality can do what economists preach - raise prices to reflect the full costs. Instead, they spend money on supply and as costs go up, they have to increase the subsidy to the users or supply less to most. On an average, Indian cities charge between Rs 2-3 per kilolitre (kl), when they should be charging Rs 8-10/kl. And if their distribution losses are taken into account, charge between Rs 10-14/kl. If we add sewage costs, then the bill increases by roughly 5 times the cost of water supply. In this case, the family, which pays Rs 2-3/kl will have to pay Rs 40-50/kl. How feasible is this?

But such pricing of water and waste is incomplete without its political economy. For, who gets the water and how much? In answering that, you will learn the political economy of water and excreta where the rich, and not the poor, are subsidized in urban India.



--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

Students' energy brigade cuts power consumption

Students' energy brigade cuts power consumption

Arunima Rajan / DNA

Monday, November 23, 2009 8:47 IST

Email

Print

Share

Bangalore: Citizens, who make hue and cry over power bills, should take a few tips from these children. A group of environment conscious students from seven city schools has successfully brought down the power consumption in their schools.

These tiny tots are members of 'conserve my campus', an initiative to change people's attitude towards energy and environment. The programme is the brain child of Hema Hattangady, MD of Schneider Electric Conzerv India Limited, an energy management solution provider.

Students of Carmel Convent Higher Primary School (Jayanagar), Cathedral High School, India International School, JSS Public School, Presidency School (Bangalore South), St Joseph's Boys' High School, and Sudarshan Vidya Mandir (ICSE) are members of the initiative. According to school authorities, the drive has helped them reduce the consumption of electricity and water in the school premises.

"The electricity bills of the member schools have come down drastically. The aim of the initiative is to educate young minds about the resources and share energy-saving solutions," said Dr Kamala TN, the programme director of Bangalore.

"The electricity bill of our school has come down by Rs1,000. The energy audit done by the students was very useful," said NC Vijay Chandra, principal of Presidency School.

"The practice of calculating the power consumption of school was a big learning exercise for me. Simple steps can bring down the bill in my house as well as school," said Bhavana M, a class VII student of Carmel Convent Higher Primary School.

"Our teachers gave us tips like keeping the windows open when there is natural breeze and not to use the tube light on a sunny day," she said.

The 'campus detectives' have also submitted a green report to the principals. They also conduct surprise checks and paste stickers (depending on usage) on the walls.

Kanav Garg, a student of class v of Cathedral High School, is one of the hand picked green ambassadors of his school.

"There are special sessions for the 40 ambassadors. They cover topics such as the story of electricity, various electronic gadgets and their energy consumption. We were taught to calculate the ideal power consumption. We have switched off lights in many classes and gone to classes to talk about these sessions."

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

U.S. And India Work Together For Clean Energy Economy

Source: The White House
Posted on: 15th November 2009

Before joining President Obama in China on Monday, Energy Secretary Chu visited India, another crucial partner for the United States as we meet the challenge of climate change and help speed the transition to a clean energy economy.

India has three times as many citizens as the United States but consumes just 15 percent as much electricity. But in the coming decades, India is likely to become the third largest energy consumer in the world, following China and the United States. In a "business as usual" future, India's demand of coal will be 60% higher than projected its domestic production. The demand for oil could be 10 times the domestic supply.

The number of vehicles in India will rise from 100 million today to 380 million by 2030, and the number of buildings – measured in square meters of floor space – will be five times what it is today.

These statistics make it all the more important that we invest in technologies like more energy efficient buildings, electric and hybrid cars, and renewable energy like wind and solar. Quite simply, we have a shared interest in ensuring that India's growth is clean and sustainable. There are tremendous opportunities for partnerships in clean energy that we've only just begun to explore.

For example, India could emerge as a major export destination for solar panels and wind turbine components manufactured in the United States.

Roughly 40 percent of India's citizens currently go without electricity. Small wind farms and solar panels could be an ideal solution, particularly for remote and rural areas that can't connect to the power grid. These intermittent energy sources could yield a steady, reliable flow of electricity with the help of advanced batteries currently being developed in the United States with the support of the Department of Energy. This would open up new economic opportunities in both our countries.

These are just a couple examples of how moving to a clean energy economy makes good business sense. We need a new industrial revolution in the United States and around the world. America can and should lead the way.

Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

Rs 800 cr biomass power plants lined up in TN

Rs 800 cr biomass power plants lined up in TN

TE Narasimhan / Chennai November 09, 2009, 0:45 IST

With the state announcing sops for biomass-based power plants, projects worth Rs 800 crore have been lined up in Tamil Nadu.

"For the last 18 months, not even one project had come to the state. But, after the tariff for biomass power procurement was increased to Rs 4.50 per unit from Rs 3.15 by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, the state has started attracting investments," said PR Muralidharan, deputy general manager (bio-mass), Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (Teda). This apart, biomass-based power units have been allowed to sell their produce to third parties.

Tamil Nadu has the potential to produce 500 mega watt (Mw) of power through biomass, of which production of around 200 Mw has already commenced. Teda has received 10 proposals, said R Christodas Gandhi, principal secretary and chairman and managing director of Teda.

Gandhi was speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy Chennai 2009 conference held in Chennai recently.

Currently, 12 plants with a capacity of 110 Mw are operating in the state. These include one in Kanchipuram, two each in Sivakasi and Pudukottai, and one each in Tiruvanamallai, Dindigual, Theni, Thanjavur, Madurai, Virudunagar and Thiruvallur districts.

While two projects with a total capacity of 17.5 Mw are nearing completion at Tiruvanamalai and Krishnagiri, four projects with 40 Mw are under way in public-private partnership. Nine projects with a capacity of 99 Mw have got the recommendation of Teda and are yet to approach the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. "In all, around 156 Mw of projects are likely to come up in the state, entailing an investment of Rs 5 crore per Mw," he added.

Stating that Tamil Nadu had become one of the model states when it comes to bio-mass usage for captive purposes, Gandhi said, "Producers of tea and dal and other farmers are using biomass-based captive power for their irrigation purposes. This had led to 100 per cent liberalisation from the power grids."

According to industry representatives, a 10 Mw-biomass power plant can support around 2,000 marginalised families. They can be employed in collection, transportation, cutting and chipping of biomass, and cultivation of wasteland with energy plants like juliflora.

Of the country's total installed biomass power capacity of 683 Mw, Tamil Nadu accounts for 147 Mw. However, over the last two years, capacity utilisation had declined sharply due to a steep increase in the cost of biomass fuels, a recent TNEB release said.

"The capacity utilisation, which ranged from 5 per cent to 70 per cent during 2007-08, declined to 3 per cent to 48 per cent during 2008-09. Other users of biomass fuel have been procuring biofuels at a much higher price, making it unviable for biomass-based power plants. This deficiency has been addressed by fixing the fuel cost at double the present rate of around Rs 2,000 per tonne."

Biomass energy is derived from plant and animal material such as wood from forests, residues from agricultural and forestry processes, and industrial, human or animal wastes.
--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

FE Home- Spotlight - Story

Ministry for linking S Asian power grids to meet demand-supply gap

Sanjay Jog
Posted: Thursday, Nov 05, 2009 at 2005 hrs IST
Updated: Thursday, Nov 05, 2009 at 2005 hrs IST

New Delhi: The power ministry, which is striving to chase the capacity addition target of 78,700 mw in the 11th Plan to bridge the widening gap between the demand and supply, has proposed to explore opportunities to interconnect South Asian power grids on the lines of the Nordic Power Exchange (Nord Pool), Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), Europe, Asean Grid and North American Grid.

The project envisages interconnection between India and Bhutan with possible investment of $850 million (3,000 mw), between India and Nepal 400 kv transmission line at $50 million, between India and Sri Lanka the 1,000 mw HVDC system at $415 million, with Bangladesh 1,000 mw HVDC back-to-back at $220 million. With Pakistan, India plans to tap HVDC back-to-back link. This will create a win-win situation for these countries whereby India will have access to green hydro power while the other South Asian countries can provide a good demand market to harness all resources.

The Central Transmission Utility, PowerGrid Corporation may be roped in to carry out necessary system study and prepare a detailed project report, the power ministry official told FE on the sidelines of a conference on "Enabling Regulation for Investment in Infrastructure." The official said India and Bhutan grids are currently interconnected through 400 kv/220 kv/132 kv transmission links with generation capacity of more than 1,400 mw in Bhutan. Moreover, India and Nepal grids are also interconnected 132 kv/33 kv/11 kv links for about 50 mw exchange. Besides, a committee set up by the power ministry would soon visit Bangladesh to pursue interconnection plan.

The official argued that interconnection of South Asian countries was necessary, especially, when in all these countries against the huge potential of hydro power the achievement is quite low. In India, against the potential of 1,50,000 mw only 36,000 mw is exploited, Bhutan against 30,000 mw only 1,500 mw, in Nepal against 83,000 mw only 680 mw and in Pakistan against 27,000 mw only 6,500 mw. "Geographically widely spread India grid can facilitate interconnections with these countries. So far the PowerGrid Corporation has developed inter regional transfer capacity of 20,800 mw which would be increased to 37,000 mw by 2012," the official said.

However, the official said such interconnections would be possible after addressing various regulatory concerns which include harmonising of grid code, transmission tariff, procurement/sale of power, identification of trading agency and transmission investment decision. The quantum of power exchange would...

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

State power firms to start energy efficiency company

State power firms to start energy efficiency company

 

NEW DELHI - Four state-run power firms will make equal contributions to float a new company, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), to promote energy saving projects in the country, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Wednesday.

The four equal equity promoters of the new company are NTPC, Power Finance Corp, Rural Electrificaion Corp and Power Grid Corp.

"The equity of EESL will be Rs.190 crore. The company would be able to leverage a total investment of Rs.700-800 crore," Shinde said at the annual Economic Editors' Conference here.

"The overall size of energy investment market under energy service companies (ESCO) in India is Rs.74,000 crore and till now, only 5 percent of the market has been tapped," he added.

EESL will promote energy efficiency projects like Bachat Lamp Yojana and will also act as a resource centre for capacity building of state development agencies and utilities.

"An improvement of 20 percent energy efficiency can result in avoided capacity addition of around 30,000 MW, which amounts to an avoided investment of Rs.120,000 crore," Shinde said.

Interacting with editors from across the country, the minister said the capacity addition programme in the current plan is progressing well comparing to the last three plan periods.

"Already 18,235 MW has been commissioned till Oct 21."

A total capacity of 62,374 MW is going to be added during the current plan period that ends in 2012, Shinde added.

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728