Page 8 - Electricity

Discoms to submit report on electricity subsidy to Centre every quarter

The draft rules suggest penalties to be levied on discoms for faulty subsidy accounting, raising erroneous subsidy bills

Heat wave: States on alert; Grid braces for record peak power demand

While a few states have heat action plans, experts warn they are not enough

Mercury soars in Kerala with record power use of 100 mn units on Apr 17

Kerala has been experiencing searing heat for the past few days with Palakkad district recording the highest maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. As the mercury rises, the daily electricity consumption in Kerala has touched 100.35 million units (mu) on April 17, a new record for the state as per the state electricity board. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) said this was the third day this month that the consumption has crossed the 100 million units mark, a first in the history of the state. Consumption crossed the 100 million unit mark for the first time on April 13, a senior KSEB official told PTI. "Last year, the highest consumption was around 96 million units on April 28. That mark was crossed in the last week itself," the official said. KSEB, however, said that even though the state was witnessing record consumption, the situation was manageable as electricity was available from the power exchange at affordable rate. The official also said the wate

Torrent to give 920 MW power from its gas-based plants under govt tender

Torrent Power on Wednesday said it has bagged a contract to supply 920 MW gas based electricity from its DGEN and SUGEN plants under a tender of NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigal Ltd (NVVN). The ministry of power had designated NVVN as the nodal agency for procurement of up to 4,000 MW power from gas-based plants during identified crunch period (April 10, 2023 to May 16, 2023, with actual offtake for 21 days). The NVVN had floated a tender for this on March 10, 2023. Torrent Power had participated in the e-tender and subsequent eRA (electronic reverse auction) and awarded 920 MW (770 MW from DGEN plant and 150 MW from SUGEN plant), a BSE filing on Wednesday said. The filing was a clarification to a news item on the award of power supply contract to the Torrent Power under the tender floated by the NVVN.

Adani's utility to supply 60% green power to Mumbai by 2027

Renewables accounted for 30% of power procurement for Adani Electricity as of March 31 - a ten-fold jump over the last two years, the company said in a presentation to stock exchanges Wednesday

India's 9% electricity to come from nuclear sources by 2047: Jitendra Singh

India will get 9 per cent of its electricity from nuclear sources by 2047, the centenary year of the country's independence, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday. The Science and Technology minister made these remarks after reviewing the functioning of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. Singh said the rising share of nuclear power in India's energy basket would help it get closer to the commitment of achieving the net zero target by 2070. He said the Department of Atomic Energy has been given the target of achieving 20 gigawatts (GW) capacity of nuclear power generation by 2030, which will make India the third-largest producer of atomic energy in the world after the US and France. Singh said the credit for this rapid stride goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took the decision of approving 10 reactors in a fleet mode in a single order and also allowed nuclear installations to be developed under joint ventures with PSUs. India has the sixth-highest number of

Punjab paid back entire Rs 20,200 cr electricity subsidy for FY22: Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Friday said the state has cleared its entire electricity subsidy bill of Rs 20,200 crore for the last financial year and has witnessed a jump in excise and GST revenue. Mann, addressing the media here, said the state has registered a revenue of Rs 8,841 crore for the financial year 2022-23, up by 41.41 per cent as against revenue of 2021-22. He said his government has set a target of 10,000 crore in excise revenue for the current fiscal, as he criticised the previous governments for allowing "liquor mafia" in the state. Mann said that the state has registered a 16.6 per cent jump in the Goods & Services Tax collection, earning Rs 18,126 crore in revenue for the year 2022-23. "We are now among the top states in terms of GST collection," he said. Mann said the state has registered a rise of 78 per cent in stamp duty and fee collection in the month of March. The government had earlier announced an exemption of 2.25 per cent on stamp duty and fees .

Electricity consumption dips 0.74% to 127.52 bn units in March: Govt data

India's power consumption dipped 0.74 per cent to 127.52 billion units (BU) in March this year for the first time in 31 months, according to government data. The contraction in power consumption is mainly because of widespread rains due to western disturbances in the country and low temperature in March. Last contraction in power consumption was recorded in August in 2020, when it declined by over two per cent to 109.21 BU, compared to 111.52 BU in August 2019. Power consumption had slumped in 2020 due to the impact of lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of deadly coronavirus. Experts are hopeful that power consumption and demand would grow April onwards, due to further improvement in economic activities as well as rise in temperature. In March 2022, power consumption stood at 128.47 billion units (BU), higher than the 120.63 BU in the same month of 2021, the data showed. Electricity consumption in March 2020 stood at 98.95 BU. However, the data showed that the peak

Core sector output slows to 3-month low of 6% in Feb, crude production dips

Six of eight key infrastructure industries report sequential deceleration

Smart prepaid meters to reduce power bills by up to 2.5%: Power Minister

Union Power Minister R K Singh on Monday urged electricity consumers to use smart prepaid meters, saying the device helps users bring down power cost by up to 2 per cent. Installation of smart prepaid meters reduces the operational and finance cost for electricity suppliers as consumers credit their account in advance, the minister said while releasing the 'Enabling a consumer-centric Smart Metering Transition in India' report here. "If you have a smart prepaid meter, your cost of electricity will come down by 2-2.5 per cent and the consumer gains (at benefit)," Singh said. Usage of smart meters will lead to digitisation of systems, automation and further efficiencies. It will help in energy accounting, which helps in identifying the areas which need attention. "Energy accounting system...is another challenge which we are still tackling," he said. According to the findings of the report released, the users of smart prepaid meters are having better experiences compared to conventio

Wind energy projects made 64.54 bn electricity units in April-Jan of FY23

Tamil Nadu was the second highest generator of electricity from wind energy power projects, as it generated 15,703 million units of electricity during the period under review

Ecofy, Mahindra Solarize team up for rooftop solar financing, installation

Promoted by Eversource Capital, Ecofy aims to be a catalyst in accelerating the transition towards a net zero carbon world

Price cap to be raised to counter India's robust power demand

Unusually high temperatures for this time of year are fueling predictions that electricity demand might rise to a record this summer

India's electricity consumption grows over 9% to 117.84 bn units in Feb

India's power consumption logged a year-on-year growth of over nine per cent to 117.84 billion units in February this year, according to government data. The robust growth of power consumption indicates sustained momentum of economic activities in February. Experts had earlier said that power consumption and demand would register a substantial increase in March due to further improvement in economic activities as well as rise in temperature. In February 2022, power consumption stood at 108.03 billion units (BU), higher than the 103.25 BU in the same month of 2021, the data showed. Electricity consumption in February 2020 stood at 103.81 BU. The peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, rose to 209.66 gigawatt (GW) in February 2023. The peak power supply stood at 193.58 GW in February 2022 and 187.97 GW in February 2021. The peak power demand met was 176.38 GW in the pre-pandemic February 2020. Experts are of the view that the power consumption and demand woul

Adani Power promised to supply power in reduced price to Bangladesh: Report

India's Adani Power on Thursday promised to supply electricity to Bangladesh at a reduced price keeping consistent with the generation cost in the country's existing coal-fired plants. The Adani will import the coal for its plants at the same price the Bangladeshi coal-run plants do for themselves, the mass-circulation Prothom Alo newspaper reported quoting an Adani official. It said the Indian company agreed to revise its procurement price for coal to keep the per unit power price almost equal to those of Bangladeshi coal-fired plants like the Rampal and Payra, the two joint-venture installations with India and China. A responsible official of Adani group in Bangladesh has confirmed the development to Prothom Alo, the newspaper reported while Bangladesh officials declined to comment immediately. Bangladesh's state-run Power Development Board (PDB) earlier this month sought to revise to a 2017 power purchase agreement with Adani Power Ltd as the price for the coal-generated ...

Haryana reduced electricity transmission losses to 13.43%: CM Khattar

The Chief Minister said it has been a great example of power management that despite the less availability of electricity many times the government provided electricity to the consumers

Nagaland suffers from want of good roads, electricity and jobs: Congress

The Congress alleged tall claims of the BJP on the development of Nagaland were starkly different from the ground reality as the northeastern state still suffers from want of good roads, proper electricity and water supply, besides massive unemployment. AICC media coordinator Mahima Singh claimed that the BJP was trying to fool the people of the state to cling to power with the NDPP. While Dimapur and Kohima, the state's two major cities, face erratic power and water supply and bad roads, the situation is worse in other parts of the state... Youths don't have jobs, she told reporters on Wednesday. Singh asserted the Congress will not stop raising questions in favour of welfare of the people. She alleged that the BJP-NDPP's tendency to cling to power is leading to electoral violence in several constituencies and small villages. Singh said the Congress has given a representation to the DGP through the Dimapur Commissioner of Police in this regard. She called upon people of Nagaland

Over 17,000 circuit km of transmission lines installed in 9 yrs: R K Singh

Over 17,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines were installed in India in the last nine years to strengthen the electricity distribution system, Union Power Minister R K Singh said on Tuesday. He made the remarks while addressing delegates from the West African region at an event organised by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in collaboration with Grid Controller of India Ltd (Grid-India) and West African Power Pool (WAPP) in the national capital. The usage of renewable energy is cheaper compared to the conventional form of energy sources, Singh said, urging the participants to increase use of green energy in their countries. Besides making energy available to their people, these nations must also lay emphasis on the transmission as well as storage of power, he noted. "I want to share that we have set up 1,75,000 MW of renewable capacity from 2014 onwards. We have added more than 17,000 ckm of transmission lines to strengthen distribution systems...," he said. In Decemb

Lift 15-20% coal need via rail-ship-rail mode: PowerMin to Punjab utility

The power ministry has asked the Punjab power utility PSPCL to start lifting 15-20 of its domestic coal requirement through rail-ship-rail mode, while highlighting that the transport of dry fuel would be cheaper than the import of coal. The ministry in a letter to Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) stated that the transport of fossil fuel using the rail-ship-rail (RSR) mode is though costlier than all rail route, it is cheaper than importing coal. "The matter was further discussed in the meeting....chaired by secretary power with states/gencos in which PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd) also participated...It was decided to operationalise the RSR plan from January, 2023 onward by NTPC and all the state Gencos having TPPs in Northern and Western part of the country," the power ministry said in a letter to PSPCL. Central and state gencos were also advised to plan to cover 15-20 per cent of their total domestic coal requirements using RSR mode. The ministry asked PSPCL

No power supply disruption due to high demand, will import coal: R K Singh

Power Minister RK Singh on Thursday exuded confidence that there will be no disruption in electricity supply due to high demand during summer, and he will not hesitate to import coal and mandate thermal plants to run at full capacity for the purpose. The Indian power system has already met a record power demand of 211.6 GW in June 2022. During the current year 2023, the power demand is expected to be around 225 GW during summer, Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Asked about rising power demand, Singh told reporters in a press conference, "We are prepared. There is no question of being a disruption in supply if I need to import coal I will import it. If I need to blend, I will blend". He explained that blending (of imported coal) has been happening earlier and so he has no hesitation at all in blending. Singh assured that there is not going to be any shortage of coal. He stated that as far as section 11 is concerned if there is a need ...then I will do ...