Page 5 - Power Ministry

Coal stock with thermal power plants up by 28%, touches 33.46 mn tonne

The Ministries of Coal, Railways, and Power are working closely together to ensure the continued availability of coal for all thermal power plant

Transmission planning should take renewable energy into account: Minister

R K Singh told officials that by 2030, the country's installed power capacity is likely to grow to over 777 GW

Power Minister Atishi falls ill, DERC chairman's oath postponed to July 6

Delhi Power Minister Atishi, who was scheduled to administer the oath of office to DERC chairperson-designate Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar on Monday, suddenly faced a "health issue" leading to postponement of the event to July 6, officials said. Kumar, the former Allahabad High Court judge, was appointed chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on June 21. The AAP dispensation has challenged his appointment in the Supreme Court. The appointment of DERC chairman is the latest flashpoint between the Delhi government and the lieutenant governor's office, following the Centre's ordinance on control of services. The AAP has also challenged the ordinance in the apex court. According to the Raj Niwas officials, Atishi wrote to the chairman-designate and asked for his availability to take the oath in her presence. "He accordingly confirmed the same," they said. Later, the event was postponed after Atishi took ill, the officials said. The Delhi government, in a statemen

Atishi writes to new DERC chief, requests him to take oath on July 3 or 4

Delhi Power Minister Atishi on Friday wrote to newly appointed DERC Chairman Justice (Retd) Umesh Kumar and requested him to take oath of office on July 3 or 4, sources said. Justice Kumar was appointed chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on June 21. Lt Governor VK Saxena had earlier this week written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, flagging the "unnecessary delay" in administering the oath of office to Justice Kumar and said it should be done without further delay. Sources said Kejriwal forwarded the letter to Atishi the same day and asked her to administer the oath "as early as possible". In her communication to Justice Kumar, Atishi blamed the Power department for the confusion. Justice Kumar, a former Allahabad High Court judge, in a letter to the department, had said it was only after he was communicated that the minister would not be available in the national capital after June 29 that he came to Delhi. He said he had made himself available to

Ensure adequate supply, plan for future: Govt guideline for power discoms

The guidelines provide an organisational framework to ensure that there is no dearth of resources to fulfil the future power demand

Power Min revises biomass co-firing policy to enable purchase of pellets

The power ministry on Tuesday said it has revised the biomass co-firing policy to enable the purchase of biomass pellets by power plants. The decision would encourage farmers, entrepreneurs as well as thermal power utilities to strive to establish a sustainable biomass supply chain, the ministry said in a statement. "Ministry of Power (MoP) has decided to benchmark the prices of biomass pellets used for co-firing in Thermal Power Plants (TPPs). Ministry of Power has revised biomass Co-Firing Policy for enabling the purchase of biomass pellets by Power Plants at benchmark price," it said. The benchmarked price shall take into account the business viability, impact on electricity tariff and efficient and faster pellet procurement by power utilities. Price benchmarking of pellets will enable the TPPs as well as pellet vendors to establish a sustainable supply mechanism for co-firing of pellets. The benchmarked price, as finalised by the committee under CEA, will be effective from Janu

Time of Day power tariff: Why you may have to pay higher electricity bills

The latest amendment to tariff rules by the Ministry of Power is expected to impact the electricity bills of consumers in India. Here's how the bills will change

MoS Power urges industry to adopt advanced tech to become competitive

Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar on Monday urged the industry to adopt advanced technologies for their operations in order to compete at the global level. The Minister of State (MoS) for Power was speaking at the inauguration of 'Advance Industrial Technology Demonstration Centre' at National Power Training Institute (NPTI) at Badarpur here. "Advance technology is a must for the growth of the country. Today, if we have to compete with the world, we will have to adopt advanced technologies," Gurjar, who is also the MoS for Heavy Industries, said. Reduced consumption of energy will bring the production cost of various industries and help them to compete in the market, he said. NPTI Director General (DG) Tripta Thakur said industries like iron and steel, cement, pulp & paper, and textile together contribute around 30 per cent to the total commercial energy consumption in India. "The institute under the guidance of the Ministry of Power will educate on best practices and technologies

India to cut power tariff during solar hours, raise for peak hours

The system is expected to reduce demand on the grid during peak times when many Indian households crank up their use of airconditioning after work

Power sector transforms into surplus from deficit in nine years: R K Singh

India's power sector underwent a transformation phase to become "surplus" from a deficit in the last nine years, Union Minister R K Singh said on Thursday. More than 185 gigawatt (GW) of generation capacity has been added "transforming the country from a power deficit to a power surplus", the Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister said while addressing a conference on the achievements of his ministry here. The total installed power generation capacity currently is 416 GW. The installed capacity is now close to double the peak demand and India is exporting power to neighbouring countries, he said. The entire world has seen how India's power sector transformed in the last nine years, the minister said. The maximum demand till date has only been 221 GW, he said. For transmission of power, 1.97 lakh circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines have been added connecting the whole country into one grid running on one frequency with the capability of transferring 1.12 lakh MW fro

Bengal power minister meets CESC officials to discuss power cuts issue

West Bengal Power Minister Aroop Biswas on Monday held a meeting with top CESC officials to discuss the issue of power cuts in the city and its adjoining areas. Kolkata, Sreerampore, Barrackpore, Dum Dum and Howrah have been witnessing frequent power cuts since the past fortnight. Expressing concern, Biswas said the power cuts were tarnishing the image of the state government. He directed the power utility company to ensure uninterrupted power supply and increase manpower to carry out fault repairs without delay. CESC had earlier claimed that transformers were tripping because people were installing air conditioners in violation of sanctioned load.

Power Minister urges ISA to take up more solar energy projects in Africa

The two sides also took note of the success of Kenya in renewable energy and discussed the idea of holding a conference by ISA in Kenya

Power Min asks imported coal-based plants to run full capacity till Sept 30

The Ministry of Power on Monday extended the time period of its direction to all thermal plants using imported coal to operate at full capacity by three-and-a-half months till September 30 to avoid electricity shortage amid rising demand in the country. Peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day touched a record high of 223.23 GW on June 9, 2023. A power ministry notice shot off on Monday to 15 imported coal-based thermal power projects, stated: "It has now been decided to extend the time period for Section 11 to imported coal-based generators up to September 30, 2023." Earlier in February, the ministry asked these imported coal based plants to operate at full capacity from March 16, 2023, to June 15, 2023, invoking Section 11 of the Electricity Act 2003 to avoid any outage due to a sudden rise in power demand. Peak power demand was estimated to touch a record high of 229GW during this summer. However, unseasonal rains affected the demand as people used fewer cooling ...

Non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity to be 68.4% by 2031-32

The plan was released today and consists of a review of the last five years (2017-2022) along with a detailed plan for the next five years (2022- 2027)

14th Clean Energy Ministerial to be held in Goa in July: Power Minister

The 14th Clean Energy Ministerial will be organised in Goa in July to accelerate the development and usage of green energy, Power Minister R K Singh said on Thursday. Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) was established in 2009 as a high-level global forum to promote the advancement of clean energy. India is one of the founding members of CEM. The coordination support for the CEM is provided by a multi-lateral CEM Secretariat based in Paris, France. Singh, who is also the minister for new and renewable energy, made the remarks at logo launch event of the 14th Clean Energy Ministerial in the national capital. "The Clean Energy Ministerial forum provides an opportunity to the country to convene the global clean energy community and engage on a diverse set of events and bring across the wide spectrum of clean energy innovation to deployment," the minister said. India is the host of the '14th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM14)' and '8th Mission Innovation (MI8)' meetings for 2023 events to be

Power Ministry panel outlines roadmap to develop electricity market

A power ministry-constituted panel has suggested a roadmap outlining the interventions for the near, medium, and long term for the development of the electricity market. The interventions suggested by the panel include setting up a mechanism to monitor whether adequacy of supply is being maintained by the state utilities, enhancing the efficacy of the Day-ahead Market, introducing a market-based mechanism for secondary reserves, and implementing 5-minutes based metering, scheduling, dispatch, and settlement. The proposed changes also include demand response and aggregation, which could reduce reserve requirements and lower electricity costs, according to a power ministry release. There will be strengthening of market monitoring and surveillance activities to keep track of participation and prevent price volatility. A regional-level balancing framework for deviation management will be implemented which would result in reduction in deviation penalties for the States at the ISTS level

Power minister asks industry to set targets under Green Open Access Rules

Union New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh on Saturday directed the industry to set targets under Green Open Access Rules 2022. In June 2023, the government notified the Green Open Access Rules 2022 to further accelerate India's renewable energy programmes. These rules were notified for promoting generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including through waste-to-energy plants. It also enables a simplified procedure for the open access to green power. Singh chaired a meeting with Industry and other stakeholders in New Delhi on Green Energy Open Access Rules, an official statement said. "The minister exhorts industry leaders to set targets for going green. He called upon the industry leaders to set targets for going green and take advantage of the provisions of Green Energy Open Access Rules to get green power at reasonable rates," the ministry of power said. The Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022, Singh said, are a major step towards India cutting emissions by

Power Ministry asks CERC to consult before drafting, changing rules

The ministry has said it is issuing this as there have been several instances where it had to intervene to the CERC for change in regulations

Power ministry to develop carbon credit trading scheme for decarbonisation

Union ministries of power and environment, forests & climate change will develop a carbon credit trading scheme for decarbonisation. The government plans to develop the Indian Carbon Market (ICM) where a national framework will be established with an objective to decarbonise the Indian economy by pricing the Green House Gas (GHG) emission through trading of the carbon credit certificates, a power ministry statement said. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power along with Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change are developing the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. A one-day 'Stakeholder Consultation on Accredited Carbon Verifiers under ICM' was organised in the national capital on Thursday. Currently, India has an energy savings-based market mechanism and the new avatar scheme will enhance the energy transition efforts with an increased scope that will cover the potential energy sectors. For these sectors, the GHG emissions intensity benchmark and ...

Power Minister lays foundation for Powergrid's substation to add capacity

Union Power Minister RK Singh on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for Powergrid's substation in Bihar to expand capacity, an official statement said. "The augmentation of the 220/132 kV Ara sub-station will increase the total transformation capacity of the sub-station to 560 MVA. The scheme would facilitate meeting the demand for electricity for the next 10 years in Ara (Bihar). Uninterrupted power supply will lead to the industrial and commercial development of the area and also improve power availability in Bhojpur, Buxar and Rohtas districts," Powergrid said in a statement. Powergrid Chairman and Managing Director K Sreekant and Director Personnel VK Singh were also present during the event. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is India's largest electric power transmission utility.