tamil nadu electricity consumers'...

Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers' Association

For Private Circulation Only

Volume : 7 | May - June 2014Issue : 2 |

Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers' AssociationFirst floor, SIEMA Building, 8/4, Race Course, Coimbatore - 641 018

Phone : 0422 - 4351400 E-mail : [email protected] : www.tecaonline.in

1

NEWSLETTER | March - April 2014 - Volume 6 : Issue 1NEWSLETTER | May - June 2014 - Volume 7 : Issue 2

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

PresidentShri D Balasundaram

Vice-PresidentsShri N VisvanathanShri S Dinakaran

SecretaryShri R Nandagopal

TreasurerShri C K Narayanaswamy

Directors

N Murugesan

B Pattabiraman

P Kumar

P Thomas Manogaran

K Venkatachalam

R Krishnaswami

K Sathiavan

Past-Presidents

Shri C R Swaminathan (1998-2003)

Shri R Palaniswamy (2003-2005)

Shri S V Arunachalam (2005-2007)

Shri A V Varadharajan (2007-2010)

Shri Mahendra Ramdas (2010-2012)

Editors

Rajan P

Karthikeyan M

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TAMIL NADU ELECTRICITYCONSUMERS' ASSOCIATION (TECA)

First Floor, SIEMA Building8/4, Race CourseCoimbatore - 641 018Phone : 0422 435 1400E-mail : [email protected] : www.tecaonline.in

ENERGY SAVED TODAY IS ASSET FOR FUTURE

1. This issue of Journal comes out when the Restriction and

Control Measures (Power cut) on consumption of

electricity have been totally lifted in Tamil Nadu, effective

from June 1, 2014. The Power cut was imposed in

November, 2008 after a prolonged period of unscheduled

load sheddings which forced the consumers themselves

to demand the imposition of the formal Restriction and

Control Measures by TNEB. The Power cut was only on

High Tension Consumers and a category of Low Tension

Consumers. The Restriction was a cut of 40% on the Demand and Energy

during non-peak hours and 90% cut during the peak hours. In addition to

these restrictions, scheduled and unscheduled load sheddings were imposed.

The availability of power fell by more than 50%. Industrial consumers were

put into great difficulties, with production dropping more than 60% due to

frequently interrupted power supply. Small industries who could not afford

captive diesel generator sets suffered most. The power cut was relaxed for

some time and totally suspended for about 45 days last year. Now finally the

power cut has been totally lifted.

2. Initially TNEB/TANGEDCO did not seek the approval of TNERC for the

imposition of the power cut. However, TNERC asserted its legal right and the

Restriction and Control measures came under its purview. The penalties for

violation of the power cut norms were prescribed by it.

3. The power cut gave rise to a number of issues and disputes like deemed

demand for wind power, optimum demand scheme, purchase of open access

power, levy cross subsidy on open access power, and so on. Many of these

issues are unfortunately still to be resolved. The power cut put the TNEB and

the industrial and commercial consumers at logger heads. This was an

unfortunate development as the electricity is an important ingredient to the

industry and TANGEDCO derives most of it revenues from the industrial and

commercial consumers. I hope the relationship would be mended now.

4. The preference shown by TANGEDCO to Chennai region and to some

select MNC consumers in the supply of power during the power cut period

caused much dissatisfaction in the State. Litigations on this issue are still to be

settled. More on this later.

5. TANGEDCO and the Honourable Minister for Electricity, Government of

Tamil Nadu have given assurances that the additional sources of supply

coming into operation would negate the need for imposition of any power cut

till 2016. I do hope that these sources do become available in time and the

power cut would be avoided in future.

6. TANGEDCO has reached a new peak for supply of power on 17-06-2014 by

supplying 292 Million Units of energy and meeting a demand of 13, 665 MW.

A very encouraging performance which deserves kudos so soon after its

grave failures in 2011. In this supply of 292 Million Units, 79 Million Units came

from wind energy. While this is a record for the wind energy supply, it is likely

to taper off after September, 2014. The additional capacities mentioned by

President's Message

NEWSLETTER | May - June 2014 - Volume 7 : Issue 2

TANGEDCO should come into operation as and when the wind energy tapers off. The hydel capacity, presently not

operational, would also help.

7. The supply of power from the coal based thermal plants, in Central, State and Private sectors, would depend on the

availability of coal to them from Indian sources as well as imports. There is some cause for concern here as the coal

stocks at the plants are reported to be low. However, the new Union Power Minister, who also is in charge of the

coal production, has taken steps to divert more coal to the power sector. If this materializes, then this constraint

will be overcome.

8. The Central Electricity Authority, a Government of India organisation, estimates that Tamil Nadu would face a

shortage of electricity 6.8% on the whole and 11.9% during the peak during the year 2014-15. These estimates, I

expect would incorporate the new production capacities mentioned by TANGEDCO. Therefore these shortages

would have to be met by purchase of power from Northern India for which TANGEDCO has already entered into

agreements. About 3330 MW of capacity has been contracted.

9. However importing the power into Tamil Nadu Grid would require the capacities of the inter-state transmission

facilities being enhanced. There is a need for some concern on this. The article titled “Holds up in the grid short

circuit the South” which appeared in the Indian Express of 15-06-2014 reveals the bottlenecks. Tamil Nadu's

location at the extreme point in the National Grid makes it vulnerable to any deficiency anywhere in the

transmission path. TNEB's focus now must be directed to this issue.

10. The Committee constituted by TNERC to arrive at a Load Shedding Protocol for Equitable Distribution of

Electricity met for the second time on May 20, 2014 at Chennai. Not much progress was achieved and

TANGEDCO officials continued to maintain that there no need to anything in this matter because of the

improvement in power supply situation. I continued to insist that we need to arrive at a protocol to be used as and

when need for it arrives. One should not wait till a fire occurs to device the methods of handling it.

11. The new government at Delhi is yet make its position known on the issues relating to electricity. Mr Piyush Goyal

has assumed office as Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge). While there is some disappointment that

Power Ministry has not got a full fledged cabinet minister, the excellent credentials of Mr Goyal gives hope that he

would achieve much in the Ministry. Mr Goyal has top ranking academic credentials as a charted accountant and

lawyer and is a well known investment banker. He is very articulate and has held important portfolios in his party,

BJP. Many of you would have seen him in the television debates during just concluded election campaign.

12. At last Government of Tamil Nadu has made up its mind and appointed a chairman for TNERC. Mr S Akshya Kumar

who headed TANTRANSCO till recently has been made chairman. With his appointment, the Commission has all

the three members in place. All of them have been previously employed by TNEB.

13. Our appeal against the Tariff order of 2013 is still pending in the appellate Tribunal. The tariff revision exercise for

the year 2014-15 is yet to start.

14. TECA has congratulated TNEB for scaling new peaks in the electricity supply. Our members also can relax a little

with power cut lifted.

15. I request you to advise all your friends to become members of TECA and strengthen it.

With Warm regards,

D BalasundaramPresident

2 FOR YOUR BETTER TOMORROW, SAVE ENERGY

President Message Contd...

Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation has achieved a new load peaks of performance on June

17, by supplying 292.233 Million Units of electricity and catered to a maximum demand of 13,665 MW.

The previous highest in energy supplied was 289.659 MU on June 14 and 289.541 MU on April 23 and in terms

of demand the previous high was 13,091 MW on May 16, Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers Association said in

a release her today.Courtesy : Business Standard: June 20, 2014

TANGEDCO ACHIEVES NEW LOAD PEAKS

BY SUPPLYING 292.233 MU

Tamil Nadu has taken various steps to add over

12,370 MW of additional power generation

capacity, according to State Electricity Minister R

Viswanathan.

In a statement on the power projects in the State, the

Minister outlined the status of various projects.

The 660-MW Ennore Thermal Power Station

expansion project had been awarded to Lanco

Infratech on February 27. The Union Environment

Ministry gave its clearance on January 24, 2013, he

said.

The contract for the 1,320-MW Ennore SEZ Thermal

Power project will be awarded soon. The Union

Environment Ministry's clearance was obtained on

January 7, 2014. But to expedite the project, the

State Government called for Technical and

Commercial bids and opened them on July 26, 2013.

Price bids were opened on February 5. The TNEB is

considering the price bids for the 1,320-MW

Udangudi Thermal Power Project, for which

Environment Ministry clearance was given on

October 14, 2013. In order to speed up the tender

process, bidding was initiated ahead and on July 19,

2013, technical and commercial bids were opened.

The feasibility report for the 660-MW Ennore

modernisation project was finalised on January 9.

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has asked the

Environment and Forest Ministry for Terms of

Reference for Environment Impact Assessment.

The NLC-TNEB 1,000 MW joint venture project in

Tuticorin will be commissioned in August, the Minister

said.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board will conduct

a public hearing for the 1,600 MW Uppur power

project on July 4. The TNEB will then approach the

Union Environment and Forest Ministry for approval

before calling for bids to implement the project.

The State Government has added over 2,500 MW of

additional generation capacity with power projects in

North Chennai, Mettur and Vallur.

The first phase of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power

project will supply an additional 562 MW.

Expansions are also on at Vallur, the NLC-TNEB joint

venture project in Tuticorin and the planned second

phase of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power project,

which will add a total of about 2,000 MW.

The State Government has also procured 3,330 MW

of power from other power producers through long-

term power purchase agreements.

- This article was published Business Line on June 17, 2014

3


TAMIL NADU INITIATES STEPS TO ADD 12,370

MW POWER GENERATION CAPACITY

ENERGY SAVED IS ENERGY PRODUCED.

The installed capacity of renewable energy has

touched 32,269.6 Mw or 12.95% of the total

potential available in the country, as on March 31,

2014. With this, the renewable energy, including

large hydro electricity, constitutes 28.8% of the

overall installed capacity in India.

According to the India Renewable Energy Status

Report 2014released at the ongoing Green Summit

2014 in Bangalore on Thursday, the total renewable

energy potential from various sources in India is

2,49,188 Mw. The untapped market potential for

overall renewable energy in India is 2,16,918.39

Mw that shows huge growth potential for renewable

energy in India.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE),

Government of India has set a target of achieving

overall renewable energy installed capacity of

41,400 Mw by 2017. This creates an opportunity

worth $10.51 billion for the renewable market in

India till 2017.

India has the world's fifth-largest electricity

generation capacity, which currently stands at 243

Gw. The power sector in India is highly diverse with

varied commercial sources for power generation like

coal, natural gas, hydro, oil and nuclear as well as

unconventional sources of energy like solar, wind,

4


INDIA ACHIEVES 12.95% OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL : The total installed capacity of renewable energy

has touched 32,269.6 MW as of March 2014

bio-gas and agriculture. The demand for power has

been growing at a rapid rate and overtaken the

supply, leading to power shortages in spite of

manifold growth in power generation over the years,

the Report said.

Focused efforts are going to bridge this demand-

supply gap by way of policy reforms, participation

from private sector and development of the Ultra

Mega Power Projects (UMPP).

"The power sector offers tremendous opportunities

for investing companies due to the huge size of the

market, growth potential and returns available on

capital. Industrialisation, urbanisation, population

growth, economic growth, improvement in per capita

consumption of electricity, depletion of coal reserve,

increasing import of coal, crude oil and other energy

sources and the rising concern over climate change

have put India in a critical position," the Report said.

The government has to take a tough stance between

b a l a n c i n g e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t a n d

environmental sustainability. One of the primary

challenges for India would be to alter its existing

energy mix, which is dominated by coal, to a larger

share of cleaner and sustainable sources of energy,

the Report said.

- Courtesy: Business Standard: June 6, 2014

ENERGY SERVES YOU THE WAY YOU DESERVE

POWERFUL TO POWERLESS

A day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting on the grim power situation in the country, orders have been issued to cut power supply to the President's official residence and 17 other government buildings for non-payment of bills.

Minister of State for Power Abid Sher Ali on Tuesday said the Islamabad Electric Supply Company had been asked to act against powerful defaulters.

The Prime Minister's secretariat, Parliament Lodge, Chief Justice's residence and other government buildings will get notices.

The Prime Minister's Secretariat had not paid Rs. 6.2 million over the years. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had totted up a bill of Rs. 1.1 million.

The Hindu: April 30, 2014

The Navy has adopted several green initiatives in all its

wings including operations, administration,

maintenance, infrastructure and community living as

part of an energy conservation drive.

Navy Chief Admiral Robin Dhowan has asked officers

to take 'green' initiatives in all aspects of the maritime

force.

The Navy said these are being initiated in view of

diminishing energy resources, price volatility and to

minimise the impact of fossil fuels on the environment.

The Navy has also issued exhaustive guidelines in form

of an 'Energy Conservation Roadmap' to implement the

'Green Initiatives' and all the formations have been

directed by naval headquarters to closely monitor the

progress.

"Navy has embarked on an ambitious path of whole

heartedly embracing 'Green Initiatives'. Admiral

Dhowan has stressed on the need to implement

measures which would cover all aspects operations,

administration, maintenance, infrastructure and

community living," a Navy release said.

To begin with, the Navy has initiated a framework to

measure the energy consumption level. "Based upon its

findings, future energy reduction goals would be

identified. The Navy chief has also directed that all

future plans for augmentation and acquisition of assets

and infrastructure projects would incorporate concepts

of energy efficiency from the ab initio stages," it said.

On the infrastructure and community living

projects, the key result areas (KRAs) of the force include

"green buildings, waste recycling and management,

water conservation and harvesting, renewable energy

and power, environmental remediation with an aim to

achieve a zero carbon foot print".

The Navy has taken an initiative in the Karwar Naval

Base (Project Seabird) to "embrace resource (water,

energy and material) conservation to ensure

environment friendly and green facility".

Courtesy: Zee News: June 4, 2014


India is among the world's top five nations in concentrated

solar power (CSP) technology capacity rankings topped

by the US, according to a new report.

India is placed fourth, ahead of China, in the rankings

recently released in a report by the Renewable Energy

Policy Network for the 21 Century (Ren21), an

international multi-policy stakeholder network that

promotes rapid global transition to renewable energy.

The report said although the US and Spain were the

market leaders in CSP, investment in the technology was

growing most rapidly in regions that receive high amounts

of daily sunshine.

Global CSP capacity has increased 10-fold World-wide

since 2004 and surged 36 per cent last year to a total of

3.4 gigawatts generated.

The number of emerging economy nations with policies in

place to support expansion of renewable energy has

surged more than six-fold in just eight years, from 15

developing countries in 2005 to 95 earlier this year,

report said.

The 100 megawatt CSP plant in Abu Dhabi, ranked third in

the list, is one reason why CSP's growth in emerging

markets almost tripled during 2013, it said.

(Courtesy :Business Standard:Published in June 6, 2014)

INDIA IN WORLD'S TOP FIVE NATIONS IN SOLAR POWER CAPACITY

5

GOING GREEN, INDIAN NAVY ADOPTS ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES

ENERGY MISUSED CANNOT BE EXCUSED

While Americans question climate change, global

competitors like India are leading the fight to combat its

challenges, according to a global TIME survey

Americans may still be skeptical about climate change. But

around the world, global warming is not only settled

science; it's a reality that our international counterparts

are taking varying steps to combat. And India is leading

the way.

In a new global survey conducted for TIME about attitudes

toward energy, Indians were the most committed to

conservation and the most optimistic about their ability to

reduce emissions.

Of the six countries polled, Indians were the likeliest to

express deep concerns about energy and consumption.

More than 9 in 10 Indians reported that conservation

issues were “very important” to them, compared to 68%

overall. Indians were more than twice as willing to pay

more for clean energy as residents of Brazil, Germany,

Turkey, South Korea or the U.S.

Each of these countries has moved to minimize their

environmental footprint in different ways. Germans are in

the habit of powering down their computers. Brazilians

are assiduous about switching off lights. The U.S. leads the

way in recycling.

But Indians reported the most comprehensive approach to

energy conservation, with 8 in 10 Indians reporting that

they have altered their personal habits to curb

consumption. Those changes include several simple tasks

that go a long way toward shaving both costs and carbon

emissions. Indians are the likeliest of the six nations

surveyed to carpool, take public transportation, and walk

rather than ride in a vehicle. They unplug appliances from

the socket when not using them more frequently than

anyone else.

Part of this is a culture of fiscal restraint. Among their peers

polled by TIME, Indians were the likeliest to say they stick

to a monthly budget, as well as the most committed to

setting aside money for retirement. In a nation with a strict

caste system, and endemic poverty interspersed with

pockets of colossal wealth, the lure to save may have

spurred good energy habits. Conservation correlates with

financial discipline across the six countries in the survey; in

each, the most fiscally responsible respondents were also

the most likely to engage in energy-conscious behavior.

But India is also unique. It is a burgeoning superpower with

stark energy challenges. Its billion-strong population is

rapidly growing, expected to surpass China's for the

world's largest within the next 15 years. With that growth

comes surging demand that will further strain creaky

infrastructure. India is heavily reliant on fossil fuels and

foreign imports. Its faltering energy grid often leaves large

swaths of the nation baking in sweltering heat. Up to 40%

of India's rural households lack electricity.

These systemic challenges appear to have shaped

attitudes toward energy, driving both social consciousness

and innovation. In some of India's urban slums, startups

are swapping out dirty and dangerous kerosene lamps for

new solar lanterns. The government has gotten in the

game by implementing a series of conservation policies,

such as requiring state government buildings to have

energy-efficient designs. This month, the Modi government

began work on a plan that offers incentives for investment

in renewables, and hopes to have half the homes in Indian

cities fueled by solar or wind energy within five years. And

the public grasps the importance of the project: asked

what concern guides their energy habits, Indians cited

minimizing their environmental footprint (46%) over

curbing costs (34%) or maximizing comfort (21%).

The efforts have spurred confidence. Though Indians are

widely cognizant of climate issues, they're more optimistic

than their peers about the world's ability to cope with the

challenges. More than 60% of Indians say they believe the

world can slash carbon emissions 80% by 2050,

compared to 37% of respondents overall. Of the six

nations surveyed by TIME, India was only one in which a

majority was optimistic about the potential to achieve that

level of cuts.

The survey was conducted among 3,505 online

respondents equally divided between the U.S., Brazil,

Germany, Turkey, India and Korea. Polling was

conducted from May 10 to May 22. The overall margin of

error overall is 1.8%

6


INDIANS WERE THE MOST COMMITTED TO CONSERVATION AND THE MOST OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THEIR ABILITY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS

SAVE ONE UNIT A DAY, KEEP POWER CUT AWAY

The prolonged heat wave and drought worries have

an even darker lining. Thermal power plants across

the country are fast running out of coal. A massive

blackout of the kind last seen in the grid collapse of

August 2012 when 600 million people were left

without electricity is now a possibility if nothing is

done quickly.

Of the 100 power plants monitored by the Central

Electricity Authority (CEA), as many as 38 are left

with only a week's worth of coal to burn while 20

have as little as none to just 4 days of coal stocks,

sources say.

A senior National Thermal Power Corporation

(NTPC) official told Mail Today: "Currently, six of

our coal based projects, including two that

supply power to the national capital, are critically

short of coal. The reserve coal available at these

projects is just for one day or even less." The officer

said that 23 of NTPC's coal-based projects

are running at full capacity but do not have adequate

coal reserves.

Heat derived from burning coal is used to produce

steam that moves turbines to produce electricity. Most

coal-based power plants keep at least a week's worth

of coal in reserve. NTPC projects generate around

36,000 MW of power, which is sold for Rs.2.90 per

unit to power distribution companies. NTPC also has

seven gas and solar based power units which have a

power-generating capacity of 4,000 MW. An acute

shortage of gas, however, means that NTPC's gas-

based projects presently run at half capacity,

generating only 2,000 MW of power. Also, NTPC

sells power at the much higher cost of Rs.5 per unit

from its gas-based projects as a result of which many

power companies hesitate to buy power from these

projects.

Heat woes

The shortage of coal has arisen at a time when Delhi

and the National Capital Region are battling the

sweltering heat without power due to the breakdown

in transmission facilities blamed primarily on the freak

duststorm of May 30. CEA sources also reveal that

there is a major problem in Northern Coalfields Ltd

and the coal handling system has completely broken

down. The belt on which coal is carried has been

broken for days but still has not been repaired,

sources say. This is hitting plants in Uttar Pradesh and

some NTPC plants which supply to power to northern

India, including Delhi.

Old bottlenecks have worsened the situation. The BJP-

led government has reaffirmed its commitment to

speeding up work on three railway lines-hamstrung

by red tape and clearance delays-that are the key to

transporting 100 million tonnes of coal per year from

remote mines (see accompanying report), an

initiative that could boost Coal India Ltd's production

to generous levels.

9


POWER OUTAGE LOOMS LARGE ACROSS INDIA AS COAL STOCKS DRY UP IN PLANTS.

WHEN IT IS BRIGHT, SWITCH OFF THE LIGHT

India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is set to

announce new energy saving ratings for high-end air

condit ioners (ACs) and refrigerators, which,

manufacturers say, will perk up the market for premium

products even if it leads to a hike in their prices by 10-15%.

Leading white goods makers said the BEE is already

testing the proposed ratings for inverter air-conditioners

and side-by-side and multiple door refrigerators in its

laboratories. It has also sought feedback from the makers,

after which it will lay down the new norms for these

premium appliances. The new norms are expected to

bring energy rating in India on par with the European and

US standards.

"Including inverter air-conditioners and premium

refrigerators into the star rating norms will ultimately be

beneficial for consumers, which will help them make a

choice since consumers have little idea about these

technologies," said Kamal Nandi, VP, Godrej Appliances.

BEE plans to roll out the new rating norms from next year,

which are likely to make inverter ACs the most energy-

efficient with a five-star rating.

(Courtesy : The Economic Times: June 19, 2014)

NEW ENERGY SAVING RATINGS FOR ACS, FRIDGE LIKELY IN 2015

10


Coal India Ltd controls about 80 percent of India's

output. The work is to be done on a war-footing. In the

northern region which comprises power stations at

Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal

Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, six power

stations have less than seven days of coal stock left

and three have less than four days of the fuel. There

are a total of 26 power stations in the region.

Authorities are also monitoring supplies from the

Northern Grid to states such as Uttar Pradesh and

Haryana to prevent a collapse similar to the one in

August 2012 that had brought life to a halt for more

than a day.

The situation is as dangerous in the western states of

Gujarat and Maharashtra and in the central states of

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As many as 16

power plants in these states have less than a week's

stock of coal while 10 plants are left with less than

four days of stock.

A failed monsoon is the worstcase scenario. Power

ministry officials agree that poor rains can potentially

dry out reservoirs prompting hydro stations to cut

down generation. This would lead to an increased

dependence on coal-based power stations.

CEA sources say that the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd is

supplying only about two-thirds of what it can; the

reason is a political agitation which has resulted in a

massive law and order problem in the region. This has

adversely impacted coal supply to power plants in the

southern region that includes Tamil Nadu and

Andhra Pradesh as well as southern parts of

Maharashtra.

Power minister Piyush Goyal has declared there

would be no blackout in the country's northern

region. He has said the government is making

adequate arrangements for supplying coal. "This is a

national problem, everybody is aware of it... the

plants will not back down...we are making adequate

arrangements for coal," Goyal told reporters.

Low output

Officials also reveal that there is a very low output of

coal from the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd because a

row over a transportation contract that has already

lasted two months. It is because of this that plants of

NTPC and states in the western region are getting a

reduced supply of coal.

The major effect is on Maharashtra, Gujarat and

Chhattisgarh. As many as nine power stations in the

southern region-Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,

Karnataka and Kerala-have reported less than seven

days of fuel stock, of which three have less than 4

days of stock.

Courtesy: India Today: June 13, 2014

POWER SAVED IS POWER PRODUCED

For decades, India's power engineers had a dream:

“One Nation. One Grid. One Frequency.” At the

start of this year, that vision was realised. India finally

has a nationwide power system stretching from Tamil

Nadu in the south to Kashmir in the north, Gujarat in

the west to Nagaland in the east.

On Dec 31, India commissioned the last link, a high-

voltage transmission line between Raichur and

Solapur, connecting the southern regional grid to the

four other grids serving the north, east, west and

northeast, which had been successively integrated

since 1991.

The whole of India's electricity system was

synchronised and started to function as one giant

machine. Unification is a powerful symbol of national

identity and modernisation as well as enabling the

system to operate more efficiently.

Britain's seven regional networks were first

synchronised as long ago as 1937 in an unauthorised

night-time experiment by electrical controllers and

officially integrated in the winter of 1938.

The United States integrated almost its entire network

into two giant interconnections that link into

neighbouring parts of Canada and Mexico: the

Eastern Interconnection in 1962 and the Western

Interconnection in 1967.

China, too, is rapidly linking its regional grid

operations into a nationwide super-grid.

But India's belated arrival in the super-grid club

cannot disguise the underdevelopment of the

country's electricity system.

More than 300 million people in India lack access to

electricity, according to the World Bank and the

International Energy Agency, compared with fewer

than 3m in China.

In 2012-13, India's power system was able to supply

a peak of just 124,000 megawatts for a country of

more than 1.2 billion people. By contrast, Britain's

power stations generated a maximum of 55,000

MW for a country of 60m.

On average, Indians consume 917 kilowatt/hours

each per year compared with 3,300 in China, 5,400

in Britain and 13,000 in the US.

Generation is dominated by old and inefficient coal-

fired units that belch soot, toxic pollutants and carbon

dioxide. Coal accounts for 60 per cent of India's

installed generation capacity with some hydro

(16pc) and renewables (13pc) as well as smaller

amounts of natural gas and nuclear.

Power cuts are frequent as demand often outstrips

supply. More than 10pc of electricity demand

routinely goes unmet at peak periods, according to

India's Central Electricity Authority.

India's grid has proved worryingly unmanageable

and unstable — even before the synchronisation of a

fifth region with hundreds of millions more customers.

In July and August 2012, India's two worst blackouts

in history cascaded across the north and the east,

cutting electricity to states and territories home to

more than half of the country's population.

Ironically, the only region spared was the southern

one because it was not synchronised with the rest of

the grid. The lack of direct connection served as a

firebreak as blackouts rippled across the network, the

danger foreseen by Britain's grid engineers in the

1920s and 1930s.

Blackouts occurred because during the intense

summer heat, which stretched the country's

generation and transmission resources to the limit,

many of India's state electricity boards ignored

instructions to reduce power deliveries to their

customers. A cascading failure resulted.

POLITICAL MEDDLING IS AT THE ROOT OF INDIA'S POWER PROBLEMS

11


TODAYS WASTAGE IS TOMORROWS SHORTAGE

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers' Association

has appealed to the State Government to appoint a

retired or a sitting judge of the Madras High Court as

the chairperson of Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory

Commission.

The association president D. Balasundaram has said

in a press release that there were reports that the

State Government has initiated the process for

appointment of a chairman for the commission.

He said the Supreme Court had said in a ruling in

2013 that a sitting or retired judge of the High Court

in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court.

Hence, the State Government should call for

nominations for the consideration of the Selection

Committee only according to the ruling, he said.

The State Government should take note of the

judgement for appointment of the chairman of the

commission, he said.

Courtesy : The Hindu: May 11, 2014

TECA PLEA ON APPOINTMENT OF TNERC CHAIRMAN

12


But it is not just too much consumption that can

destabilise the grid. Last month, the northern grid

collapsed when thunderstorms and heavy rain hit

Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand. Bad

weather caused a sudden reduction in demand. As

voltage and frequency surged, 69 high-voltage

transmission lines disconnected themselves to protect

equipment.

Around 8,000 MW of load was dumped in half an

hour, equivalent to 6pc of India's power supply,

including 3,500 MW in Delhi, according to a report

prepared by the Central Electricity Authority.

Cascading power failures are not unique to India. The

US, Canada, Brazil and Indonesia have suffered

partial grid collapses. But the frequency with which

India's grid has lost control is a cause of concern.

The fundamental problem in India's electricity

industry is political. The industry is fragmented

between a relatively weak Central Electricity

Authority and Power Grid of India, which manage the

network, and strong state electricity boards that

answer to local politicians. The boards control

regional distribution and generation.

Prices have been strictly controlled, and in many

areas cheap electricity and the promise of connection

have been used as a political tool. Subsidisation,

especially for farmers, and non-payment of electricity

bills are endemic.

The result is that Indians pay too little for electricity.

Those who have access often use it wastefully while

millions more have no access at all. The electricity

system needs much more centralisation. It is too easy

for state electricity boards to obstruct realistic pricing

and grid management. The synchronisation of

regional grids must be accompanied by more

integration of electricity suppliers.

Gujarat, the state formerly run by new Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, has been touted for its efficient and

commercially run electricity industry, which featured

in the recent national election campaign. Since 2003,

power thefts have been slashed. The state separated

agricultural and residential power systems. Rural

homes pay higher bills but get more reliable power

supply.

“Gujarat now supplies near 24-hour electricity not

only to its large cities and towns but to the 18,000

villages too,” according to The Times of India. During

recent power shortages, Gujarat has been selling its

surplus power to neighbouring Rajasthan, Haryana

and Delhi.

Gujarat's well-run electricity system could be a model

for the rest of the country. But first, India needs to

sweep away the entrenched interests in the state

electricity boards and shift to a full cost-recovery

model. - Reuters

Courtesy : Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2014

ENERGY EARNS OR SIMPLY BURNS, CHOICE IS YOURS

What you should do to convert your rooftop into a buzzing power plant

The blazing sun can be a cool way to generate electricity, if you set up rooftop solar equipment. With the cost of the devices dropping drastically in recent years, setting up a solar system in your home may be an economically viable option, especially with power bills ballooning. Here’s telling you how to get started.

Whom does it suit?

Rooftop installations may be suitable if the bulk of your power usage is during the day, say for a school or office.

This way, your overall power bill will reduce drastically. It also helps those of us who want to be earth-friendly and reduce pollution or carbon footprint.

By saving three units of conventional electricity a day, you would have conserved over 700 kg of coal in a year.

And considering the emission, this would be equal to saving 225 litres of petrol emissions, says R Ramarathnam, Chairman, Basil Energetics, a solar energy start-up.

What do I need?

You need open space that gets good sunlight.

The rule of thumb is that, to generate one unit of power an hour, you need 10-15 sq m (around 120-160 sq ft) of space.

This number can vary based on factors such as the solar panel technology and where you are located, says Chandrashekhar Mishra, Managing Director, Crux Power, a start-up working on renewable power.

What does it cost?

Basically, you need three appliances. One, solar panels, which can cost ¹ 40-50 per unit of power.

Two, you need an inverter to convert solar power into the form that appliances can use. This can cost around ¹ 18-20 per unit of power. Finally, if you choose to have battery back-up to have power in non-day hours as well, it will add to around ¹ 15 per unit of power.

How easy is maintenance?

As easy as wiping glass! Solar panels lose efficiency when they are dusty. Their lifetime is over 20 years, although over time they generate less power.

Inverters have a warranty period of around five years and don’t require much maintenance. If you use batteries, some upkeep, such as topping up distilled water every quarter or so, is required.

Can I run my A/C on it?

Yes. But to run large loads such as motor, refrigerator or air-

conditioner, you need something extra. These appliances draw a lot of current when you switch them on, placing a heavy load on the power generator. To manage that, additional circuits are used to balance the demand.

Alternatively, Basil Energetics uses re-designed appliances with electronics to lower the peak power drawn. While you do have to replace your existing appliances for this, your rooftop unit cost is lower due to smaller panel need.

Changing your appliances to be more power-saving can also be considered. For example, Basil Energetics’ solution for a 330-litre refrigerator, three fans, and eight lights costs ¹ 1.5 lakh. This is without battery but inclusive of new appliances.

The bulk of the savings comes from reducing the peak power demand from the rooftop panel — to 360W from 2,000W — due to better electronic control.

Monthly savings?

It all depends on your usage pattern. If most of your consumption is during the day, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the solar unit generates power, you can save a lot. During rains and cloudy days, you may not generate power; so be aware of the seasonal variations.

Ramarathnam says that there has been an average 50-70 per cent reduction in power bills for office settings. However, do a detailed analysis of your usage amount, hours and local tariff to understand what you are likely to save.

To evaluate the suitability of solar power, first assess your power needs.

Talk to a local contractor who can tell you the size of the units you should buy, based on local weather conditions. You can then get cost estimates for different solutions and analyse what works best.

For instance, the cost of the system and the ongoing maintenance can be low if you do not have batteries; you need to evaluate if that’ll work for you.

Is there any subsidy?

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides 30 per cent capital subsidy on project cost. You pay only 70 per cent and the empanelled contractors get the rest from the Government.

The contractors list is available at http://mnre.gov.in under Public Information.

State Governments such as Tamil Nadu offer additional subsidies. But the reality is that no subsidies have been paid in the last year, according to Mishra. Contractors are now only willing to take up projects if the customer pays the full amount. So, do not count on subsidy money.

(This article was published in Business Line on May 25, 2014)

SOLAR: THE COOL WAY TO CUT POWER COSTS


13IF IT'S NOT IN USE, TURN OFF THE JUICE!

REUTERS: MAY 19, 2014

Narendra Modi’s crushing election win has given rise to

hopes for an economic revival in India, but much will

depend on whether he can replicate the electricity

success of his home state.

India’s financial markets have been buoyed by Modi’s

victory, betting that the Hindu nationalist politician can

work the same economic wonders for the whole country

that he did while running the western state of Gujarat for

13 years.

The alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

won 336 of the 543 seats in India’s lower house of

parliament when election results were announced last

week, giving India a majority government for the first

time in a quarter of a century.

While Modi’s authority will be bolstered by the massive

win and his legislative programme will be easier to

implement given he doesn’t need to negotiate with

coalition partners, the scale of the challenge facing him

is enormous.

India is structurally short of electricity, and it’s hard to

see how the economy can be ramped up significantly,

especially in power-hungry sectors such as

manufacturing, without the provision of reliable power

at prices high enough to ensure sustainable supply, but

not so high as to choke growth.

One of Modi’s key accomplishments in Gujurat is said to

be his reform of the power sector, making the state the

only one with a consistent power surplus.

What Modi’s government did in Gujarat was less to do

with building new power plants and more to do with

reforming how electricity was distributed and paid for.

His government re-negotiated purchase agreements

with private power companies, set up a police unit to

stop thieving of electricity and ended unmetered

supplies to rural areas.

What Modi didn’t do was have the state build more

power plants, rather its share of generation has gone

down while that of the private sector has gone up.

Modi’s accomplishment in Gujarat was to improve the

reliability of supply at the cost of higher prices, a

bargain that has apparently been successful.

Whether this formula can be replicated across India is

very much open to debate, given that the central

government has limited authority over state electricity

boards.

Politicians at state level have for years used power as a

populist football, regulating for cheap electricity that

has meant losses for both private and public generators

and distributors.

A recent example of the chaos afflicting India’s

electricity sector is the Supreme Court’s intervention to

order state-run power producer NTPC Ltd (NTPC.NS) to

supply distribution companies in the capital New Delhi

in order to prevent blackouts.

The distributors claim that low tariffs mean they can’t

afford to pay the generator, while the government of

Delhi has threatened to cancel the distributors’ licences

and examine their finances.

In some ways it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong in

the Delhi power dispute, what matters is that any

company contemplating investing in the region would

have serious concerns about the reliability of electricity

supply.

Sorting out the disconnect between retail prices and the

actual cost of producing and distributing electricity is

also just the tip of the iceberg in ensuring sufficient

power for economic growth.

RELIANCE ON COAL

India is reliant on coal for electricity, with the fuel

providing about 70 percent of total generation.


14

MODI NEEDS TO REFORM ELECTRICITY TO POWER INDIA RECOVERY: CLYDE RUSSELL

YOU CAN STOP ENERGY DISFUNCTION

15


Given its cost advantage over other fossil fuels such as

natural gas and its abundance, it makes sense that India

is looking to coal to power its future.

The defeated government’s 12th five-year plan

anticipated that about 76 gigawatts (GW) of new

power will be added by 2016-17, with about 63 GW

being coal-fired.

Assuming this capacity is actually added, it would take

total coal-fired generation to around 175 GW, which

would require about 842 million tonnes of coal a year.

In addition to coal for power generation, India has

optimistic plans to expand steel output, which could

potentially use as much as 300 million tonnes of coking

coal by 2016-17, taking the total coal need to around

1.1 billion tonnes.

Even if these demand forecasts prove too optimistic, the

problem is that there is little chance that India could get

close to meeting its coal requirement from domestic

resources, meaning imports will have to increase,

putting pressure on the current account deficit.

Domestic coal output was about 587 million tonnes for

the fiscal year ended in March, and imports were about

158.8 million tonnes.

Coal India, the state-controlled behemoth that produces

about 80 percent of the nation’s output, says it can

increase output by 300 million tonnes a year, if Indian

Railways moved faster in building new tracks.

Given Coal India has consistently disappointed on

output growth, its claims have to be treated with

caution, but they do highlight the main issue for coal

availability in India.

There is ample domestic coal, but it can’t be moved

around the country due to major bottlenecks on the rail

system.

Building new mines and railways requires investors

jump through multiple bureaucratic hoops, and it’s in

this area that Modi’s new government may be able to

speed things up.

But in the short term it appears likely that coal imports

will have to rise if the new government wants to improve

the availability and reliability of electricity.

Power prices to consumers will also have increase in

order to pay for imported coal and improvements to

distribution systems.

Successive tariff hike signals the end of cross subsidy

surcharge in power sector

The political consent to increase power tariff for the third

consecutive year has come as a surprise to the state

electricity board. It also signals the end of an era of

cross subsidy in power sector in the state. Since it was

not sure about obtaining clearance from the

government for another tariff increase, KSEB was

making moves to place the demand for power tariff

surcharge before the state electricity regulatory

commission.

The fuel surcharge due to the board on account of the

additional expenditure it incurred for purchase of

thermal power to meet the power demands in 2013-14

comes to around Rs 2,500 crore. Though the board is

supposed to file surcharge petition every financial

quarter, the same has not been done for the past one

year.

According to sources, power minister Aryadan

Mohammed agreed with the KSEB’s demand for a

power tariff hike just couple of days before the board

filed the tariff petition on May 14. The board had earlier

sought more time from the regulator for filing of the

Aggregate Revenue Requirement and Expected

Revenue from Charges (ARR &ERC) charges for 2014-

15 and filed the same only after general elections.

“If the amendments proposed in the electricity act get

the clearance of Parliament, KSEB would land in a tight

spot. If proposal for giving permission to private

agencies to function as distribution licensees gets the

Parliament stamp and the congestion in the power

corridor goes off, private players will certainly start

poaching the commercial and HT/EHT consumers of the

board. Hence, the earlier practice of taxing the creamy

consumers more keeping the power tariff for domestic

consumers would no longer become possible in the long

run,” a top official in the board said. It was this

realization that forced the government to approve the

hike.

Source: TOI

CONSERVATION: IT DOESN'T COST. IT SAVES.

A study of the Union Planning Commission on the

status of the business regulatory environment for the

manufacturing sector has ranked Tamil Nadu one

among top nine States.

Six parameters have been taken into account for the

study, and Tamil Nadu comes out on top in five of the

six parameters. The five parameters are finance and

tax-related compliances; infrastructure and utility-

related approvals; land and building-related

approvals; environmental clearances and other

business regulatory compliances. Tamil Nadu has

been placed in the group of low-ranking States with

respect to labour law-related compliances, according

to the study report available on the website of the

P l a n n i n g C o m m i s s i o n ( h t t p : / / p l a n n i n g

commission.nic.in).

The study, covering 28 States during September

2013-January 2014, was conducted in the context of

the Planning Commission’s identification of

improvement of the business regulatory environment

as a key factor for achieving growth in the

manufacturing sector.

In the economy of Tamil Nadu, the share of the

secondary sector is 30.24 per cent, of which share of

manufacturing is 20.74 per cent, says the State

Planning Commission. In 2009-10, the sector

employed around 5.2 million, representing 17 per

cent of the State’s working population, says the study.

A perusal of the report also reveals that there is no

top-ranking State that has done exceedingly well in

all the six parameters. Just like Tamil Nadu, others

scored lower rating in one parameter or the other.

TN-Specific findings

According to the study, a majority of the respondents

in the State expressed satisfaction with the processes

for VAT registration and payment and getting no-

objection certificates from the Fire and Rescue

Services Directorate and environmental clearances,

besides grant of land in industrial estates. The

registration of Entrepreneur Memorandum has

received a special mention as it takes around one

day, the report says.

As for labour law-related compliances, the report

concludes that the process of inspection under the

Factories Act is not based on “standard objective

procedures.” However, a senior official of the Labour

Department disputes this finding and says his

Department has been interacting with a number of

industry bodies, which have not made any complaint

about the process. The report recommends an online

system for obtaining or renewing licences and

documenting standard operating procedures to

increase transparency and efficiency of inspection.

Courtesy : The Hindu : May 24, 2014

TAMIL NADU AMONG TOP NINE STATES IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR, SAYS STUDY

16


WASTE NOT. WANNA LOT

lThe city consumes 1/5th of the electricity in the State

l51.785 MU was the highest recorded in the city on June 20, 2013

lState's power consumption in 2012 was lower at 73,374 MU against

75,356 MU in 2013

lDomestic consumers form the largest chunk in the city

'POWERFUL' CHENNAI

MU: million unitsSource : TANGEDCO

Indian utilities generated 86,592 million units of

electricity in April, exceeding the target by almost 6

per cent, as power capacity in the country increased.

Power generation climbed by 4,852 million units, or

5.94 per cent, over the planned level of 81,740

million units, according to data from the Central

Electricity Authority (CEA), a government body

tasked with facilitating overall development of the

sector.

A year earlier, actual generation at 77,579 million

units was a tad higher than the target of 76,914

million units. "(This is) because of new capacity

getting added," said Debashish Mishra, Senior

Director at Deloitte India.

The northeastern region -- Assam, Meghalaya,

Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh

and Mizoram -- performed the best by registering a

jump of about 27 per cent by producing 697 million

units in April 2014 over the target of 549 million

units.

In the northern states, including Punjab, Haryana,

Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, power generation

fell short of the goal by about 2.21 per cent, at

21,170 million units.

Import of power from neighbouring Bhutan was 78

million units, a drop of 62 per cent from the targeted

level of 207 million units.

The generation target for 2014-15 is 1023 billion

units, according to the CEA. The country's installed

power generation capacity was 2,43,028.95

megawatts (MW) at the end of March.

One MW can produce 1,000 units of electricity in

one hour.

Courtesy : Business Standard: May 4, 2014

17


WASTE NOT. WANT NAUGHT.

In a judgment that can make electricity regulators

more autonomous, the Supreme Court has directed

Tamil Nadu to appoint one or more judicial members

in its state commission.

The decision can significantly change the composition

of regulatory bodies. In almost every state the state

electricity regulatory commission (SERCs) are

chaired by retired Indian Administrative Service

officials while its two members are normally from the

power utilities. India has 25 state electricity

regulatory commissions, two joint electricity

regulatory commissions and a Central Electricity

Regulatory Commission. However, only Appellate

Tribunal for Electricity is headed by a judge while

commissions are chaired by former government

officials.

"We have been informed that till date no judicial

member has been appointed in the Tamil Nadu State

Commission. We are of the opinion that the matter

needs to be considered, with some urgency, by the

appropriate state authorities about the desirability

and feasibility for making appointments, of any

person, as the chairperson from amongst person who

is, or has been, a judge of a High Court," read

Supreme Court order. Itnoted this while dealing with

Tamil Nadu's SERC in a dispute involving Tamil Nadu

Generation & Distribution Corporation and PPN

Power Generation Company.

(This article was published in The Economic Times: on April 30, 2014)

POWER GENERATION EXCEEDS TARGET BY ALMOST 6% IN APRIL: CEA

STATE ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSIONS MAY BECOME MORE AUTONOMOUS

A new physics discovery led by an Indian-origin

scientist may lead to more efficient refrigerators

that use less electricity and are cooled not by

chemical refrigerants, but by magnetism.

The discovery by a University of Virginia-led team

may also lead to more efficient heat pumps and

airport scanners, perhaps within a decade.

The scientists discovered a universal law

governing the magnetic properties of

metamagnets - metal alloys that can undergo

dramatic increases in magnetisation when a small

external magnetic field is applied, such as from a

permanent magnet or an electromagnet.

They found that the magnetic effect of apparently

all metamagnets is that it is non-linear. When

these metamagnets are placed in an initial

magnetic field and the field is doubled, they more

than double in magnetic strength.

This is significant because eventually scientists

and engineers likely will harness this unique

property for a variety of applications, including

refrigeration.

"We found that this nonlinear property has the

same quantitative behaviour in all different types

of metamagnets, which is the universal law," said

Bellave Shivaram, a University of Virginia

professor of physics who led the research, which

was conducted in his lab using materials

synthesised at Argonne National Laboratory in

Illinois.

According to Shivaram, the newly unveiled non-

linear property can be exploited in many ways.

"A very useful property of this type of magnetism

is in magnetic refrigeration," he said.

"Magnetic refrigerators are not commonplace;

they still are in the experimental stage.

But they could eventually become part of

everyday home appliances, from heat

pumps to the refrigerators we store food in,"

he added.

Currently, metamagnets produce efficient

cooling only at very low temperatures, using

super conducting magnets, making them

impractical for general refrigeration.

"With the new discoveries of the properties of

metamagnets, they could become part of

everyday home appliances within a decade or

so," Shivaram said.

Current refrigerators are among the biggest

consumers of energy in the home. They include

several moving parts, which make them costly

to repair, and they can leak fluorocarbons

into the atmosphere, which can deplete ozone.

Refrigerators of the future, using metamagnets,

would have fewer moving parts, would not

require refrigerants, and, likely would use less

electricity, Shivaram said.

"In these new materials, the magnetism can be

cycled on and off, enabling heat to be pumped

away in a manner similar to what happens in a

heat pump today," Shivaram said.

"In today's heat pump, we use pressure to cycle

the cooling medium from liquid to vapor phase. In

the new magnetic refrigerators we will use a

magnetic material and cycle the magnetic field

instead," he said.

Courtesy : Business Standard: April 30, 2014

18


SAVE ENERGY. SAVE MONEY. SAVE THE PLANET.

SOON, GEN-NEXT FRIDGES COOLED BY MAGNETISM

The country lacks the energy resources to sustain a

consumption-oriented economic system, says author

Sam Tranum

Sam Tranum wears many hats. He is a journalist,

novelist and teacher. He is an MA in international

relations from the University of Chicago and has

spent time in India, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and

many other parts of the globe teaching, working and

researching on energy issues. His latest

work,Powerless: India's Energy Shortage and Its

Impact (Sage Publications), paints a frightening

picture of the country's energy ecosystem. In a chat

with Business Line, Tranum talks about the book,

what's wrong with India's energy policies, and more.

Edited excerpts:

Why this book?

I moved to Kolkata in July of 2011, so that my wife,

who is a journalist, could take a job there with The

Statesman. We had been living in Washington DC,

where I'd been writing as a journalist for a couple of

years about the energy business. When I arrived in

Kolkata, my plan was to continue to write for them,

covering the energy business in India. So I started

reading everything I could find about India's energy

sector. But I couldn't find a book that would give me

the kind of detailed overview of the sector that I

wanted.

You're saying this is a 'prescriptive' work.

Why?

The solutions are already known. Or, rather, I don't

think that the problem can be completely 'solved' in

the context of India's current development model, but

measures that could ease the shortage and its impacts

are well-known.

Politicians are more worried about winning the next

election than addressing long-term systemic

problems. It's understandable: if they tried serious

reforms, they'd get blamed for any short-term pain

and probably wouldn't get credit for any long-term

benefits. I don't think there's any lack of good

prescriptions; there's a lack of natural resources,

exacerbated by a lack of good governance. The only

way India's public servants are going to address the

country's energy problems is if the public makes them

do so.

How bad is the situation?

India has about 17 per cent of the world's population,

but only about 0.3 per cent of the world's proved

reserves of oil; 0.7 per cent of the world's proved

reserves of gas; 7 per cent of the world's proved

reserves of coal; 2 per cent of the world's identified

resources of uranium.

Clearly, there's a huge mismatch between India's

energy resources and its population. Current

renewable technologies and resources cannot bridge

this gap: To meet its electricity needs, India plans to

add about 208 GW generating capacity in the next

10 years, according to the Central Electricity

Authority.

But it has “only” about 347 GW of renewable

potential, including: 149 GW of large hydro, 100

GW of solar, 49 GW of wind , 17 GW of biomass, 15

GW of small hydro, 8 GW of tidal, 5 GW of bagasse,

4 GW of waste-to-energy.

Of this 347 GW, India is already using 62 GW. A

thought experiment on how far the remaining

renewable potential could go to meet India's thirst for

electricity: If the country stopped building coal-fired,

gas-fired, and nuclear power plants and built only

renewables it would end up using 73 per cent of its

renewable potential in about 10 years. And then

what?

19


CONSERVATION, NOT DEPRIVATION.

INDIA'S GROWTH MODEL IS A DISASTER

every known resources or starve, but the

environmental benefits of renewables are critical.

However, renewables cannot meet India's two main

energy needs, electricity and transport fuel. Given the

tiny number of electric vehicles now in service,

renewable-generated electricity cannot even begin

to meet the country's thirst for transport fuel.

Hopefully, renewable energy technologies and our

understanding of renewable energy resources will

develop, and this picture will change, allowing India

to meet a larger share of its energy needs with

renewables. Technology in this area is developing

fast.

So is it all doom?

India has good, forward-thinking, enlightened laws

and policies on the books. The problem is the

perpetual gap between the high-minded rhetoric in

New Delhi and the State capitals, & its implementa-

tion on the ground. Good policy often translates into

inaction, bungling, corruption & failure.

In my view, this is because of a lack of resources

(budgetary resources and highly skilled, motivated

staff), poor governance, and corruption; the latter

two, of course, contribute to the lack of resources.

If I were put in charge of solving India's energy

shortage, I would almost forget about making new

strategies, plans, policies or laws. I'd instead focus

99 per cent of my attention on improving

implementation of existing good policies.

Having a more humane land acquisition,

rehabilitation and resettlement law on the books is

useless if no one follows it and families are still chased

off their land by force, with no compensation and

nowhere to go. That said, one policy I might change is

encouraging (or allowing) OVL and other companies

to spend billions buying into oil, gas, coal, and

uranium resources overseas; it is terrible policy. This

spending may never lead to production, only to the

creation of jobs in other countries. Even if it does lead

to production, that oil, gas, coal or uranium may

never return to India to help fill the energy gaps.

20


Is the government not doing enough to

address the problem?

These are massive, complicated, difficult issues. Even

for a hypothetical perfect government they would be

hard to address, much less solve. The amount of

energy resources that India's territory hosts is simply

not sufficient to allow its citizens to live in the manner

to which they would like to become accustomed. To

make things harder, there's always a lack of

resources, technology and manpower, and there's

always the evil of corruption.

Meanwhile, private companies are inherently

interested only in their own gain (and/or their

shareholders' gain), and not in the national interest.

I don't see the energy problems as the failure of any

particular government or party. I see them as the

natural consequences of a country pursuing a

development model for which it lacks sufficient

energy resources, paired with a system of

governance that doesn't offer incentives for leaders

to make hard decisions.

You're suggesting that India can opt out of

this western-style energy consumption race.

Is it that easy?

Pursuing Western-style industrial development puts

India on a certain trajectory in terms of energy

consumption. Given the available technology and

India's currently known energy resources, I would

say that this trajectory is completely unsustainable.

I don't think that India's going to find large enough

new energy resources to fundamentally change this.

Therefore, the only solutions I see are technological

advances that allow India to produce vastly more

energy within its current territory, or a radical change

of course, to a new development model.

However, there's no country out there — developed or

developing — that's pursuing a new development

model, which India could look to and emulate.

How important an alternative is renewable

energy?

Renewables must be part of the solution. Not only is

India's energy hunger so great that it must draw on - This article was published in Business Line on May 4, 2014

BE POLITE. TURN OFF THE LIGHT.

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The pattern of average electricity consumption in the

city has remained stagnant, at 20 per cent, during the

past two years, going by the data provided by the Tamil

Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited

(Tangedco). But power managers feel a city, which

consumes one-fifth of the electricity of the State, has a

big say in the power shortage faced by Tamil Nadu.

Citing the peak evening demand of 3,000 megawatt

(MW) in the State, a senior Tangedco official confirms

that the city's part was 1,500 MW. This shows that

domestic consumers having air-conditioners play a

major role in the consumption pattern.

S. Gandhi, president of the Power Engineers Society of

Tamil Nadu, has said that while industries that consume

around 37 per cent follow energy economy because of

the constant load factor, the domestic sector stands

second, with its consumption growing from 23 to 30 per

cent in the past three years. On the other hand, he says,

consumption for agricultural purposes has come down

from 27 per cent to 18 per cent, and commercial supply

stand at 11.50 per cent.

The data also show that the peak power consumption is

for four months between May and August, with the city

consuming the highest during June. During 2012, the

State consumed 73,374 Million Units (MU) as against

73,356 MU during 2013, with the city consuming the

highest (52,785 MU) on June 20, 2013.

A Tangedco official says it is because June is the month

when the summer peaks. But what is surprising is that the

consumption in the State during the past two years has

come down, compared with the consumption of 77,637

MW during 2011.

(This article was published in The Hindu: on April 22, 2014)

CHENNAI CONSUMES 20% OF THE POWER OF THE STATE

23


EARTH: CHERISH OR PERISH.

Tata Power's energy conservation movement Club

Enerji said its initiative has helped in the savings of 11.2

million units of electricity over the last seven years.

In the last financial year, the clubs spread across

Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune,

Bangalore, Lonavala, Maithon, Belgaum, Jamshedpur

and Ranchi saved 2.5 million units. There are over 400

such clubs.

Tata Power said the energy savings is equivalent to

amount of electricity needed to light up 5,266 houses

for a year. The savings in consumption also led to

curbing of 11,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Youth involvement

Club Enerji banks on the youth to play a vital role in

communicating efficient usage of energy The working is

towards curbing energy wastage which emits

greenhouse gases that lead to global warming and

climate change.

It works with schools and encourages students to form

their own mini clubs and societies to reach out to more

citizens. The mini clubs undertake rallies, street plays,

cyclothons and exhibitions to sensitise people on

energy conservation. Anil Sardana, Managing

Director, Tata Power, said, “We are thankful to all the

students and schools for supporting us in our efforts to

save our planet. We are determined to continue with

our programme and sensitise the citizens of tomorrow

about the dire need of resource conservation along with

moral and civic values. In the coming years, the club

plans to roll out a 'waste management module' to create

awareness about the advantages of waste

management and methods of generating power using

waste.”

This article was published in Business Line on May 6, 2014

TATA POWER'S ENERGY CLUBS HELP SAVE 11.2 M UNITS IN 7 YEARS

24


SAVING ENERGY TODAY FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW.

MODI NEEDS TO REFORM ELECTRICITY TO POWER INDIA RECOVERY: CLYDE RUSSELL

(Reuters) - Narendra Modi's crushing election win has given rise to hopes for an economic revival in India, but much will depend on whether he can replicate the electricity success of his home state.

India's financial markets have been buoyed by Modi's victory, betting that the Hindu nationalist politician can work the same economic wonders for the whole country that he did while running the western state of Gujarat for 13 years.

The alliance led by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 336 of the 543 seats in India's lower house of parliament when election results were announced last week, giving India a majority government for the first time in a quarter of a century.

While Modi's authority will be bolstered by the massive win and his legislative programme will be easier to implement given he doesn't need to negotiate with coalition partners, the scale of the challenge facing him is enormous.

India is structurally short of electricity, and it's hard to see how the economy can be ramped up significantly, especially in power-hungry sectors such as manufacturing, without the provision of reliable power at prices high enough to ensure sustainable supply, but not so high as to choke growth.

One of Modi's key accomplishments in Gujurat is said to be his reform of the power sector, making the state the only one with a consistent power surplus.

What Modi's government did in Gujarat was less to do with building new power plants & more to do with reforming how electricity was distributed & paid for.

His government re-negotiated purchase agreements with private power companies, set up a police unit to stop thieving of electricity and ended unmetered supplies to rural areas.

What Modi didn't do was have the state build more power plants, rather its share of generation has gone down while that of the private sector has gone up.

Modi's accomplishment in Gujarat was to improve the reliability of supply at the cost of higher prices, a bargain that has apparently been successful.

Whether this formula can be replicated across India is very much open to debate, given that the central government has limited authority over state electricity boards.

Politicians at state level have for years used power as a populist football, regulating for cheap electricity that has meant losses for both private and public generators and distributors.

A recent example of the chaos afflicting India's electricity sector is the Supreme Court's intervention to order state-run power producer NTPC Ltd (NTPC.NS) to supply distribution companies in the capital New Delhi in order to prevent blackouts.

The distributors claim that low tariffs mean they can't afford to pay the generator, while the government of Delhi has threatened to cancel the distributors' licences and examine their finances.

In some ways it doesn't matter who is right or wrong in the Delhi power dispute, what matters is that any company contemplating investing in the region would have serious concerns about the reliability of electricity supply.

Sorting out the disconnect between retail prices and the actual cost of producing and distributing electricity is also just the tip of the iceberg in ensuring sufficient power for economic growth.

RELIANCE ON COAL

India is reliant on coal for electricity, with the fuel providing about 70 percent of total generation.

Given its cost advantage over other fossil fuels such as natural gas and its abundance, it makes sense that India is looking to coal to power its future.

The defeated government's 12th five-year plan anticipated that about 76 gigawatts (GW) of new

Power minister Piyush Goyal has set up an advisory

panel to help evolve a comprehensive policy

framework for ensuring integrated development of

power, coal and renewable energy sectors.

The committee will be headed by Suresh Prabhu who

steered electricity reforms as power minister during

the previous NDA regime, and will include experts

such as Partho Bhattacharya ( former CIL chairman),

RV Shahi ( former power secretary), Anil Khandelwal

(former chairman, Bank of Baroda), Vallabh

Bhanshali (merchant banker), Pratyush Sinha (

former CVC), KK Nohria ( former chairman,

Crompton Greaves) and Anil Baijal ( former home

secretary)

The panel will suggest ways to enhance fuel supplies

for power plants and recommend measures to

develop requisite transmission and distribution ( T&D)

infrastructure critical for 24X7 power supply.

Goyal has made it clear that fixing coal sector and

strengthening transmission and distribution sector are

top priorities for him. Goyal has also said that he will

work with states to expedite power distribution

reforms, which will be critical to improving financial

health of power distribution companies.

Previous UPA government had targeted to achieve a

less ambitious goal of “Power for All” by 2012

but failed to achieve that as its capacity

addition programme hit roadblocks like fuel

shortages and poor financial health of the power

distribution sector.

fe Bureau | New Delhi | Published: Jun 26 2014, 02:47 IST

GOYAL FORMS PANEL FOR INTEGRATED PLAN FOR POWER AND COAL SECTORS

25


says it can increase output by 300 million tonnes a year, if Indian Railways moved faster in building new tracks.

Given Coal India has consistently disappointed on output growth, its claims have to be treated with caution, but they do highlight the main issue for coal availability in India.

There is ample domestic coal, but it can't be moved around the country due to major bottlenecks on the rail system.

Building new mines and railways requires investors jump through multiple bureaucratic hoops, and it's in this area that Modi's new government may be able to speed things up.

But in the short term it appears likely that coal imports will have to rise if the new government wants to improve the availability and reliability of electricity.

Power prices to consumers will also have increase in order to pay for imported coal and improvements to distribution systems.

- BY CLYDE RUSSELL

power will be added by 2016-17, with about 63 GW being coal-fired.

Assuming this capacity is actually added, it would take total coal-fired generation to around 175 GW, which would require about 842 million tonnes of coal a year.

In addition to coal for power generation, India has optimistic plans to expand steel output, which could potentially use as much as 300 million tonnes of coking coal by 2016-17, taking the total coal need to around 1.1 billion tonnes.

Even if these demand forecasts prove too optimistic, the problem is that there is little chance that India could get close to meeting its coal requirement from domestic resources, meaning imports will have to increase, putting pressure on the current account deficit.

Domestic coal output was about 587 million tonnes for the fiscal year ended in March, and imports were about 158.8 million tonnes.

Coal India, the state-controlled behemoth that produces about 80 percent of the nation's output,

DO THE EARTH A FAVOUR. BE A POWER SAVER.

26


STEPS TO REDUCE THE HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD) IN OUR INDUSTRY NOW

We are facing power crisis now and shortly the

power quality problem inside our industry. EB is likely

to enforce the THD % within the IEEE 519 norms. The

steps listed below show us the practical ways of

reducing the harmonic distortion THD % and maintain

harmonics level within limits at the EB incoming feeder

to our industry.

For linear loads, decades back, the industry went for

hybrid mode of approach from load end capacitor

compensation to fixed bank to APFC at incoming.

Similarly now, the industry can reduce harmonics

distortion in stages by the following; starting from

Retrofitting of the Passive Filter / Line reactor choke /

Harmonic reduction filter to house-arrest harmonics

at the incoming of VFD; followed by the detuned RCC

version harmonic filter at the SSB where required only

to improve the PF; and finally the sized Active

Harmonic Filter to address the already reduced

harmonic currents from the VFD loads at MV panel to

meet the EB requirements at the Incoming side.

The capacitor compensation done at the linear load

incoming ends like the motor; is equal to the Line

reactor choke / Filter addition to the incoming of non

linear loads like VFD so as to reduce the harmonic

distortion feeding back to Incoming MV panel. Hence

we can equate as:-

Load end Capacitor + fixed bank + Automatic PF

controller for linear loads = Filter Choke +

Reactance coupled Capacitor + Active Harmonic

Filter for non linear loads. PF improvement IN

STAGES done before & now Harmonic distortion

reduction IN STAGES required.

Before, what was done by the industry towards PF

improvement in stages to suit to EB requirements, the

same concept to be applied for non linear / mixed

loads to reduce the harmonic distortion in stages from

By S. Ashok, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor;

Mail to :- [email protected]

Power factory improvements in Stages done beforeTo repeat now to Harmonic Reduction in Stages

Table 2. Summary of Advantages / Disadvantages of Individual,

Fixed Banks, Automatic Banks, Combination

Method

Individual capacitors

Fixed bank

Automatic bank

Advantages

Most technically efficient,most flexible

Most economical,fewer installations

Best for variable loads,prevents over voltages,low installation cost

Disadvantages

Higher installationand maintenance cost

Less flexible,requires switchesand / or circuit breakers

Higher equipment cost

Combination Most practical for largernumbers of motors

Least flexible

% With AC reactor + DCLink Choke

% With DC Link Choke

% With AC reactor

% Without reactor

Rea

cto

r Ty

pe

Harmonic Current Comparison

%THD of Three-Phase Diode Bridge with DC Bus Capacitor Filter

HarmonicOrder

25th

23rd

19th

17th

13th

11th

7th

5th

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Harmonic currents if not arrested at the VFD by theReactors, the same will be dumped to MV panel and the

Active Harmonic filter needs to oversized.H5 Amps is reduced from 65% to 28% using Reactors

Till now EB authorities could not take action as the

same was not monitored at their end. Since the

negative effects of harmonics distortion in power are

reflected now from the industry in the EB Substation &

in the surrounding industries in same substation

network, hence from 2014 onwards EB will monitor

the power quality THD and target / penalize the

industry to reduce their THD feeding back to grid.

say 40 % THD to say < 20 % in first step at load end

and at SSB. Next step and the final stage is to bring

down less than 8 % THD, using Active Harmonic Filter

(similar to APFC) within EB norms & limits.

This hybrid working will be economical now for the

initial costing, reduced running KWH cost of

harmonic suppression & filtering, reduced Line losses

since fraction of harmonics is arrested at the VFD load

end.

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, WASTING ELECTRICITY BITES!

27


already de-rated / die silently or does not improve

the PF but consume much more KW power than

anticipated especially, in the Leading PF region.

This is shocking to many in industry!

Existing capacitors are becoming Fast Moving

Consumable when fed to

non-linear loads.

3) Many industries are keeping decade-old capacitor

bank in the power house MV panel. We find during

our energy audits, that many of the capacitors are

having de-rated KVAR, dead, very less

improvement in PF but amplify the harmonics

distortion that comes from non linear VFD loads.

4) First and foremost step is to reduce harmonic

multiplication is to make the earth grid system fool-

proof with “Maintenance-Free Earthing

electrodes” ensuring constant fixed potential

difference and Earthing is perfect to avoid loop

harmonic currents, varying neutral currents etc.

5) Many industries have maintained Earthing

electrodes till date, for the sake of EB inspection

only! Please provide fool-proof Earthing grid to

avoid switching surges, and to reduce the

harmonic multiplication laterally.

6) Switch off / relocate the capacitor banks, APFC

from the VFD loads to Linear loads. Shift the part of

the existing fixed capacitor banks to the Linear

load SSBs at the field end to the required averaged

PF.

7) Take care to reduce the capacitor banks and alter

the same as RCC type to the minimum need at the

MV panel and shift in small sizes as far as possible

to the load ends to reduce line losses, voltage

drops, etc.

8) Try to compensate PF at the point where the PF is

pulled down, say at the MOTOR end i.e. Shift caps

to load ends. Load end compensation is ideal now

and to buy small capacitor sized to each motor

above 5 HP rating.

Shift the capacitor very near to the motor load / panel

and that the capacitor rating is around 80 % of the no

load current or the no load KVAR of the motor.

The industry must wake up to the call of needs of non-

linear loads as the existing the capacitor banks, APFC

etc are mis-fitting to VFD loads and are distorting the

power quality more now. So wherever necessary, to

isolate, replace with RCC version PF compensation

along with hybrid Passive & Active Harmonic filtering

techniques.

In the design itself hereafter, the industry needs to

plan to segregate the load as Linear & Non-linear and

plan for PF improvement for linear loads and

Harmonics reduction for non-linear loads starting

from the load end in the field first and then at SSB and

in MV panel finally.

HARMONIC FILTER SELECTION CHART – ( Sample Case study)

It is clearly evident that we have to categorize our

electrical loads as Steady Loads or Varying Loads or

Dynamically Varying loads, so as to opt for harmonic

suppression and & or Filtering etc.

PRACTICAL STEPS TO REDUCE HARMONIC

DISTORTION IN INDUSTRY:-

1) First you have to monitor the harmonics at our

Incoming secondary side. So fix a Multi Function

Energy Monitor in the incoming MV panel with

THD V, A in % in total and in individual levels like H

5, H 7 etc. and please plan to have RS 232 & 485

interface to trend the same in your computers.

2) First check your existing capacitors not only by the

rated charging current. But also by monitoring in

the incoming Multi Function Meter, what is the

change in demand in KVAR by switching on and off

the capacitor bank / APFC etc. Many caps are

PULL THE PLUG AND YOU'LL FEEL SMUG.

28


vendor in front of the VFD. This is available in the

market. To choose the local or reputed brands

suiting to your application and it must prove to

reduce the THD at the incoming.

15) Till now, the VFD vendors have sold their products

to perform the variable frequency drive function

only to the process and the harmonic arrest at the

source of VFD was not given the priority then at the

time of sale to the industry. Now when you buy a

VFD hereafter; ask the vendors, what the

harmonics it will dump to the incoming and what

harmonic compliance the vendor gives to the VFD.

16) The partly-loaded motor always have poor factor

and similarly, the Harmonics is more during part

loading of VFD and that is where the vendor must

state the harmonic distortion at each quarter of

VFD loading.

17) If the industry is using DG set to feed to non-linear

loads, the above hybrid harmonic stage reduction

will save the DG alternator. If your DG is feeding to

the existing VFD loads, the DG alternator will fail

quickly and you may have to replace with 50 %

higher sized alternator to face that loads. Better

alternative is to prevent the harmonics distortion to

enter into the DG alternator now.

18) By following the above practical steps,

lWe from the industry now, have taken care not

to dump harmonics to the incoming EB side, but

also we have prevented the negative effects of

harmonics to multiply inside our industry.

lReduce the spilling to other areas in our

distribution network like protective relays,

lReduce failures in the electronic modules

malfunction, heating of conductors,

lReducing the Line losses in KW and in KVA due

to higher harmonic current, unbalance etc.

Arresting the Harmonics at the Source (VFD) is

beneficial to industry first and to the EB grid.

“Conserving Energy” is OUR collective

Responsibility for a Better Tomorrow!

9) If power factor is less in the field SSB of non-linear

loads, provide 7 % Detuned Reactance coupled

Capacitors rated 525 volt / 440 volt in place of

existing capacitor banks at the SSB level first and

later at MV panel. This will improve the PF only and

not dump more harmonics to the Incoming side.

10) The rule is to maintain around PF 0.9 at the load

ends and at SSB; and Next stage is 0.95 at the MV

panel ends and lift from 0.95 to 0.99 by using the

fixed bank and the APFC from MV panel to

Transformer end. This is for linear motor loads

only. The DG sets also can run at PF 0.9 at the load

ends. Frequent switching on & off the isolators

leads to single phasing to caps in many cases and

here caps consume 10 times more the Watts!

Motor single phasing can be noticed early. But

capacitor single phasing silently happens. Please

make it fool-proof.

11) If directly capacitors are there on SSB feeding to

VFD loads, to isolate and remove them

immediately. The capacitors will amplify the

harmonic content. They fail too after polluting with

more harmonics. If you dont’ remove capacitors

now in front of VFD, they will de-rate first, die

silently, pollute the power distribution and

consume more unwanted power in KW too.

12) The symptom of good VFD is that it must maintain

PF of say around 0.95 to 0.98 always irrespective

of loading say from no load to full load of machine.

What is your VFD PF? BEE has mandated that all

CFL local brands to be HPF High Power Factor of

0.85 only. The same thing we have to apply to all

our LINEAR motors above 5 HP and keep around

0.9 at the motor starter panels.

13) To plan to go for Reactance coupled capacitor in

the APFC bank at the Power House. And the

capacitors inside the APFC, their rated voltages to

be higher than the normal 415 Volts to withstand

higher voltage spikes that are boosted by the

inductor choke which is normally around 5 % boost

say 440 to 525 volts rating.

14) To plan to install Matched Line reactor choke /

Harmonic reduction Filter in consultation with the

SAVE ON ENERGY AND MONEY, JUST SNUGGLE UP TO YOUR HONEY.

tamil nadu electricity consumers'...

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