Hyderabad - Power, Energy, Electricity

The Telangana Government on Friday accorded administrative sanction for the release of Rs 325 crore to the TS-Genco towards equity contribution for establishment of Bhadradri Thermal Power Station (4x270 MW) (Manuguru TPS) & KTPP-II.

The funds were originally sanctioned in the financial year 2014-15. However, the amount could not be released due to non-availability of funds with the Finance Department. On April 15, the Finance Department issued the Budget Release Order for Rs 325 crore and same has been accorded administrative sanction by the State Government on Friday.

The State Government has also sanctioned Rs 354.77 Crores towards tariff subsidy for the month of April 2015 to TS-TRANSCO.

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Bloom Energy, the U.S.-based manufacturer of fuel cell technology, has expressed keen interest in setting up a manufacturing plant in Telangana.

K.R. Sridhar, company CEO, promised to send a team to Hyderabad soon to take forward the idea.

Mr. Sridhar gave this assurance to IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is now on a tour of the U.S. Mr. Rao was quite impressed with the innovative fuel cell technology and invited the company to adopt a village in Telangana and power it with Bloom Energy fuel cells.

On the seventh day of his tour, Mr. Rao met the top leadership of prominent IT companies and renowned investors in Silicon Valley.

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With rise in day temperatures and heat wave conditions for the past three days, the power demand has also touched its peak in the city.

According to Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL), the demand has gone up to 2,300 MW in the city in the past two days, which is 200 MWs more than the normal demand. In the entire SPDCL jurisdiction that covers five districts - Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda - the demand reached 4,200 MW.

Officials said the current demand for power is the highest this season. The maximum power demand was 2,100 MW and the lowest was 1,700 MW until three days ago. Officials said despite the sudden rise in demand, discom has been meeting the power demand without load reliefs. "The present situation may continue for one more week and the discoms are prepared to meet the demand," a senior official of SPDCL

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Fouz said:

I haven't seen where the cables were finished laying...

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The 600 Mega Watts KakatIya Thermal Power plant at Bhoopalpally successfully completed Boiler Light Up and prelude to commissioning the Project in August, as per the directions of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

CMD Prabhakar Rao thanked the engineers, all the employees and Ms BHEL and other contractors and requested them to maintain the same tempo to commission the project in August.

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కేంద్ర మంత్రి పీయూష్ గోయల్*తో సీఎం కల్వకుంట్ల చంద్రశేఖర్*రావు భేటీ అయ్యారు. రాష్ట్రంలో నిర్మిస్తోన్న థర్మల్ విద్యుత్ కేంద్రాలకు బొగ్గు కేటాయించాలని ఈ సందర్భంగా సీఎం కేసీఆర్ కేంద్ర మంత్రిని కోరారు. నార్త్ గ్రిడ్ నుంచి సౌత్ గ్రిడ్*కు కారిడార్ నిర్మాణం త్వరగా పూర్తి చేయాలని సీఎం విజ్ఞప్తి చేశారు. కేసీఆర్ అడిగిన అంశాలపై ప్రత్యేక దృష్టిపెడతామని పీయూష్ గోయల్ పేర్కొన్నారు.

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Lanco Infratech has tied up with Telangana power utilities to sell 325 Mw to the power deficit state from its two merchant plants located in Andhra Pradesh.

This constitutes a bulk of over 500 Mw of power that will be generated from the stranded gas power project under the Centre’s Power Sector Development Fund (PSDF) scheme. Lanco sources as well as energy officials of Telangana confirmed the development.

Lanco Group’s power supply deal with Telangana also marks the end of a bitter past between the company promoters and the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao as company promoter and politician L Rajagopal had vehemently opposed the separate statehood demand.

Three private players, GMR, GVK and Lanco, whose stranded gas power assets are located in AP, had won gas allocation for a little over 2,000 Mw capacity in the recently-held reverse bidding for a four-month period beginning June 1. However, the plants will have to be operated at 25 per cent load factor in this period which means they effectively generate a quarter of the installed capacity.

“Power generation from the stranded capacity is expected to start from June 12 or June 15 as the gas supply schedules are yet to be finalised by GAIL,” Ajay Jain, secretary energy, government of Andhra Pradesh told Business Standard.

Lanco’s power supply agreement with Telangana comes as a relief since the power surplus AP was not in a position to absorb the additional generation on its own, leading to uncertainties about the success of the programme. Earlier, the state had decided to buy power only from those stranded plants that have power purchase agreements. AP power utilities had decided to procure about 140 Mw from GVK’s 230-Mw Jegurupadu Stage II and GMR’s 370-Mw Vemagiri plant under this policy, forcing the other projects to find other markets.
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Following the Lanco deal, the 384-Mw GMR Rajahmundry gas power project (GREL) is the only plant now that is yet to find a customer. AP Transco officials said the state government had changed its stand to facilitate procurement of power from non-PPA plants as well. This will help the remaining capacity to be absorbed locally.

An official of the Lanco group said their two merchant power plants would start generation in a day or two.

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A Rs. 2500-crore natural gas pipeline is proposed to be developed to link East and South connecting Paradip in Odisha and Hyderabad in Telangana State, according to Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Addressing a press conference here today after a two-day tour of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Pradhan said, “Work on the pipeline would begin from both locations during the year and is expected to be completed within two years. The pipeline aims to provide gas supply to Hyderabad and some of the industries on its course including the Rs. 5000-crore fertiliser plant coming up in Ramagundam in Telangana.”

Pradhan said the Union Petroleum Ministry is keen that Hyderabad and Telangana State get additional supply of LPG and CNG to meet the domestic and transportation requirements. Additional supplies would be possible by increasing the fuel supplies and strengthening the storage facilities.

Currently, there are four bottling plants and these would be expanded. In addition it is proposed to invest about Rs. 300 crore to expand the storage terminals while setting up two more terminals and expanding capacity at two other existing terminals.

In addition, he said HPCL was conducting a feasibility study for a pipeline from West to Hyderabad to be taken up in the second phase. However, work on the first pipeline would be taken up shortly.

IOC is also in the process of setting up of a product terminal with an investment outlay of Rs. 500 crore. All these infrastructure initiatives would significantly strengthen the supply of LPG and CNG, the latter particularly to meet the requirements for the automotive fuel, he explained.

Referring to the Narendra Modi Government initiatives, the Minister said that the Centre has come out with a new approach where the revenues from a mining resource located in the respective State would be shared. This makes States partners in progress, he said.

NELP X

The Minister said that the X round of New Exploration Licensing Policy auctions would be taken up before the year end and efforts are now underway to simplify the process.

The policy would have three major components which would provide for progressive sharing as against production sharing contracts now, open acreage licence where oil and gas companies can bid for any block throughout the year without the Government having to hold an auction and lastly the licensee will have the flexibility to explore any other related natural resource.

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The National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) has decided to set up the 4,000-MW thermal power plant completely dedicated to meet the needs of Telangana State at Ramagundam in Karimnagar district, where it already has a 2,600-MW Inter-State Generating Station (ISGS).

Official sources told The Hindu that the decision was taken during the visit of Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC Arup Roy Choudhury to the State a couple of months back. It was initially planned that the NTPC too would set up the 4,000-MW project at Damaracherla in Nalgonda district, where Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco) is setting up a major power plant. “Availability of sufficient and unused land at its Ramagundam project site may have weighed in favour of its decision to shift the proposed 4,000-MW plant from Damaracherla to Ramagundam. The national power giant has about 9,800 acres land available with it at Ramagundam,” official sources stated. The NTPC is planning to set up two plants comprising two units of 800-MW each in the first and eight units of 300-MW capacity each in the second at Ramagundam as part of the 4,000-MW project, promised to Telangana by the Centre in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. “Environmental clearance has already been secured for the first-phase of 1,600-MW plant and tenders have also been called for it”, the sources stated. The proposal to set up 2,400-MW plant in the second-phase was likely to be taken up by the Executive Board of NTPC soon, the sources said. The existing ISGS project of NTPC at Ramagundam has three units of 600-MW each and four units of 500-MW each.

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Telangana and Chhattisgarh Governments signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) on Tuesday for supply of 1,000 MW power for 12 years by the latter to the former. Executives of Chhattisgarh power utilities also responded positively to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s request to supply another 1,000 MW.

The development would help Telangana bridge the demand-supply gap to a large extent in the coming summer season, when the State Government is also planning to launch nine-hour power supply to farm sector during day time in single spell.

The PPA was signed by Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd (TS-SPDCL) Chairman and Managing Director G. Raghuma Reddy and Chhattisgarh Power Distribution Company Managing Director Ankit Anand in the presence of the Chief Minister and others. The two executives exchanged the agreement papers after signing them.

It was on November 3 last year the two States signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at Raipur in the presence of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh. The PPA was signed as per the MoU. A transmission line between Wardha in Maharashtra and Dichpally in Nizamabad District of Telangana is being constructed to evict power from Chhattisgarh.

Officials of the Energy Department explained to the Chief Minister that the 765-KV double-circuit line with a capacity for transmission of 4,350 MW power was also nearing completion.

Minister for Energy G. Jagadish Reddy, Energy Secretary Arvind Kumar, TS-Genco CMD D. Prabhakar Rao, Chhattisgarh Genco MD S.B. Agarwal and others were present on the occasion.

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Telangana Minister for Industries Jupally Krishna Rao on Monday inaugurated a 4 MW solar PV plant developed by Fusion Solar Technologies at Kalwakurthy, Mahabubnagar district.

The first such project of the company headed by NRI engineer Suresh Babu Sadineni, who returned to pursue business opportunities in his home State, the single axis tracking solar facility has come up on around 30 acres and entailed an investment of Rs. 40 crore. It is the first phase of a 8 MW solar PV plant of the company, which would be selling the power to third parties.

Fusion Solar has big plans, Mr. Sadineni told The Hindu over phone, adding the company has sent a request to the TSSPDCL seeking its approval for going ahead with the next phase of the project. There are “big plans” ahead to harness solar power, he said, even while highlighting the need for Telangana government to waive off wheeling charges levied on third-party sale. The charges for transmission losses also add to the cost of generation for small solar power developers, he added.

Such relaxations, he explained, would help small solar power developers compete against large, foreign firms who apart from logistics support have access to funds at relatively lesser rates. “A level playing field is what is required for local project developers like me,” he said, pointing out that the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh does not levy wheeling charges.

In its solar policy unveiled this June, the Telangana government had said that wheeling and transmission charges would not be applicable for captive use within the State. “They will charged as applicable for third party sale,” the policy said.

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The power utilities of Telangana are gearing up to provide nine-hour supply to agriculture sector in a single spell during day-time from April next by commissioning Bhupalapalli and Jaipur (Singareni) thermal power plants with 1,800-MW capacity by then.

The transmission and distribution companies have also taken up the work on augmenting the infrastructure required for supply of nine-hour power to the farm sector with an estimated Rs. 648.22 crore.

The works include providing new and interlinking of 33-KV lines with bay extensions, laying new transmission lines and installing new power transformers.

Infrastructure expansion

Official sources stated that the augmentation of infrastructure includes laying of 230 new transmission lines for a length of 1,894 km, installation of 328 additional power transformers, enhancement of capacity of 313 existing power transformers and capacity addition. The utilities are planning to complete the work at least by February-end next. The demand of power, now ranging below 125 million units (MU) every day, is likely to go beyond 150 MU once the consumption of power for rabi crops under tubewells picks up from December, the sources said.

Successful trial run

“The second-phase of Kakatiya Thermal Power Station at Bhupalapalli (600-MW) is ready for commissioning after successful trial run, during which generation up to 105-MW was done and linked to the grid.

It will be commissioned anytime during the next fortnight, depending upon Chief Minister’s availability for the purpose,” Chairman and Managing Director of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Ltd (TS-Genco) D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu .

It would take at least four days to reach the peak capacity of generation once the plant goes on stream, Mr. Rao said adding that the works on Jaipur thermal project of Singareni Collieries were also progressing as per schedule. It was being planned to trial run the first unit of 600-MW in January next and another unit of 600-MW two months later.

The two Discoms in Telangana were modifying the power purchase agreements drafted during combined Andhra Pradesh administration to suit the needs of the new State. Mr. Prabhakar Rao ruled out the possibility of sharing the two plants’ power with AP stating that the latter had no standing on that since it had annulled several PPAs, denied power from Lower Sileru and Krishnaptnam.

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A circular network of power transmission and distribution system with a capacity to meet the demand up to 8,500 MW from the present 2,400 MW in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) area is expected to be fully operational in the next four months.

The power utilities of Telangana are developing the network, likely to be completed by March-end next, called island mode of power supply with an investment of over Rs.2,000 crore with an eye on the increasing demand for energy from the expected spurt in investments and industrial growth besides further expansion of the city. Supply of power without cuts from November last year and reduced outages in the city in spite of periodical maintenance works on the transmission lines is being attributed to such a system.

The island mode of operation relates to supply of power from all sides by developing a circular network of transmission so that a city remains unaffected from interruptions in the national or regional grid.

In the event of failure of grid, the area earmarked for the island mode of power supply would get energy independently from generating stations bypassing the grid. “The circular system of transmission is already operational and it is being strengthened further by adding some more sub-stations in the next few months,” Chairman and Managing Director of Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TS-Transco) D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu .

A ring of sub-stations is formed in the system to ensure interruption-free supply by drawing power from different sources, even in case of main grid failure, he stated.

He explained that 400 KV transmission lines were laid around the city for 78 km and an amount of Rs.1,920 crore was being spent on setting up sub-stations alone to develop the island mode of power supply network. The infrastructure had been developed to meet the projected growth in demand at least for a decade, he stated.

The circular network had been connected to transmission lines from Ramagundam, Kothagudem, Srisailam and Bhupalapalli generating stations to minimise outages except for shutdowns arising out of maintenance/repairs on transmission lines, Mr. Prabhakar Rao stated.

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The second stage of Kakatiya Thermal Power Project (KTPP) at Bhupalapalli in Warangal district is poised to be synchronised with the grid in its full capacity of 600 MW by December 10, even as the election code of conduct in force due to the ongoing process to fill 12 Local Authorities’ seats in the Telangana Legislative Council has put off its formal commissioning.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was supposed to inaugurate the power plant formally either in the last week of November or in the first week of December but the announcement of schedule for the Council polls has put it off practically till the first week of January, 2016.

KCR gives nod

However, the Chief Minister was understood to have told the authorities of Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TS-Transco) to go ahead with commissioning of project keeping in view the expected increase in demand for energy in the coming weeks.

Official sources stated that the trial run of the 600 MW unit was done during November and the trial generation was stopped after the unit reached the 105 MW capacity.

Following the Chief Minister’s directions to go ahead with commissioning the project informally, boilers in the thermal unit were lighted up on December 4 for the commercial generation of power.

The generation is expected to reach full capacity by December 10, the sources said.

Close on the commissioning of KTPP-II, two units of 800 MW each in the thermal power project of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd at Jaipur in Adilabad district are expected to go on trial run in coming February and March, respectively.

The two units are likely to be synchronised with the grid in April, in time for the State Government plans to give nine-hour power supply to farm sector during day time in single spell around that time.

Circuit line linking

Meanwhile, decks have been cleared for construction of 400 KV Quad Moose Double Circuit line from Suryapet to Shankarpally as part of linking the national and southern grids to further improve efficiency of power supply in Telangana, following the second stage approval granted by the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoEF) for running it through Datpalli reserve forest.

Orders were issued on December 5 by the State Government diverting over 4 acres of forest land to TS-Transco for construction of the line that would enable linking of the circuit lines at Shankarpally (Malkaram).

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An expert team from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is set to inspect the project site for Bhadradri Thermal Power Station in Manuguru of Khammam district on Saturday, in view of allegations about violation of environmental laws by the project proponent Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGENCO).

The visit has been scheduled following a complaint filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), holding the MoEF as the first respondent for the violations.

As per sources, the complainant organisation Human Rights Forum (HRF) had also written another strongly worded letter to the Ministry about the violations at the site, which has spurred the visit.

Tribunal order

Responding to the petition by HRF, the tribunal had earlier ordered TSGENCO to stop the work if the project lacked environmental clearance (EC) as alleged.

Representatives from the second respondent, the State Pollution Control Board, had confirmed that the EC for the project was yet to be obtained.

In its petition, HRF had alleged that the company was going ahead with construction, armed with nothing but Terms of Reference (ToR), even while existing laws obligated it to obtain EC after duly conducting public hearing.

EC for the project had run into trouble when the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under MoEF had asked the TSGENCO to obtain permission from the Ministry of Power for use of sub-critical technology.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) guidelines advise use of only super-critical technology for thermal plants for reasons of fuel efficiency and environment conservation.

The HRF petition mentioned violation of three laws, namely Environment Act, Air Act and Water Act.

Also alleging that the company continued with the construction work in violation of the orders by NGT, representatives from HRF said contempt of court proceedings were being initiated against the company.

Next hearing by the tribunal is scheduled on January 13.

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After Kochi, the Hyderabad international airport plans to go entirely green. It has begun by generating captive solar power that meets one-fifth of its energy needs, using 24 acres of its vast land bank to initiate the shift to clean energy.

A 5 MW solar power plant close to the GMR Hyderabad International Airport or GHIAL is generating 25,000 units a day of pollution free energy, to meet the airport's peak power demand during day-time. That is enough energy to power nearly 5,000 urban homes.

SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, explains with parity in prices between thermal grid current and solar power, this provides insurance against future price rise of commercial power.

He explains the plant meets 20 per cent of the airport's current energy needs. "With the new solar policy and provisions for bankings, we would like to go entirely solar very soon,'' he adds.

Over 16,000 solar panels have been set up on an area of 24 acres, at a cost of Rs. 30 crore. That equals planting 20 lakh trees in terms of environmental benefits compared to using thermal energy, say airport authorities.

The energy generated will save 12 tonnes of coal and nearly 80,000 litres of water every day compared to thermal power. The airport authorities plan to add another 7MW in the next financial year. The eventual target is generating nearly 25 MW solar power, according to Mr Kishore. ''We are planning for solar expansion along with expansion of airport.''

Delhi was the country's first airport to go for 2MW solar power. After that Kochi went 100 per cent solar with panels on the rooftop. Delhi has now placed additional solar panels along the runway. Hyderabad's airport has enough land bank, so at present the solar field is on area near access road to airport. In the future, there will be solar panels on the rooftop.

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Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy said that the Telangana Government aims to generate 50,000 MW of renewable energy by April 2017.

Speaking to media persons after addressing the 4th Green Energy Conference in New Delhi, the minister said renewable energy needs to be promoted in order to meet the future demand. He said that the State Government has invited tenders for setting up solar power plants in all 10 districts of Telangana. He said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has issued directions for establishing solar sheds in government offices. He said there were several opportunities for generation of Wind and Solar Power.

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