Power Sector thread

NEW DELHI: New private power projects, that plan to sell output in open market, will not get any coal this fiscal. The move, that aims to prevent a sharp spike in electricity rates, would hamper capacity addition by the private sector which has a key role in building new plants in the country.

The government has allocated one-fifth of available coal to power projects that would be commissioned in the current fiscal, giving priority to projects where tariff is determined by the old cost-plus system or with competitive bidding, government officials said.

The balance coal would be rationed among power projects commissioned during 2009-10 and 2010-11 that have signed supply contracts with states, a senior power ministry official said.

"Even if projects based on cost-plus basis fully pass on fuel cost , electricity tariffs would rise marginally. Coal India sells the fuel at almost one-third of international prices," the power ministry official said.

Projects based on competitive bidding absorb increase in fuel cost. Private power producers opposed government's decision of giving last priority to plants that sell power in open markets. About 20% of the new capacity added during 2009-12 will come from such plants, commonly known as merchant power projects.

Lanco Infratech, Monnet Ispat, Adani Power, Torrent Power and Jindal Power are among companies that plan to sell power in open market. A Lanco Infratech official said the government should decrease coal supply to power projects under fuel supply agreements. "The move to provide coal to only a few companies would create obstacles in the government's capacity addition programme," he said.

"The government assured coal linkages and blocks to merchant power projects in 2007 when the concept was introduced," an official in Jindal Power said.

Ashok Kumar Khurana, director-general of Association of Power Producers, a lobby group of private developers, said the government should give first priority to developers who invested funds based on coal supply commitments by Coal India.

Coal India will supply 347 million tonnes coal to power sector during 2011-12, of which 306 million tonnes stands committed under legally enforceable fuel supply contracts. Thus against requirement of over 95 million tonnes, only 41 million tonnes coal is available for projects commissioned after March 31, 2009. Of the 41 million tonnes coal, 8.5 million tonnes has been kept for new units to be commissioned during 2011-12. The balance 32.5 million tonnes will be distributed among new generating units commissioned during 2009-10 and 2010-11, the power ministry official said.

Additional coal available from Coal India during 2011-12 is inadequate for meeting needs of new generating units commissioned in 2009-12, he said.

"If there is any balance left, that may be distributed proportionately among merchant capacity. We would pursue Coal India for 15 millon tonnes additional coal," the official said. The power ministry would keep a close watch on performance of the projects that would be allocated coal and make modifications commensurate with their performance, he said.

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Tata Power has started acquiring land at four locations for new projects that will help it add 10,000 mw capacity. The present capacity of the company stands at 3,120 mw.

“We have scaled up our capacity to implement several projects simultaneously, so that we end up adding around 800-1,000 mw every year. This will help us keep our leverage under control and also keep boosting cash flows, which can be reinvested in other projects,” a top Tata Power official said.

Land accounts for four to five per cent of project cost and Tata Power typically focuses on acquiring non-fertile land for its projects. “We budget for three to four years to complete land acquisition and 42 months from the completion of land acquisition to start generating power from a thermal plant,” the official said.

At its 1,600 mw coastal Maharashtra project in Shahapur district, the company expect to complete land acquisition in another year. “The area has already been demarcated and allotted to us by the authorities and 60 per cent of the land has been acquired,” the official said. The project is estimated to cost Rs 8,500-9,000 crore. Land acquisition has been under way for the past two to three years.

“At the 660 mw Naraj Marthapur project in Orissa, 40 per cent of the land has been acquired,” he said.

The company says all major clearances for the project, including environmental clearance, have been obtained. The project is supported by the Mandakini coal block located in Angul district, which has been allotted to a consortium of the firm along with Monnet Ispat and Energy and Jindal Photo.

The company has another 3 X 660 mw captive coal-based power project in Tiruldih, Jharkhand, where just 10 per cent of the land has been acquired so far. The company has received in-principle clearance from the Railways for transportation of coal from the Tubed coal block. This block has been allotted jointly to Tata Power and Hindalco.

“We are also implementing a 650 mw power project, which will feed Tata Steel’s upcoming plant at Kalinganagar, for which Tata Steel has acquired the necessary land,” the official said. The plant consists of one unit of 200 mw and another of 450 mw. These un its will use coal and waste gases from Tata Steel’s upcoming steel plant.

“We are taking extra care to ensure that our plants are friendly not just to the physical environment, but also to the community surrounding it, so that we have their support right from the time of acquiring land,” the official said.

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Power Grid Corp of India will invest about Rs. 18,500 crore ($4.1 billion) this year, 55% higher than its target last year, to add to the electricity-hungry country’s transmission capacity, its chairman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Power Grid, with a market value of $10 billion, cut its capex target in the fiscal year that ended in March by 8% to Rs. 11,900 crore when power projects in India were delayed as they awaited environmental clearances and coal allocations.

The company’s capex target for this fiscal year exceeds the forecasts of brokerages, which expect Power Grid to invest Rs. 15,000-18,000 crore.

Indian power producers including NTPC and Tata Power also plan significant increases in their capex this year.

The firm, whose $1.7 billion share sale in November was nearly 15 times subscribed, plans to invest $27 billion during the Indian government’s 12th five year plan, beginning in April 2012.

Power Grid is also looking to bolster its revenue by leasing its towers to phone companies, and through overseas consulting contracts.

Asia’s third-largest economy is looking to cut a peak-hour power deficit of about 12%. India’s electricity demand is expected to rise 56% to 1,400 billion kwh by the fiscal year ending in March 2017.

Power Grid hopes to complete transmission projects worth Rs. 11,000 crore in the current fiscal year, a jump of 37.5% from a year ago, chairman S. K. Chaturvedi said in a phone interview.

Power Grid, which carries more than 400 billion kilowatt hours, or 51% of India’s electricity, saw a year-on-year increase of 9.5% in its total transmission line assets in the recently completed year, data on its web site showed.

The firm mainly earns revenue from transmission fees from power producers and is looking to expand its revenue opportunity by leasing out some of its 150,000 transmission towers to telecom carriers.

It recently leased towers in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir to Macroquil, and plans a second phase of leasing towers for telecom in the next six months.

“We have awarded the contracts for tower leasing, so revenue will start coming from that segment also,” Chaturvedi said.

The firm, which has also done power transmission projects and consultancy contracts in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, UAE, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, is looking to expand its consulting business into new markets.

“Discussions are going on with Kenya, Nigeria and Cambodia,” Chaturvedi said.

On Tuesday, Power Grid posted a 32% jump in its net profit to Rs. 270 crore on revenue of Rs. 840 crore.

According to Thomson Reuters Starmine data, 12 brokerages recommended the stock with ‘strong buy’ rating, while five have ‘buy´ with a mean target price of 114.90 rupees per share.

Power Grid shares have shed 2.6% since its follow-on share late last year, and are down 0.3% since 1 January, while the benchmark Sensex has lost 12.7% year-to-date.

At 03:13 p.m. shares were down 1.82% at Rs. 97 on a volume of 2.9 million shares, while the benchmark index was down 0.91%.

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NEW DELHI, MAY 19:
State-run power equipment maker BHEL has announced the successful manufacture and testing of the country’s first new series turbo generator of 600 MW rating.

The generator shall be supplied and installed at the upcoming North Chennai Thermal Power Project of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), an official statement said here today.

In addition to sub-critical thermal power plants of 600-MW rating, these new series turbo generators will cater to the requirements of thermal power stations with supercritical turbines of 660 and 700 MW ratings, it added.

With the successful testing of the generator, a new benchmark has been set by BHEL with respect to indigenous manufacture of thermal sets with supercritical parameters.

Several sets of 600 MW, 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW ratings are now under various stages of manufacture at BHEL’s Haridwar plant.

The facility for assembly and testing of this series of generators has been designed and engineered in-house at BHEL’s Haridwar plant.

The new facility has the capability to manufacture and test turbo generators of up to 1,000-MW rating and has test pits for the assembly of two generators simultaneously.

BHEL has already enhanced its power equipment manufacturing capacity to 15,000 MW per annum and is further augmenting it to 20,000 MW per annum by March 2012.

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The Adani Power Limited has proposed investment to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore for setting up 1320 (610x2) MW thermal power station and undertake mining in Urma Pahari coalmines located in Jharkhand.

APL Chairman Gautam Adani submitted this proposal at a meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the state secretariat here last evening, an official spokesman told PTI today.

The Centre has allotted the Urma Pahari coal block to Bihar to meet its requirement of coal for thermal power stations.

Adani during a presentation at the high-level meeting said the proposed plant, the location of which is yet to be decided, would help cater to the energy requirements of Bihar and provide employment opportunities to more than 5000 people, the spokesman said.

The APL chief also expressed a desire for investing in mining and development of port.

The Chief minister directed the chief secretary, development commissioner and principal secretary (industries) to go through the proposal for augmenting power and take a decision at the earliest.

He also asked the officials to negotiate with the company for procuring power from the company's power stations to meet the power crisis in the state, the spokesman said.

The chief minister noted that the three companies of Adani group-- Adani power Limited, Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited (MPSEZ) and Adani Enterprises Limited -- were listed in the share market and the cumulative capital of the three companies stood at Rs 25,000 crore.

Adani said that he had had set up a 4,620 MW power station at Mundra port and expanded its coal mining activities in Australia

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State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) today said it had developed and tested India's first very high voltage transformer to be supplied to the central transmission utility, PowerGrid Corporation.

"BHEL has indigenously developed, manufactured and tested 1,200-kv Ultra High Voltage Alternating Current Transformer at its Bhopal facility," a company release said.

The auto transformer successfully developed by BHEL shall be installed in India's first experimental 1200 kV National Test Station at Bina (MP) being set up by PowerGrid, it said.

BHEL manufactures transformers, shunt reactors, instrument transformers, capacitors, extra high voltage circuit breakers and medium voltage switchgear at its facilities located at Bhopal, Hyderabad and Jhansi.

It is the biggest transformer manufacturer in India with a capacity to manufacture 45,000 MVA of transformers/reactors per annum.

The company has set up a manufacturing plant of 12,000 MVA at Bhopal to manufacture large-sized EHV, HVDC and UHVAC transformers and reactors.

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Leading infrastructure firm Lanco Infratech is all set to tie up funds of about Rs 25,000 crore during the current fiscal to finance its power capacity expansion programme, a senior company official said today.

"We expect it to close in the current fiscal itself and are in talks with ICICI Bank, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electricity Corporation among others," Lanco Infra Chief Financial Officer J Suresh Kumar said.

The company plans to add 6,000 MW power generation capacity in its portfolio by 2015, he said, adding that about Rs 30,000-35,000 crore investment would be required for the expansion.
"Power projects of about 9,300 MW are under construction and we plan to take it to 15,000 MW by 2015. This will require an investment of about Rs 30,000-35,000 crore.

"Of this investment, we plan to tie up funds of Rs 25,000 crore from markets, most of which will be raised as debt, while the rest of the money will come from internal accruals," Kumar said, adding that the money will be released as and when required.

Besides this, Lanco is also in talks with Chinese banks for raising small loans to the tune of $400 million (Rs 1,800 crore), he said.

"We are talking to them, but we don't want to go in a big-bang way. This will be our first experience with them, so we are taking one project at a time and are looking at raising about $400 million," Kumar said.

The company, which has a power generation capacity of about 3,300 MW currently, will be adding another 1,500 MW capacity by March, 2012, the Lanco CFO said.

The second unit of 600 MW at Anpara power project in Uttar Pradesh will be commissioned by September, while the company is aiming at commissioning of 600 MW capacity at Udupi by December, he said.

Talking about the natural gas-based power plant at Kondapalli in Andhra Pradesh, Kumar said that the third unit of 742 MW capacity will be ready by March, 2012 and the company is waiting for gas allocation from the government.

The company requires about 3.75 million cubic metres per day of gas as fuel for its Kondapalli power plant, he said.

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New Delhi, May 30 (PTI) Power generation companies have expressed concern over the government's proposal of "pooling" international and domestic coal prices, which is aimed at selling the raw material at a uniform price to the customers.

In order to lessen power generation costs in the country, the government is formulating a policy to pool international and domestic coal prices which would ensure uniformity in the rates of the essential raw material across the country.

A committee under the chairmanship of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) chairperson was set up earlier this month to look into the matter.
"The committee was expected to submit its report on May 25. Since the power generation companies have raised issues on the entire policy, the committee would now submit its report in July," a Power Ministry official told PTI adding that the date of submission is not known yet.

However, he refused to name the companies which have expressed concerns on the subject.

"Power developers have questioned the entire process of pooling of coal prices, how will it be done for imported coal-based projects and other projects, what kind of price difference would there be etc," the official said.

It is felt that the issue of determining the price of imported coal as a result could delay shipments beside posing other problems.

Pooling refers to the process in which domestic and international prices of material are averaged out to enable uniformity of rates for all consumers, irrespective of where they are sourcing the material from.

The committee comprises officials from the power, coal and environment ministries, the Planning Commission and state government officials.

The move of the government comes amid concerns that rising international coal prices and insufficient availability of the raw material in India will hurt power generation activities.

The pooling of coal prices is likely to be based on the same price pooling principle adopted by the government for LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).

The price of LNG sourced through long-term contracts at a cheaper price is pooled with the rates for more expensive LNG sourced from the spot market to ensure that consumers across the country avail of an uniform, average price.

The Power Ministry is exploring every opportunity possible to make coal available to companies at a low price so that electricity generation does not suffer and power tariffs are not driven up.

It has set an ambitious target for adding 1,00,000 MW of power in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) from all sources of energy.

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NTPC, the country’s largest power producer, is planning to tap the foreign bond market to raise as much as $500 million ( Rs2,250 crore) through a dollar denominated issue.

The company management is organising investor roadshows in Singapore, Hong Kong and London over the next two days for the purpose.

Barclays Capital, Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland are the mandated bankers for the issue.

The company is planning to add 5,000mw of capacity in the next fiscal and the funds will to be used for the purpose.

“It is the right time to tap the foreign market as the interest rates there are very low as compared to the Indian market. As of now we are targeting only $500 million but the limit may be raised depending on the coupon rate,” said a company official.

The bond issue with a tenure of 10 years would be listed on the Singapore stock exchange and the company expects the issue to be launched by June 4.

NTPC has big expansion plans in the coming years for its coal and gas-based power plants and is also trying to acquire coal assets abroad. The company has also asked the power ministry to pitch for its needs to raise funds through tax-free bonds in the country. The finance ministry takes the final call on allowing government companies to raise funds through tax-free bonds.

The company has around Rs20,000 crore of cash reserves on its balance sheet.

The total installed capacity of NTPC from over 27 power stations across the country is around 33,194mw. It is currently constructing power projects with a capacity of 17,000mw and it plans to become a 75,000mw company by 2017.

The power major needs Rs25,000-30,000 crore per year and may look at raising money domestically or from overseas.

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NEW DELHI: Five firms, including one from South Korea , have bid for NTPC's Rs 9,000-crore tender for supply of nine units of supercritical power equipment.

A senior NTPC official said Bharat Heavy Electricals, L&T-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Thermax-Babcock & Wilcox, Alstom-Bharat-Forge and BGR-Hitachi, and South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries had placed bids.

"We would evaluate the five bids and call for price bids in 1-2 months," the official said.

In February, the country's largest power producer had initiated bulk bidding for procuring boilers and turbine generators for three projects in the states of Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, which have a total capacity of 7,200 mw. Technical bids for a Rs 9,000-crore boiler tender was opened on Wednesday.

Ansaldo Caldaie India , which is locked in a legal battle with the NTPC over a similar equipment contract, did not participate.

Foreign companies had stayed away from NTPC's previous round of bulk contracts for 660-mw projects because of a precondition that requires bidders to have manufacturing facility in India. Doosan, South Korea's largest power equipment company, qualified as it is setting up a facility in Haryana for producing 3,000-mw equipment a year.

Another Rs 9,000-crore tender for procuring turbine generators will open on Friday.

Supercritical technology, a forte of Chinese, Korean and Russian companies, is a relatively new area for Indian manufacturers. As per estimates of the Central Electricity Authority, about 60% of coal-based power projects in the 12th plan period and 90% coal-based capacity in 13th plan period are likely to be based on supercritical technology.

Last year, Russia's Power Machines had bid for a tender to supply 660 mw turbine generators.

The company was disqualified when it refused to set up a manufacturing facility in India.

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Shortage in supply of domestic coal has forced state-run power producer NTPC to design its projects for future capacity addition with a blending 30 per cent of imported coal. This might raise the cost of power by 30 paise for the end users.

Currently, the company blends 10-15 per cent of imported coal. This move is bound to increase the cost of power as imported coal has a higher calorific value as compared to domestic coal.

“We have already issued coal-based tender for nine units of 660 Mw and nine units of 800 Mw with these specifications. The boilers for these projects will be designed to blend 30 per cent of imported coal,” a senior NTPC official told Business Standard.
Both the tenders are estimated close to Rs 34,000 crore and were issued before April, when the government notification for blending of imported coal came.

In April this year, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had issued an advisory asking all power utilities and equipment manufacturers to ensure that in future projects boilers and auxiliaries should be designed for blending at least 30 per cent or more imported coal.

As now, only 10-15 per cent of imported coal is blended as equipment are not designed for higher blending. Moreover, it leads to pollution and corrosion of boilers. NTPC plans to import 16 mt of coal in the current financial year. Out of this, 12 mt have already been arranged by STC and remaining we will do directly. The imports will fill a shortfall in supplies from Coal India Ltd.

For 2010-11, the domestic coal production target was 423 mt but only 377 could be achieved. Out of this total production, Coal India Ltd had to supply 335 mt of coal but actual realization was 302 mt. Even the plants commissioned during the year 2009-10 would operate at lower PLF and the plants commissioned in 2010-11 would not operate at all as they have no coal supply.

Coal supply shortage has also forced the government to plan a capacity addition of only 7675 Mw for the year 2011-12, which is the last year of ongoing 11th Five-Year Plan. With this target, the capacity addition for the 11th Plan will be little over 42,000 Mw, as against a target of 62,374 Mw.

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NHPC plans to bring on stream 1,080 MW of hydropower by the end of the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).

Mr A.B.L. Srivastava, Chairman and Managing Director, NHPC, told Business Line that the capex for the current fiscal was Rs 5,090 crore and would be met through internal resources, subordinate debt from the Government of India, market borrowings and proceeds from its initial public offer.

For the year ended March 31, 2011, NHPC net profit was Rs 2,166 crore (Rs 2,090 crore). Sales were Rs 4,046 crore against Rs 4,153 crore.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Mr Srivastava said 10 projects totalling 4,502 MW of installed capacity were under construction. In the next five years, NHPC would be a 9,500 MW company.

The initial target for the 11th Plan of 5,322 MW was revised to 3,500 MW. Up to now 1,150 MW has been added and 1,080 MW is slated for addition before the end of the plan period.

Ongoing projects are 45 MW at Nimoo-Bazgo, 44 MW at Chutak, 330 MW Kishanganga and 240 MW Uri II (all in Jammu & Kashmir). Besides this, NHPC has the 800 MW Parbati-II, 231 MW Chamera-III and 520 MW Parbati-III in Himachal Pradesh. The 132 MW Teesta Low Dam-III and 160 MW Teesta Low Dam-IV are in West Bengal, while Subansri Lower project of 2000 MW is in Arunchal Pradesh.

NHPC is also looking for Government clearances for projects totalling 9,651 MW. Of this, seven totalling 5,965 MW will be done by NHPC on its own.

The others such as the 66 MW Loktak Downstream is in association with the Government of Manipur, three projects with the Jammu and Kashmir Government and the 1,500 MW Tipaimukh in Manipur with Sutlej Vidyut Nigam Ltd and the Manipur Government.

OVERSEAS OFFER

Mr Srivastava said NHPC had got an offer to evince an expression of interest from Nigeria for development of hydroelectric projects.

The offer was being evaluated.

NHPC has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian power generator JSC RusHydro.

This was for co-operation for hydropower projects in India and also elsewhere where the partners thought fit to bid together, he said.

NHPC operates 14 hydro stations totalling a capacity of 5295 MW and generated 18,604 million units last year.

The stations achieved a plant availability factor of 85.2 per cent.

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NTPC aims to double power generation growth this fiscal

India's largest power company NTPC aims to double growth in power generation this fiscal, said chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury. He is confident of achieving an additional capacity of five gigawatt (GW) this year.

"We have applied for additional gas supplies. This will boost our plant load factors (PLFs). Our plant load factors for this fiscal would be around 90 plus," he told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview.

The company had last year indicated that one reason for PLFs being weak was the backing down of 13 billion units from State Electricity Boards (SEBs). Elaborating on the same he said, "The problem of backing down by SEBs still remains and is an area of concern", he added.

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Nalco to set up Rs 274 Cr wind power project in AP

BHUBANESWAR: As part of its diversification plans, the aluminium major National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), has decided to start a 50.4 MW Wind Power Project at Gandikota in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. The Navratna PSU has been endeavouring to foray into other metals and energy sectors. This project has got the approval of Nalco Board recently.

The Wind Power Project will be executed through Suzlon Energy Limited with an investment of Rs.274 crore. Under the project, 24 wind turbine generators, each of 2.1 MW capacities, shall be set up.

"NALCO has come up with this project as a part of its green initiative towards promoting sustainable development by harnessing the unconventional energy source", Nalco chairman-cum-managing director B.L. Bagra on Wednesday told "The ET".

"The project, planned with a capacity utilization factor of 22%, is scheduled to be completed in about eight months. And the power generated will be sold to the Andhra Pradesh State Grid", Mr Bagra added.

Apart from meeting its diversification and clean energy thrust, the project would also enable the company to meet its obligation under a recently promulgated regulatory requirement to generate 5% of its energy consumption from renewable source or buy renewable energy certificates (RECs)

Earlier, NALCO had signed a MoU with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. ( NPCIL )) to set up a nuclear power plant in joint venture. Nalco will invest Rs 1700 crore in the 1400-MW nuclear power project to be set up in joint venture with the NPICL. The Navaratna public sector unit will also build 1260-mw captive power plant (CPP) alongside its proposed smelter unit at Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda district. The total project cost of the smelter and CPP has been pegged at Rs 16,000 crore.

Besides, NALCO is implementing different environment-oriented projects under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), conforming to the norms of Kyoto Protocol. These CDM projects are being taken up at company's smelter, captive power plant and refinery, wherein better technology would be used to further reduce Greenhouse Gases. The projects have been cleared by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest

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murlee said:

Sixsigma ji:

Its 274 crore.. The power is only 50.4 MW..

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Mr.Nellai said:

Preparations under way for hot run of Kudankulam nuclear reactor

Things are getting set for the commissioning of the first unit of 1000 MWe of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu by the end of September or in October this year. Preparations are under way for the hot run of the reactor, an important activity that will take place before the reactor is loaded with the real fuel assemblies made of enriched uranium.

Pre-commissioning activities of the second reactor at the KKNPP, also of 1000 MWe capacity, have already started. It will reach criticality about nine months after the first reactor does so.

The two reactors are Russian ones that belong to the advanced design of VVER family but have been built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). These are the biggest reactors to be built in India. They use enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as both coolant and moderator.

“The clearance for starting the hot run of the first unit is expected shortly. The hot run itself will start in some days,” said M. Kasinath Balaji, Site Director, KKNPP. The hot run will continuously last about three weeks and it will be completed by the end of June. It will entail heating the primary coolant water to the reactor's operating temperature of 280 degrees Celsius. “We will be operating the reactor systems at the temperature at which the reactor will operate when it has real fuel bundles,” he said.

Dummy fuel assemblies

The process of hot run will take place with the dummy fuel assemblies, which were loaded into the reactor several months ago. The dummy fuel assemblies have the same configuration as the real fuel assemblies but have no enriched uranium inside. The reactor vessel houses the 163 fuel assemblies inside.

Right now, the KKNPP engineers are preparing the reactor (the first unit) with the dummy fuel inside and the control rod drives installed, for conducting hydro tests at a pressure of 180 kg per sq. cm. as per the standard operating procedure. A hydro test done in December 2010 at 250 kg per sq. cm validated the strength of the reactor vessel and the primary coolant circuits. The control rod drives, which shut down the reactor in an emergency, were installed subsequently. The test at a pressure of 180 kg per sq. cm. will be done in a few days. After these tests are done, clearance for the hot run is expected.

“Hot run means taking the temperature of the primary coolant water to the operating temperature of 280 degrees Celsius with the help of energy from the primary coolant pumps,” Mr. Balaji said. There are four primary coolant pumps, each requiring 6.3 MWe. During the hot run, three primary coolant pumps will be running and they will circulate the water through the dummy fuel assemblies. All safety systems will be tested.

Robotic inspection

After completion of the hot run, Mr. Balaji said, the reactor would be disassembled and the control rod drives removed. The cover of the reactor would be opened up and the dummy fuel assemblies inside the reactor vessel removed. Then the reactor vessel, the main coolant pipelines and all associated systems would be inspected for their integrity using highly sophisticated robotic machines. “These robotic machines have been tested in a mock-up facility and they are ready to carry out inspection operations inside the reactor once the hot run is completed. These inspection operations will last about a month,” said Mr. Balaji.

The results of the hot run and inspection by the robotic machines will be reviewed by the Indian specialists along with their Russian counterparts.

After further review by the regulatory authorities, the KKNPP officials will make a request to the regulatory authorities for loading the real fuel assemblies into the reactor. The first fuel assemblies will be loaded in the beginning of September and after all the 163 fuel assemblies are loaded, the approach to its criticality will begin. The reactor will reach criticality by the end of September or the beginning of October. After a few weeks of low power experiments, electricity will be wheeled into the grid. Nine months later, the second unit will be started up.

From the two units with a total capacity of 2,000 MWe, Tamil Nadu's allocation will be 925 MWe, Karnataka 442 MWe, Kerala 266 MWe, Puducherry 67 MWe and the unallocated is 300 MWe.

Safety features

The Kudankulam reactors have state-of-the-art safety features in terms of the various passive safety systems backing the active safety systems. Twelve huge water tanks are installed inside the reactor building to ensure that the reactor is filled with water with boron in case of loss of water from the reactor fuel core. In addition, the reactor is cooled by way of natural circulation of air in the event of loss of electricity supply. Each reactor at Kudankulam is provided with four diesel generators of 6.3 MWe capacity each. Of the four diesel generators, only one is required to keep the reactor in a cool state under shutdown condition. The diesel generators were installed at a height of nine metres above the mean sea level, isolated from tsunami-like floods, Mr. Balaji said.

Source

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Adani Power's second supercritical power unit of 660 megawatt at Mundra got synchronised with the transmission grid, it said on Monday, thereby taking its total generation capacity to 2,640 MW.

Supercritical technology is an environment friendly and energy efficient method of producing power from coal. India plans to gradually shift its focus to the cleaner technology for coal-fired power projects.

Adani Power, a unit of Ahmedabad, Guajrat-based Adani Enterprises, is setting up a 4,620 MW coal-fired power plant at Mundra, Gujarat, comprising five supercritical units of 660 MW each and four units of 330 MW each, the company said.
It has plans to install 20,000 MW capacity by 2020 and is implementing projects worth 16,500 MW in Guajrat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, it said. In FY12, Adani expects to operationalise 6,000 MW plants, it added.

In FY12, it hopes to add 1,320 MW at Tiroda, Maharashtra, and 2,640 MW at Mundra, Gujarat, its Chief Financial Officer Prabal Banerji had told Reuters in May.

At 2:50 pm, shares in the firm were down 0.66% at Rs 112.90 in a flat Mumbai market.

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In about three years, the southern region is to be completely integrated with the electricity grid in the rest of the country to form one of the largest synchronous interconnections in the world.

This would, in effect, even out short-term power prices across the entire country and prevent sharp spikes in regional spot prices, as was visible in the southern region in the run-up to the recent Assembly polls.

Government officials said the integration of the southern grid is being targeted for the year 2014-15, in time for the commissioning of the 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project in Andhra Pradesh. This is being done through three upcoming 765 kV AC (alternating current) links that would hook up the southern region to the rest of the country through the western grid.

WORK IN PROGRESS

While work on the Raichur-Sholapur 765kV circuit is now under implementation through private participation, another 765 kV line is being executed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) as part of the transmission scheme for the Krishnapatnam project.

A third link — the Narendra-Kolhapur 765kV double circuit line — is also being built by PGCIL.

The three links will ensure the southern region is fully integrated with the rest of the country, with an additional 6,400 MW inter-regional transmission capacity in the due course.

At present the north, west and eastern regions are integrally connected through AC transmission links and there is a free flow of power between these regions. The southern region is hooked up with the rest of the country through HVDC (high voltage direct current) transmission links which have constraints on wheeling capacity, thereby limiting the free flow of power from and to the southern region, a Central Electricity Authority official said.

TRANSMISSION CONSTRAINTS

Mr Jayant Deo, Managing Director and CEO of IEX, the country's largest power exchange, said transmission constraints have been a major limiting factor in short-term electricity flows from the NEW Grid to the southern region, despite price spikes in the south during the pre-summer months and a surplus in the north.

Currently, transmission links hook up the southern region to the western region through Bhadrawati (1,000 MW capacity) and to the eastern region at Gazuwaka (1,000 MW).

The total transfer capability for import of power by the southern region from the rest of India is pegged at 1,330 MW, while actual transfer capability is around 1,230 MW, according to data from the National Load Despatch Centre.

India's current installed capacity is 173 giga watts (I GW is equal to 1,000 MW). The total inter-regional transmission capacity as on February 2011 was 20,750 MW and inter-regional capacity of 10,900 MW is planned to be added during the balance period of the Eleventh Plan.

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