The electricity sector makes news nowadays only as a financial crisis. In this framing of the issues as one of non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans of banks, the real crisis – the crisis of the electricity sector -- is wished away. The brutal truth is that the restructuring of the electricity sector that started in the 1990s with Enron economics, and dismantling of the State Electricity Boards (SEBs), foll...

Wind energy developers in India are struggling to add capacity amid low tariffs and poor connectivity to the grid. The industry added 1.7 gigawatts (GW) in the last fiscal year, trailing a target of 4GW set by the government. This year, too, the industry may labour to touch 2GW, increasing the woes for wind turbine manufacturers who are trying to fill their order books. In December, the lowest tariff for wind e...

New Delhi: The government is proceeding with plans to start an asset reconstruction company (ARC) to warehouse stressed power projects and protect their value until demand for power recovers, said a top official. As part of the plan to prevent their distress sale under the insolvency and bankruptcy code, state-run Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd (REC) will lead the process of applying to the Reserve Bank of I...

New Delhi: India will penalize solar power developers who are using foreign equipment in power generation projects that were awarded on the basis that they would only use locally-made solar cells and modules. According to an office memorandum from the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) reviewed by Mint, these actions include filing of criminal case under 420 and related sections of the Indian Pe...

CHANDIGARH: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed out that the state power distribution company Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) made an irregular tax reimbursement of ?1.41 crore to a New Delhi-based contractor, Shyam Indus Power Solution Pvt Ltd. Incidentally, the director of the company, Satya Pal Sindhu, is the brother of Haryana minister Capt Abhimanyu. The CAG in its audit of tra...

power shortage to power surplus, network failure to exporter. We have also moved towards 'One Nation, One Grid'." The Prime Minister was justifiably proud of his government’s achievements in the power sector when he rose to speak at the News18 ‘Rising India’ summit in New Delhi on Friday.  The NDA government has indeed racked up a series of creditable goals in the sector —...

Nagpur: Coal shortage in state’s power plants will increase your power bills as Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd (MSEDCL) is buying costly power from other sources to avert load shedding. Consumers will realize in the summer months when the extra expenses are recovered through fuel surcharge. The average rate of MSEDCL power purchase from Mahagenco and private producers ...

To energise the power sector financially, Yogi Adityanath government has proceeded to privatise power distribution in five cities of the state, Lucknow being one of them. Based on the franchise model of power distribution, the move will reduce the line losses and the required capital investment to improve the supply scenario will be put. The private franchise will buy power from UP Power Corporation Limited and distr...

BHUBANESWAR: Power sector employees of the State have urged the Government to oppose the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014, which seeks to extend privatisation to power distribution.Supporting the nation-wide protest by National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCoEEE), the Joint Forum of Odisha Electricity Employees and Engineers, an umbrella organisation of power sector employees...

TOP PUBLIC sector companies are in talks to form a joint venture to bid for distressed assets in the power sector that will come up for auction under the insolvency proceedings of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), official sources told The Indian Express. The equity structure of the JV is currently under discussion, and the companies involved include generation major NTPC Ltd, power sector lenders Power Fi...