New Delhi: Stressed powerassets have got a major boost as the power ministry has strongly recommended substantial changes to the RBI’s controversial Feb 12 circular on loan defaults that industry says will send capacity of 30,000 megawatts into liquidation, while the coal ministry has assured higher fuel supply to thermal plants with the help of auctions. The power ministry has told the b...
The inflow in the Bhakra Dam reservoir has dipped to 21,954 cusecs, the lowest ever. This, coupled with the increased water outflow owing to the paddy season, has set the alarm bells ringing in Punjab and Haryana. With the water level at 1,494 feet, 70 feet lower than June 26 last year, sources said the gap was unlikely to be bridged even if the monsoon was good. The dam can be filled up to 1,683 feet. I...
CHANDIGARH: National Load Despatch Centre(NLDC) has advised the northern grid power utilities to decongest the system either by reducing their power drawl from the western grid or increasing their own generation. NLDC in its warning letter has mentioned that the actual power drawl by northern region from Western region was 13517 MW against the limit of 13250 MW on June 25.In case the warning is not acceded the con...
Mumbai: With over 22,000 megawatts (MW) of installed power capacity starved of coal and natural gas supplies, power generation is no longer the hot investment target it used to be. What is taking its place—where everybody now wants a piece of the action—is last-mile delivery of power: transmission. The Central Electricity Authority has said that 46,000MW of installed power capacity in India is str...
The fall in water flowing through hydel projects has led to a sharp dip nearly 30% in power generation. While hydropower projects in Punjab chipped in with 181.89 lakh units (LU) of electricity on June 23 last year, the figure for the same day this year was 128.65 LU. Punjab was able to save Rs 300 crore in the last fiscal due to increased generation at hydel projects bu the amount is going to be considerable less...
State-level distribution companies should ensure power availability; Centre can only connect villages and households to grid, says senior Power Ministry bureaucrat. While it is the Centre’s responsibility to connect households and villages to the power grid or provide them alternative sources of electricity, it cannot guarantee the supply of electricity to them, Arun Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary in the Power...
Deep in the jungles of eastern India lies an abandoned power plant, a warning symbol for the $38 billion of additional bad loans which are about to engulf the country’s banks. Like many of India’s power stations, the Jharkhand project had all the markings of success when a group led by State Bank of India lent about $700 million five years ago to build it. There’s ab...
It is a curious phenomenon. Problematic issues in the political economy seem to be governed by a peculiar circle of governance. Every few years a problem ostensibly resolved returns to haunt the political economy and the issues enveloping the issue are veritably the same.On January 18, 2012, Dr Manmohan Singh, the then prime minister, met with industry bigwigs of the power sector. Over `2 lakh crore of public monies ...
The Electricity Act, 2003, empowers the Union government—in consultation with the states and the Central Electricity Authority—to formulate a national tariff policy from time to time that serves as a guideline for the central and state electricity regulatory commissions while framing their regulations. The ministry of power (MoP), on May 30, released the draft amendments to the existing National Tariff Po...
This comes at a time the government is engaging all stakeholders in the power sector after the Allahabad high court last month directed the central government to address the problems faced by the ailing power sector in light of the central bank’s 12 February circular. “The RBI maintains that the circular does not stop restructuring. Even if there is a default, restructuring is possible within the given...