As of September 2021, India’s non-fossil fuel power generating capacity of 154,825 megawatts (MW) was about 39.8 percent of the total installed power generating capacity of about 388,848 MW. New renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding nuclear and hydro power) accounted for over 26 percent of total power generation capacity, the second largest share after coal. Solar, wind, small hydropower, biomass and others accounted for over 65 percent of non-fossil fuel-based capacity while large hydropower 30 percent and nuclear just over 4 percent.
Though RE with 101,532 MW of capacity is the second largest in terms of capacity share, it accounted for less than 10 percent of power generation in 2020-21, equalling hydro-power generation that has only half the capacity as RE. Coal that accounted for 54 percent of capacity contributed over 79 percent of generation in 2020-21. In terms of specific generation or power generated per unit of capacity that represents economic efficiency, nuclear power was the most efficient with a score of over 6 while RE power was the least efficient with a score less than 1 in 2020-21. This is because of low-capacity factors for RE which are in the range of 15-20 percent at best. Without stand-by capacity, a high RE power system can lead to compromise on security of supply as the recent events of power outages across the country illustrates. As RE cannot be relied upon to provide needed electricity at any moment, other tools such as making payments for maintaining stand-by capacity (either in the form of batteries or in terms of gas or coal-based generation) or compensating consumers to reduce demand, when necessary, must be employed. India often uses the latter option of reducing demand through forced outages for rural consumers (or industrial consumers during elections when people are temporarily more valuable) who receive neither electricity nor payments for outages. They are in fact India’s back-up system which is perverse and should be eliminated. The other credible options for supply security include creating vibrant markets for electricity, capacity and ancillary services. India is technically an energy-only market but using the term market to describe India’s power sector is a stretch as the electricity tariff does not respond to market signals.
Capacity markets aim to ensure grid reliability by paying participants to commit generation for delivery years into the future. Energy-only markets, by contrast, pay generators only when they provide power on a day-to-day basis. Capacity markets prevent generating capacity that only supplies excess energy at high prices being squeezed out of the wholesale electricity market in such quantities and at such speed that it may affect system reliability. The opportunity to secure revenue years in advance gives generators added incentive to build new plants. But the model could be wasteful, since the concerned utility will pay out the capacity costs for load events that may not materialize years down the line. Capacity markets also remain vulnerable to price depression as a result of out-of-market subsidies. If these resources also enter as price takers without any checks and balances into the capacity market, the regulator can end up compromising the ability of the capacity market to balance the revenues. Payments for capacity may also blur price signals on traded markets, preventing scarcity markets from functioning. Capacity remuneration also risks double payments to the generator – for energy and for capacity.
In mature energy only markets, regulators ensure reliability through a mechanism called scarcity pricing, which allows real-time electricity prices to increase on days of peak demand. Instead of guaranteeing generation revenue through a capacity market, the promise of high prices is supposed to incentivize generators to build new plants and keep them ready to operate. In an energy only market, the grid’s reserve margin is maintained at sufficiently high levels allowing for enough instances of scarcity that increase prices to such an extent that generators can recover their capital costs. The worry is that energy-only markets could become increasingly unstable because low electricity prices (on account of subsidies for certain energy forms or on account of depressed demand) could discourage generators from building new power plants without the guaranteed revenue of a capacity market. Essentially, securing sufficient flexibility in the system is a separate issue to stimulating investment in future capacity.
The critical difference is that in an energy-only market, generators must wait and hope for the day when real-time prices increase substantially. With a capacity market, some of that revenue is guaranteed. The capacity market is designed to provide a solution by balancing lower energy market prices with higher revenues for generators in the capacity market. Capacity remuneration mechanisms can remove investment incentives for demand-side response activity in the wholesale market and energy storage. They also impede cross-border electricity trade by reducing the peak-prices that make trade profitable. Over the long term, the energy-only and capacity market constructs could end up delivering similar cost results to consumers.
The third alternative, often confused with capacity markets, is to use ancillary service markets, which procure short-term reserve generation and grid support products for everyday system stability. As the proportion of RE continues to increase the demand for ancillary services to ensure daily operational stability is likely to increase. Ancillary services are traded in months, weeks, days and hours, not years like capacity. Ancillary service markets are for securing the right combination of resources for generation quality and not for generation adequacy. Competitive trading of these services is part of some, but not all, wholesale electricity markets. If generators can generate revenue from selling ancillary services, the need for capacity payments to keep plants online can be reduced. A properly functioning energy and services market can deliver all the capacity that the Indian grid requires.
India is quite far away from this situation not only because it is an imperfect energy only market but also because India’s energy supply serves non-energy goals such as delivering development subsidies. However, keeping the future in mind, India’s central electricity authority (CEA) has studied the prospect of developing an ancillary services market. But it is too early to say whether a well-designed market that makes it profitable for generators to provide ancillary services (short term reserves and grid support products) would also stimulate investment in future capacity in India. The worry is that continued policy supported RE additions may keep electricity prices low, thereby reducing the incentive for generators to build new plants. Most of the RE is “aspirational capacity,” capacity directly contracted for to meet climate commitments not necessarily capacity needs. Reconciling environmental goals that demand more RE additions with the need to preserve market incentives for new generation is a critical challenge.
If India’s electricity sector matures into a vibrant open market, it can at least in theory, of value reliability and compensate investors for supplying fixed resources. A well-functioning wholesale electricity market should dynamically value energy, support services and capacity in response to the changing forces of supply and demand. An ancillary services market that responds to scarcity of flexible reserves by pushing up their price will make it profitable to operate peaking plant that can rapidly ramp up and down, giving generators a reason to keep plants online and invest in future capacity.
Another alternative is keeping strategic reserves of power generating capacity where the capacity mechanism is procured completely outside the wholesale market so that it does not compromise the move towards developing an energy market in India. As in the case of strategic oil reserves, it should be owned and operated by the government to provide a national security (energy security), a public good. Strategic reserve for power generation is a pragmatic and relatively simple solution to meet demand for the short periods of extreme system stress. But the risk with a peak strategic reserve is that over time it can become just as expensive as a capacity market.
Creating a new system of benefits, or an entire new market, to stimulate investment in enough future capacity without interfering with the ancillary market’s valuation and procurement of reserve capacity is complicated even in the most mature market and much more so in India.
Regulation of coal supply to power plants that have more than 15 days of fuel stock will free up around 0.177 mt of coal from 26 stations. The power ministry reviewed the report of the core management team (CMT) to ensure daily close monitoring of coal stock position at thermal power plants (TPPs). CMT comprises representatives from the power ministry, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Railways. As per the power ministry, during the meeting, some facts emerged which will ease out the coal stock position at TPPs and will ensure uninterrupted power supply. Firstly, it stated, the regulation of the coal to the power plants having more than 15 days’ stock would free up around 177,000 tons of coal from 26 stations. This coal has been redistributed to the plants having supercritical and critical coal stocks at power plants. NTPC Daralipali (2 x 800 MW) plant is getting coal supply from captive mine of Odisha Coal and Power Ltd (OCPL). The second unit of NTPC Daralipali will achieve commercial operation from 0000 hrs of 1 September, and thus additional 800 MW generation would be added in the total fleet. Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) will clear dues to the tune of INR12 bn (US$161.9 mn) to the different CIL subsidiaries within a week, which will augment the coal supply to different plants of DVC. This would ramp up the power generation from DVC plants from the current level of 61 percent to a PLF (plant load factor) of 90 percent. CMT is closely monitoring the coal stocks on a daily basis and ensuring follow-up actions with CIL and Railways to improve the coal supply to power plants.
CIL achieved highest ever coal off-take, production, and over burden removal (OBR), posting growths of 16.7 percent, 14.1 percent and 3.6 percent respectively in these performance parameters in July 2021. The company clocked 30.7 percent growth in supplies to the power sector during April- July period with a whopping 39 mt increase, over the same period a year ago. Off-take to the power sector for July 2021 at 39 mt registered 17 percent growth compared to 33.3 mt that the company supplied during July 2020. CIL’s total coal off-take also increased by a staggering 46.7 mt during the first four months of the current fiscal, registering a 28.4 percent growth. CIL’s efforts to liquidate its pithead stock resulted in a reduction of 43.4 mt ending July, backed by increased appetite for coal.
According to ministry of coal, CIL arm Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) dispatched the highest ever coal in a single day on 27 August. NCL also sent the highest ever, 38 coal rakes of Indian Railway to upcountry coal consumers of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, and other states fulfilling the energy requirements of the country in this pandemic time. NCL dispatches its majority of coal through eco-friendly modes like Indian Railway Rakes, merry-go-round (MGR), and belt pipe conveyor. In FY’21, NCL dispatched over 87 percent of its coal through these modes of transportation. In a pro-environmental step, 24 percent reduction in coal transportation from the road was seen in the last fiscal. Keeping up the pace with the growing demand for energy, NCL has dispatched 46.19 mt of coal till date with year on year (Y-o-Y) growth of 17 percent in 2021-22. The company has been entrusted with 119 mt of coal production and 126.5 mt of coal dispatch in this fiscal. In a step towards ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’, the company is also supplying coal as import substitution to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and other state’s coal consumers.
In a major move, Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) has set the stage to launch coal mining at Suliyari coal block in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh (MP). As per Department of Mines and Geology, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, this was the first time APMDC has begun coal exploration in other states. APMDC won Suliyari coal block spread over 1,298 hectors through an open bidding conducted by the Centr
India exported 0.8 million tonnes (mt) of coal to its neighbouring nations, including Nepal, in the fiscal year ended March 2021. Of the said quantity, the maximum 77.20 percent was exported to Nepal, followed by 13.04 percent to Bangladesh, according to the coal ministry’s Provisional Coal Statistics 2020-21. Coal was exported mainly to Nepal 0.618 mt, followed by Bangladesh 0.104 mt. In FY21, import of raw coal of the country was 214.995 mt valued at INR1,160.37 bn (US$15.65 bn) against import of 248.537 mt valued at INR1,527.32 bn (US$20.61 bn) in 2019-20.
Odisha government inaugurated a Merry-Go-Round (MGR), a dedicated rail transportation system between the production and consumption points, for carrying coal from a mine to a power generation station of the Odisha Power Generation Corporation Limited (OPGC) through virtual mode. The 47-kilometre long MGR system will ensure hassle-free coal transportation, enhancing fuel security to the power plant operated by OPGC. The Manoharpur coal mine was allocated to the Odisha Coal and Power Ltd. (OCPL) in 2015 to cater to the dry fuel requirements of power generating units of OPGC.
Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RVUNL) has run out of cash to pay for coal and keep running the state’s power plants. It shut down 600 Mega Watt (MW) unit of Kalisindh Thermal Power Plant on 11 August and switched off the second unit of same capacity on 15 August. Now, it seems the 1,500 MW Suratgarh Thermal Power Station could be next in line. Most of the power plants of the state have coal for a day or two and it takes 2-3 days to transport them from the mines in the eastern part of the country. The state power generator company (RVUNL) owes INR8.50 bn (US$114.67 mn) to Coal India and INR18.50 bn (US$249.59 mn) to Parsa Kanta Collieries Ltd (PKCL). Recently, both the coal suppliers had sounded out RVUNL that supply would be disrupted if dues are not paid. In fact, CIL had stopped supply in the past few weeks and only resumed with one rake recently. PKCL started supplying with restricted capacity after it was paid INR3.75 bn (US$50.59 mn) recently. RVUNL paid INR1.25 bn (US$16.86 mn) to CIL to resume the supplies. But CIL has decided to supply only 3 rakes. All the government power plants require 16 rakes of coal per day (One rake contains 4000 tonne). PKCL has also reluctantly agreed to supply 4-5 rakes a day.
Although India’s total installed renewable energy generation capacity crossed the 100 giga watt (GW) mark in an incredible achievement, experts feel that the expansion and addition of new coal-based power plants is negating its climate actions. India is now fourth in the world in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. It has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. As per the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, India’s coal consumption should peak in the next few years and there needs to be a clear phase out plan for coal power which includes rehabilitation of affected communities and restoration of degraded land. While India is expanding its renewable energy capacity, it is also expanding its coal power plant fleet.
China’s coal output dipped 2.8 percent in July from a month earlier, hitting the lowest level since May 2019, as stringent mine safety checks across the country curbed production in the face of soaring prices and increased demand from power plants. The world’s biggest coal producer and consumer churned out 314.17 mt of coal, compared with 323.19 mt in June and down 3.3 percent from July last year, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed. Over the first seven months of the year, coal output was 2.26 billion tonnes (bt), up 4.9 percent year-on-year. The government is striving to strike a balance between increasing supplies to cool record coal prices and improving mine safety. China has granted extensions of trial operations at 15 coal mines, totalling 43.5 mt, and resumed production at 38 open-pit coal mines in the major mining hub of Inner Mongolia, with annual capacity of 66.7 mt.
China’s coal inventories have dropped to near historic lows since August due to peak summer electricity demand and transportation bottlenecks exacerbated by last month’s severe floods and typhoon. To cope with tight coal supplies the government has rallied top miners, such as China National Coal Group and Jinneng Holding Group to ramp up supplies and also pledged to release more fuel from the state reserve. Coal stocks held by miners have fallen 26 percent Y-o-Y and inventories at key ports dropped 21 percent. As a result, spot thermal coal prices at northern ports hovered near record highs of more than 1,050 yuan (US $162.44) per tonne. Chinese coal consumption had in the first half of 2021 expanded by one-tenth over a year earlier to 2.1 bt.
Thermal coal’s rally to 13-year highs in Asia has done little to dampen overall demand, but the region is increasingly becoming split between those countries willing and able to pay high prices, and those who are cutting now unaffordable imports. Imports of thermal coal in wealthier north Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan are set to record month-on-month increases in August, with some reaching the most this year.. Prices of thermal coal have surged in Asia since September last year, when demand started to recover after the initial economic lockdowns across the region to try and combat the coronavirus pandemic started to lift. Lower-quality Indonesian coal with an energy value of 4,200 kilocalories per kilogram has also soared, rising 222 percent since its 2020 low in September to end the week to 27 August at $73.04 a tonne, a record high. High-grade Australian thermal coal is favoured by utilities in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for its energy content and lower impurities. China, the world’s biggest coal importer, and second-ranked India have tended to buy more lower-grade Indonesian coal, with Chinese utilities using it as a blend with domestic coal with higher impurities, while India bought it because it was cheaper and geographically closer than alternatives. That trade has switched around in recent months given Beijing’s unofficial ban on importing Australian coal as part of an ongoing political dispute with Canberra. China is buying higher volumes of Indonesian coal, bidding up the price and encouraging Indian buyers to switch to mid-quality Australian thermal coal, which had been popular in China prior to the ban being implemented last year. While the coal flows around Asia, the top-importing region, have been affected by China’s prohibition on Australian cargoes, the main story so far in 2021 has been one of strong demand amid increasing electricity production as economies start to recover from the pandemic. But the recovery has been uneven, and may be starting to show the impact of the surge in prices. China’s imports of thermal coal in August are estimatedat 24.35 mt, up from 20.57 mt in July and the highest so far this year.
As per Indonesia’s energy and natural resources ministry, the country has reversed coal export bans for three companies after they complied with domestic market obligations. Indonesia suspended coal exports from 34 coal mining companies earlier this month after it said the companies failed to sell an obligatory 25 percent of their production to the domestic market, mainly to state power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). Three companies, including PT Arutmin, a subsidiary of the country’s top coal producer PT Bumi Resources, have been given their coal export licenses back. The other two companies were PT Bara Tabang and PT Borneo Indobara.
Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp has agreed to sell its 12.5 percent stake in the Rolleston thermal coal mine in Australia to its partner Glencore PLC for an undisclosed sum. Glencore will own 100 percent of the mine after the deal. The move comes in line with the Japanese company’s policy to tackle climate change, which was revised in May and included a goal to cut its thermal coal output to zero by 2030, Sumitomo said. Sumitomo’s remaining interest in thermal coal mines is a 37.13 percent stake in the Clermont mine in Australia, but the company plans to keep its stake as the mine life is expected to end by 2030.
According to coal importers group VDKi, Germany’s hard coal imports could rise to 35-36 mt in 2021. The final import figures could be affected by a whole range of variables. In January, VDKi had forecast that coal imports would fall to 26.7 mt this year in Germany – Europe’s biggest coal importer – citing lower coal usage by steelmakers during the COVID-19 crisis and price competition in power generation with gas and renewables. Coal burning for electricity rose by 35.6 percent Y-o-Y in the first half of 2021, the group reported last month, as cold weather and lower wind speeds increased the need for thermal generation to cover for wind power shortfalls. An increase in imports in 2021, if it materialised, would break a five-year pattern of consecutive annual falls, but the general trend to drive coal out of power generation in Germany remains firmly intact. Germany is also removing existing hard coal capacity from the market via subsidised closure tenders, while a different scheme with fixed compensations applies to domestically-mined brown coal-to-power stations.
14 September: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest fuel retailer, announced it has partnered with Google Pay to make fueling more rewarding for IndianOil and Google Pay customers. The companies plan to make IndianOil’s countrywide loyalty program XTRAREWARDS accessible on the Google Pay app as the partnership progresses.
Source: The Economic Times
12 September: Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar urged the Central government to reduce the price of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders by at least INR150 as the common people are facing “extreme hardship due to rising price of essential commodities.” The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president is spreading awareness through his weekly ‘Ondu Prashne’ and opposing the BJP’s anti-people policies. Through his ‘Ondu Prashne’ series, which began last week, Shivakumar is now raising the issue of the LPG price hike that is affecting people across classes. The state Congress chief noted that the LPG price hike affected not only the poor but also the middle class, especially homemakers. He shared his concerns via social media platforms and asked the public for their responses. At present, an LPG cylinder costs around INR900 and has reached INR956 in Bidar district. Refilling gas cylinders may skyrocket to INR1,000 soon, he alleged.
Source: The Economic Times
8 September: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has created a separate platform for its cooking gas or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) operations that runs government’s subsidised LPG cylinder scheme where subsidy amount is transferred directly into the accounts of consumers. Creation of separate platform was mandated as part of the sell-off process to ring fence the new owners from this subsidy scheme that could function uninterrupted with government transferring subsidy to consumers even after privatisation of the BPCL. The government is selling its entire 52.97 percent shareholding in BPCL to a strategic investor. There were doubts among potential bidders how the subsidised cooking gas scheme would be run post the management of BPCL getting transferred to new private sector owners. If companies were to take the tab of subsidy, it would alter the valuation of BPCL. The LPG price for cooking for consumers under PAHAL (Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh) is subsidized by the government wherein the subsidy quantum given to the PAHAL consumers by way of DBT, is the difference between the market-determined price and the subsidized price.
Source: The Economic Times
8 September: ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corp)’s plan to complete merger of its refining subsidiary MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd) with recently acquired HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd) to align its upstream and downstream operations into two verticals has got delayed. The process is now expected to be completed by FY24 as ONGC’s plan to consolidate its refining and petrochemicals business around MRPL first itself is taking a lot of time. The proposed merger would only follow this consolidation exercise. The process of merging ONGC’s two oil refining subsidiaries, HPCL and MRPL, will be started only after the company completes merging ONGC Mangalore Petrochemical Ltd (OMPL) with MRPL. As per the plan finalised earlier, MRPL may, become a subsidiary of HPCL first. Under liberal assumptions, the merger could start in 1-2 years as OMPL gets merged with MRPL by then. OMPL has now become a 100 percent subsidiary of MRPL.
Source: The Economic Times
11 September: Vedanta Ltd is seeking a premium of at least US$1 over the government-mandated price for the natural gas it plans to produce from its Assam block. The firm, which merged the Rajasthan oil-discoverer Cairn India Ltd into itself, has sought bids from users for the gas it plans to produce from the Hazarigaon field in Assam from March next year. The company plans to produce 0.10 million standard cubic meters per day from the onshore block it had won under the discovered field bid round a couple of years back. Bidders have been asked to quote a number above the APM (administered price mechanism) or government mandated gas price plus US$1 per million British thermal unit, the company said in the bid document. Pricing formula in US$ per mmBtu will be “APM + 1.0 + P”. The government fixes the price of gas produced by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) from fields given to them on nomination basis, every six months. This price is called APM or administered price mechanism rate. The gas price for six months beginning 1 April is US$1.79 per million British thermal unit. The duration of the contract will be 8 years from 1 March 2022, the bid document said. E-bidding for the gas is scheduled to take place on 30 September. The government has given freedom to producers to discover a market rate for the gas they produce. Gas producers have used different formulae to discover the price – some used an oil price benchmark, some a gas linked index and Vendata is seeking a price that is over and above the government-mandated rate for state-owned firms.
Source: The Economic Times
11 September: India’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) regasification operable capacity is expected to rise by 12 mmtpa (million metric tonnes per annum) due to removal of constraints at existing LNG terminals, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Nearly 24 mmtpa of capacity additions are underway at Dahej and greenfield terminals at Chhara, Jafrabad, Dhamra and Jaigarh over the next few years. Just the KG Basin is expected to result in 45 mmscmd of incremental domestic gas (that is 47 percent of the domestic gas consumption). India currently has an LNG regasification capacity of 42.5 mmtpa. However, the operable capacity is 30 mmtpa, said the report by Motilal Oswal. With the completion of major pipelines like Jagdishpur-Haldia, Mehsana-Bhatinda, Kochi-Bangalore and upcoming northeast gas grid, India’s total trunk pipeline network is expected to grow to 32,600 km from 17,126 km, increasing the reach of gas to a larger number of consumers. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is focused on reducing pollution and 90 percent rise in length of trunk pipelines is expected over the next few years. Besides, there is increased availability of LNG operable capacity (57 percent) and availability of domestic gas (30 percent).
Source: The Economic Times
8 September: With GST (Goods and Services Tax) revenue collections making a rebound post the disruptions caused by the second wave of COVID pandemic, the Centre is likely to initiate dialogue with states for inclusion of petroleum products under the new indirect tax fold. Based on the petroleum ministry’s suggestion, the Centre may take up with GST Council the issue of bringing natural gas under the GST regime to begin with before the entire oil and gas sector is brought under it. With revenue position remaining strained due to COVID-19 outbreak, states have been reluctant to consider bringing high revenue generating petroleum products under GST fold. GST levy on natural gas would help state-run oil companies such as ONGC, IOCL, BPCL and HPCL to save tax burden to the tune of INR250 bn as they would get credit on taxes paid for inputs and services. Tax credits are not transferable between the two different taxation systems.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: India alone is home to 7 percent (21 GW) of the global coal project pipeline, which is 56 percent of South Asia’s total, a study showed, with the country moving slowly away from coal at a national level, however considerable progress is being made at the state level. Four countries in South Asia — Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — have previously considered or are currently considering coal. Together, they account for 13 percent of the global pre-construction pipeline (37.4 GW), a new report by climate change think tank E3G that assessed the global pipeline of new coal projects, said. It finds there has been a 76 percent reduction in proposed coal power since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, bringing the end of new coal construction into sight. The report said Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are showing leadership in cancelling projects and making political statements that they will no longer pursue new coal power. In India, significant socio-economic headwinds to new coal have led to state-level commitments to no new coal, opening a pathway for national-level progress. Having considered new coal-fired power projects for a number of years, Sri Lanka is now leading the way in South Asia. The report finds India is moving slowly away from coal at a national level, however considerable progress is being made at the state level. Between 2019 and 2021, public officials from the states of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka announced their intention to not build new coal power plants.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: Nalco is making efforts to operationalise Utal D coal mine in Odisha in the next financial year. Utkal E coal block in the state will be operationalised after obtaining all the statutory clearances thereafter, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) said. The two coal blocks have been allocated by the Centre as a part of raw material security to the existing operational units at captive power plant and future expansion of the company. The company executed the mining lease of Utkal D coal block on 25 March after obtaining requisite regulatory clearances and completing land acquisition in the mining lease area. The Coal Controller, the statistical authority with respect to coal and lignite, granted the mine opening permission in May.
Source: The Economic Times
9 September: The coal ministry has asked captive coal mine owners to increase their production for their end-use plants while warning that corrective steps to regulate fuel supply from Coal India Ltd will be taken for poor output.vThe direction to captive mine owners such as NTPC Ltd, Hindalco Industries and Ambuja Cements has come amidst acute coal shortage faced by thermal power plants in the country. The ministry said that the production of coal from the captive mines has been reviewed recently by the Nominated Authority. The review revealed that many allocatees are falling severely behind the schedule of production. The coal blocks were allotted to the captive allocatees to meet the coal requirements for the end-use plants, the ministry said.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee is trying to protect the private monopoly in Kolkata’s electricity distribution by opposing the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2021or state officials did not brief her “properly” on the proposed reforms such as offering consumers the option to choose a supplier on the basis of service quality and affordable tariff, according to Power Minister R K Singh. Banerjee had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposing, among other issues, the provision for ending state or private monopoly by delicensing distribution and allowing multiple players – including the state utilities – with a view to offering consumers choice of suppliers much the same way it happens in mobile telephony. Singh said that state utilities will continue working as they are after distribution is licensed but they will have to compete with others on efficiency, service quality and tariffs. Singh wrote the present Electricity Act already provides for more than one discom (distribution company) operating in one area and cited Mumbai as an example.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: The West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL) has generated 23,874.2 mega units (MU) in 2020-21, the highest since inception, and registered a record profit of INR2.52 bn in the same period despite the pandemic and lockdown. Its Bakreswar and Santaldih plants were ranked third and eighth respectively by Central Electricity Agency. More than 100 percent ash utilisation has been achieved at Santaldih, Kolaghat and Bandel power stations during the financial year.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: Tata Power and Adani Group have been told to submit revised bids for South East UP (Uttar Pradesh) Power Transmission Company by the power transmission company’s lenders. Tata Power and Adani had submitted binding offers for the company in the second week of August alongside three other bidders – Power Grid Corporation of India, Sterlite and REC Power Development and Consultancy. However, both of their offers were conditional on lenders securing reversal of a suspension order on a 1,600-km project the company is carrying out, imposed by the state power transmission authority for delays in completion.
Source: The Economic Times
11 September: Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd is drafting a proposal for a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for consumers in rural as well as urban areas. If all goes as per plan, the scheme will be launched by September-end. The scheme is also likely to cover farmers who have tubewells in the 5 KVA load category. The proposal is being drafted on the directives of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who felt that consumers should be given waiver on late fee surcharge as many faced financial constraints during coronavirus pandemic. The scheme is likely to give relief to middle-class consumers, both urban and rural, who have a connection of less than 5 KVA load. The OTS scheme will only be availed through an online process to avoid any discrepancy in future. According to highly placed sources in the electricity department, the scheme would be open to the public for 15 days and only those consumers who get themselves registered online by paying a minimum amount between INR1,000 and INR2,000 would qualify for the scheme.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) said it has played a key role in the successful implementation of ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) link between the western and southern region grid. According to the company, the project will bring relief to the power deficit southern grid. BHEL, in partnership with Hitachi-ABB Power Grids Limited, had secured this landmark order from Power Grid Corporation of India Limited in 2016. Significantly, this is the second ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission project by BHEL. Prior to this, it had successfully executed, the first of its kind in the world, Agra Converter Terminal for North-East Agra +800 kV, 6000 MW, Multi-Terminal HVDC link in September-2016 (Bipole-1) and September-2017 (Bipole-2). BHEL has been associated with HVDC projects in India since their inception by establishing the first HVDC link in the country between Barsoor (Chhattisgarh) and Lower Sileru (Andhra Pradesh).
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: A solar rooftop power plant will be set up in the Goa legislative assembly complex in Porvorim. Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has invited tenders for design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the power plant, including operation and maintenance for five years. The 40 kWp grid-connected solar rooftop power plant will be set up on the third floor of the secretariat building at a cost of INR30 lakh. The grid-connected rooftop solar power plant will be connected on net metering basis, where the surplus power generated by the building will be supplied back to the power grid. Several state and central government departments, agencies and educational institutions have also set up solar power plants including GEDA, Goa University, PWD offices, NIT, MPT, and Raj Bhavan, among others.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh met his Danish counterpart Dan Jorgensen where both agreed on further engagement in renewable energy, especially offshore wind and green hydrogen. Both the ministers agreed to further engagement in renewable energy, especially offshore wind and green hydrogen, it said. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech has set a target of 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Both sides agreed to further their cooperation in renewable energy with a focus on offshore wind energy.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain inaugurated the city’s first urban microgrid system set up at Shivalik in Malviya Nagar that will save 115 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The microgrid (Solar + Battery) system is set up under the Indo-German Solar Partnership Project (IGSEP). The system is capable of ensuring continuous supply from solar and stored battery energy saving from any outages, power discom BSES said.
Source: The Economic Times
9 September: The state cabinet cleared two solar power projects that will be set up by Maharashtra State Power Generation Corporation (Mahagenco). The cabinet approved raising of funds for the projects — one of 187 MW and another of 390 MW. The project financing agreement for the 187 MW solar project was approved and a loan of up to INR5.88 bn will be taken from KFW-Bank, Germany. The agreement for these projects was approved on behalf of the state government, in coordination with the central Government and with the consent of the finance department. Similarly, for the 390 MW solar power projects, a loan of INR15.64 bn at an interest of 0.05 percent per annum was approved to be taken from KFW Bank, Germany.
Source: The Economic Times
9 September: ReNew Power said it has commissioned 250 MW capacity of its interstate transmission system solar generation project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. It will provide clean energy to Bihar at a rate of INR2.55 per unit and direct employment to about 600 people. The project has a total generation capacity of 300 MW which was won by ReNew Power in tranche-III of the competitive auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India. According to the company press, the remaining 50 MW capacity is expected to be commissioned by the end of this month.
Source: The Economic Times
8 September: Greenhouse gas emissions from residential, commercial and institutional buildings in Mumbai are estimated to go up 3.3 times by 2050, showed a recent analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) India. This, considering that power plants and buildings are responsible for over 60 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it said.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member Algeria plans to increase investment in its oil and gas sector by US$2.6 billion next year to boost production by 8.9 million tonnes (mt) of oil equivalent, Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said. Oil and gas investment in 2022 will total US$10 billion, up from US$7.4 billion this year, aiming to increase output to 195.9 mt of oil equivalent from 187 mt of oil equivalent, Benaberrahmane told parliament as he presented his government action plan. Algeria, which relies heavily on the energy sector, last year halved planned investment spending in oil and gas to US$7 billion to cope with financial pressure caused by a fall in global crude oil prices due to the pandemic. The government expects energy export earning to rise to US$33 billion this year from US$20 billion in 2020 after a rise in oil prices in international market. The action plan includes reforms to improve the investment climate mainly in the non-energy sector to help to reduce Algeria’s reliance on oil and gas which account for more than 90 percent of total export earnings and 60 percent of the state budget.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: Sudan expects to reach a long-term deal with Saudi Aramco for the supply of oil derivatives at preferential prices, and shipments of some products by the Saudi state oil producer have already begun, the Sudanese energy ministry said. Energy specialists from the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for energy in general, and the targeted agreement with Aramco would be intended at securing a “stable and sustainable” supply of oil derivatives for Sudan, the ministry said. The crisis has seen severe shortages of fuel and other basic commodities, though fuel shortages have eased recently.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: Goldman Sachs said Hurricane Ida had a larger impact on oil production than on refinery demand, causing a net “bullish” impact on US (United States) and global storage levels. The investment bank described the hit to US output as “historically large” and expects almost 40 million barrels of crude production to be lost, with challenges restarting the Mars stream likely until mid-October. US refiners are coming back faster than oil production, a reverse of past storm recoveries with just three of the nine refineries completely idled, accounting for about 7 percent of Gulf Coast refining, compared to shut-ins of two-thirds of oil output. The impact on refining has been broadly in line with prior hurricanes, the bank said, with about 1.5 million barrels per day still offline and the recovery likely to “follow the usual exponential pattern of the disruptions halving every 10 days.” Concerns over the output shut-in due to Ida, helped drive oil prices above US$70 a barrel, with Brent crude trading at US$73.39, and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at US$70.19. Goldman expects a peak demand impact only about 450,000 barrels per day from the hurricane, largely due to disruptions to downstream petrochemical plants in the Gulf of Mexico which account for a large share of petrochemical capacity.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) trimmed its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021 due to the Delta coronavirus variant, saying a further recovery would be delayed until next year when consumption will exceed pre-pandemic rates. The OPEC said in a report it expects oil demand to average 99.70 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 110,000 bpd from last month’s forecast. Governments, companies and traders are closely monitoring the speed that oil demand recovers from last year’s crash. A faster return, as predicted by OPEC, could boost prices and challenge the view that the impact of the pandemic may curb consumption for longer or for good. Oil was trading above US$73 a barrel after the report was released. Prices have risen over 40 percent this year, boosted by economic recovery hopes and OPEC+ supply cuts, although concern about the Delta variant has weighed. Despite the downward revision to the fourth-quarter, OPEC said world oil demand in the whole of 2021 would rise by 5.96 million bpd or 6.6 percent, virtually unchanged from last month. The growth forecast for 2022 was adjusted to 4.15 million bpd, compared to 3.28 million bpd in last month’s report and an estimate of 4.2 million bpd given by OPEC sources during the group’s last meeting on 1 September. With the latest changes, OPEC still has the highest demand growth figures among the three main oil forecasting agencies – itself, the US (United States) government and the International Energy Agency, an adviser to consuming nations which issues its latest report. The report showed OPEC output rose in August by 150,000 bpd to 26.75 million bpd, led by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. An involuntary cut in Nigeria reduced the scale of the supply boost.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: China said it will announce details of planned crude oil sales from strategic reserves in due course. The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration issued a four-sentence statement late announcing the country will for the first time sell state crude reserves via public auction. State oil refinery said that the government may pick key plants that have direct pipeline links to reserve bases for such auctions, but added they were not certain how the sales would be priced. China, which closely guards information about its emergency stockpile, had over the years sold some reserves to state refineries on an ad-hoc basis, with prices in line with prevailing market rates.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: US (United States) gas traders are anticipating a big increase in production over the next year as the industry responds to higher prices by ramping up drilling, which should ensure supplies are more plentiful in time for winter 2022/23. As a result, futures prices for deliveries at Louisiana’s Henry Hub in January 2023 are currently trading around $1.15 per million metric British thermal units (mmBtu) below prices for deliveries in January 2022. During the first phase of the epidemic, monthly US dry gas production slumped to just 75 billion cubic metres (bcm) in June 2020, down from a record 85 billion cubic metres in December 2019. The number of rigs targeting primarily gas-bearing formations slumped to less than 70, from more than 130, over a similar period, according to field services company Baker Hughes. Since then, however, there has been a slow but steady increase in both drilling and production in response to the recovery in gas prices. Front-month futures prices have climbed to more than $5.00 per mmBtu, the highest level for more than seven years, up from a low of less than $1.50 in June 2020. By June this year, production had already recovered to 79 billion cubic metres, while the active rig count had increased to just over 100 by early September. In the next few months, higher prices will draw even more rigs back into the gas market, leading to an increase in production from the second quarter and especially the third quarter of 2022. Higher production will also support an increase in exports next year to Europe and Asia, where the shortfall is even more severe, contributing to an improvement in gas supplies globally.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: China’s Sinopec Corp announced it has completed its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering operation in Weihai, a major seaport in the eastern Shandong province. The bunkering, or marine refuelling, operation transferred 250 tonnes of LNG by truck to a China Merchant Shipping vessel. The use of LNG as a marine fuel has been gaining traction amid a global push to reduce the shipping industry’s carbon emissions.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Global gas prices have climbed to their highest level for seven years in real terms, as traders anticipate a shortage this winter, with consumption rebounding more quickly than production from the pandemic slump last year. The global market is experiencing a classic but violent price cycle, with an unprecedented downturn in 2020, caused by the coronavirus epidemic and lockdowns, creating the conditions for a boom in 2021/22. Last year, volume-weighted global prices fell to their lowest annual level since 1995, after adjusting for inflation, according to the World Bank. As a result of the aggressive supply response, the emerging oversupply of gas had largely been brought under control by the end of 2020. The first indications that oversupply was being replaced by undersupply emerged at the start of 2021 when LNG (liquefied natural gas) prices spiked in Northeast Asia.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries have signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Russia’s Gazprom and its partners for a liquefied natural gas plant on the Baltic Sea, Gazprom said. Gazprom started construction of a massive gas processing complex on the shores of the Baltic Sea jointly with its partner RusGazDobycha in May. The cluster is designed to process annually 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas, produce 13 million tonnes (mt) of liquefied natural gas (LNG), 3.6 mt of ethane and up to 1.8 mt of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It is poised to become Russia’s largest gas processing plant and one of the world’s largest in terms of production volumes. Gazprom said Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries would provide the LNG plant design, supplies of equipments as well as construction.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: An Australian state court has upheld a decision to deny approval for South Korean power utility Kepco to develop a thermal coal mine in New South Wales state due, in part, to its impact on climate change. Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) sought to develop the Bylong Coal project, about 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Sydney, to mine up to 6.5 million tonnes (mt) of thermal coal annually for 25 years. But it lost its bid and the appeal court in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, ordered it to pay costs.
Source: The Economic Times
8 September: China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has banned an influential coal trading firm in the major coal mining region of Shaanxi province from publishing price assessments and market news, part of government efforts to regulate commodities markets and tame hot prices. The NDRC said Yulin Coal Trading Centre Corp was publishing untrue pricing information, and that the company was not authorised to collect, edit and publish news and information. The NDRC has shut down Yulin’s pricing indexes and two Wechat accounts it managed, and asked the firm not to publish any untrue coal market information on any channel. Yulin Coal Trading Centre Corp, founded in 2009, is mainly involved in physical coal trading, logistics and consulting business. Until the ban, it published daily spot coal prices for Yulin city and nearby regions. Coal production in Yulin accounts for about 13 percent of China’s total coal output. China’s coal prices are hovering near record highs, fuelled by concerns about tight supplies and strong demand. Several coal index providers, including Inner Mongolia Coal Trading Centre, stopped updating their prices recently.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: Energy group Eni and Atlantia’s airport unit Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) have signed an agreement to develop biofuel for aviation to fight climate change, the two Italian groups said. Airports operators and airlines are under pressure to contribute to the EU (European Union)’s goal to cut economy-wide net carbon emissions by 55 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels. In July, the European Commission proposed to force suppliers to blend a minimum of 2 percent of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into their kerosene from 2025, rising to 5 percent in 2030 and 63 percent in 2050. Eni has been converting its refineries in Italy to produce biofuels as part of its drive to become net carbon neutral by 2050. It produces Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil biofuel in its Venice and Gela bio-refineries using its own in-house technology and can also produce sustainable aviation fuel with the same technology from waste and plant-based raw materials. ADR said it would reach EU target of zero carbon emission in 2030, ahead of a 2050 target for European airports.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has connected the second unit of its Barakah nuclear power plant to the national power grid. The plant in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates making up the UAE and the nation’s capital, is the first nuclear power station in the Arab world and part of the Gulf oil producer’s efforts to diversify its energy mix. The unit has produced its first megawatt of electricity free of carbon emissions. Barakah’s Unit 1 was connected to the national power grid in August 2020. When completed Barakah, which is being built by Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), will have four reactors with 5,600 MW of total capacity – equivalent to around 25 percent of the UAE’s peak demand.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: BP’s head of low carbon and natural gas Dev Sanyal will leave the energy company at the end of the year, BP said, an unexpected departure at a time when BP seeks to rapidly grow its renewables business and shift away from oil. Sanyal, who joined BP 32 years ago, will be replaced by Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, who until recently was chief executive officer of RWE Renewables. She will join BP on 1 March 2022. In July 2020, Sanyal was appointed as head of natural gas and low carbon as part of a major company overhaul. He will hand over his responsibilities in the fourth quarter of 2021, BP said. The British and Indian national oversaw major investments in recent months, including in US (United States) and British offshore wind projects.
Source: The Economic Times
14 September: While legislators craft the details back in Washington, President Joe Biden is pitching his massive domestic spending package with a visit to a renewable energy lab in Colorado to highlight how the investments in clean energy in his massive spending package would help combat climate change. The trip to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Denver will cap off the president’s two-day swing to the West, and offer Biden the chance to continue linking the need to pass the massive spending package to the urgent threat posed by climate change. The climate provisions in Biden’s plans include tax incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, investments to transition the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and creation of a civilian climate corps. Biden has set a goal of eliminating pollution from fossil fuel in the power sector by 2035 and from the US (United States) economy overall by 2050.
Source: The Economic Times
13 September: The British government will announce the biggest round of its renewable energy scheme on Monday, hoping to build up enough extra offshore wind capacity to power about eight million homes. Under the so-called Contracts-for-Difference (CfD) scheme, qualifying projects are guaranteed a minimum price at which they can sell electricity, and renewable power generators bid for CfD contracts in a round of auctions. The scheme is part of Britain’s plans to cut emissions before it hosts the United Nations’ Climate Change conference, or COP26, in Scotland in November. The latest round provides 200 million pounds (US$277 million) to support offshore wind projects and 55 million pounds for emerging renewable technologies, the government said.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: House of Representatives Democrats unveiled details of a proposed US$150 billion payment program aimed at wringing greenhouse gas emissions out of the electricity sector, a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s plan to address climate change. The system would reward utilities that increase their production of power from low-emissions sources like solar, wind and hydro, and penalize those that do not, according to a document released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce outlining key provisions to be included in a US$3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Oil producer Oman warned that crude prices could soar to US$200 a barrel as it criticised the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s ambitions of halting new fossil fuel projects to combat climate change. The IEA called in May on for a halt to new investment in oil, gas and coal extraction in order to boost chances of holding down the dangerous rise in global temperatures. But Oman’s energy minister, Mohammed al-Rumhi, said such “unilateral recommendations” were not helpful. The criticism appeared aimed at the head of the IEA, Fatih Birol, who had urged countries in the Middle East and North Africa region to develop renewable energy.
Source: The Economic Times
10 September: Harvard University is ending its investments in fossil fuels, the school’s president Lawrence Bacow said, drawing praise from divestment activists who had long pressed the leading university to exit such holdings. President Lawrence Bacow said the school’s endowment had no direct investments in fossil fuel exploration or development companies as of June and will not make such investments in the future, “given the need to decarbonize the economy.” The university’s indirect investments in the fossil fuel industry “are in runoff mode,” he said. Recently valued at about US$42 billion, the most of any university, the school’s endowment has been under pressure for years from students, alumni and other activists to sell off its fossil fuel holdings as a way to slow climate change.
Source: The Economic Times
This is a weekly publication of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). It covers current national and international information on energy categorised systematically to add value. The year 2021 is the eighteenth continuous year of publication of the newsletter. The newsletter is registered with the Registrar of News Paper for India under No. DELENG / 2004 / 13485.
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