Energy India Blog

India Energy - What they say?

2006-08-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

I did a quick search of all the top consulting firms to see if they have any recent India-focussed energy/power reports (quite a frequent thing these days I must agree). Here is what I got..

PriceWaterhouseCooopers
India ranks 6 in the world electricity market, and plans to add 100GW by 2012 was sure the first thing I noticed.
India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) in knowledge partnership with PWC released a paper titled "Business Opportunities in Oil and Natural Gas' during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Jan 2006). The paper was a result of a study undertaken by PwC India Oil & Gas desk for IBEF focusing on business opportunities across the Oil & Gas value chain and an overview of the value chain viz. current developments and future scenarios for demand of oil and gas. The report seeks to strengthen investors’ confidence while looking at investment opportunities in Oil & Gas sector in India through success stories, key policy initiatives and the emerging scenario.

KPMG India
KPMG came out with the "India Energy Outlook" (2006). This report gives an overview of India's overall energy position in the world, followed by specific emphasis on the different sectors - coal, gas, nuclear energy, hydro, renewable sources, and finally reviews the present state of our electricity supply-demand situation.

Ernst & Young
Probabably the best coverage of the Indian market is done by EnY and I know that personally. Below are a few of their India/Asia focussed reports..
1. "Indian Electricity Sector - Opportunities and Challenges" - A one-page overview of the report that discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the Indian electricity sector.
2. "Indian Electricity Sector Guide" - The link provides a one-page overview of the guide. The guide that provides an overview of the electricity sector in India, the regulatory and taxation framework highlights investment opportunities available within the sector.
3. "Empowering the East & the North East" - A report on the present state of the electricity sector in the East and North East parts of India, with an emphasis for substantial investments to accommodate growing demand.
4. Strategies for Mitigating Fuel Crisis" - A one-page review of the final report, which analyses some of the options available to the Indian electricity sector as a whole, and their implications
5. "Gas Pricing & Regulation" - The final report provides an insight into the natural gas price mechanism and major reforms that have been initiated in this sector.
6. "Analysing the Growth of the Asian Market" (2004) - The final report highlights demand drivers and supply scenario for natural gas in Asia. The report also provides an insight into the Indian natural gas industry, looking at the existing regulatory framework and the future outlook for the NG industry.

Deloitte India
Nothing in public domain

Bain & Company
No relevant content

Please leave a comment if the link is broken and I will send you the report. Cheers!

Central Electricity Authority

2006-06-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

Kudos to the CEA for maintaining a very good website with lot of current information on the power sector in India.

Some interesting things that I read this past weekend and thought I would share include..

A draft plan of the National Electricity Plan covering ONLY TRANSMISSION
- The one thing I liked about the executive summary is the short history of transmission in India.
The pricing and the procedure to obtain the final document titled "Perspective Transmission Plan 2011-2012 (Volume I & II) is given here.

Daily Generation Overview
- An everyday overview of the total generation in India, with split done sectorwise, regionwise and based on generation from central/state/private utilities. It also has a the plant load factors, regionwise.

Monthly Review of Power Sector
- Absolute delight to read and infer figures. Neat titles, with just the tables.

.......and many more

Bonus: A good read from our very own TERI
Mycorrhized Jatropha: Seeds of Sustainability

Emission Legislation - Pramod Panchanathan

2006-06-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

By a good friend/collegue of mine..

Emission legislation: Is carbon trading an Easy Way out?
– Pramodh Panchanadam (2005)

In the era of sustainable operations and growth momentums, emission legislations play an important role by being checks and balances of the system. The United States being the largest producer and consumer of energy has an effective role in this. But, with President Bush do away of federal monitoring systems and the Kyoto protocol; it has become the prerogative of individual states/organizations and the preachers of sustainability, to show some action in regulation of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission through self regulation and advocation of best practice methods. State Governments for a sustainable economic growth have started imbibing strict emission regulations but the effects of regulation has been interpreted by authors on one end as a driving force for innovation and efficacy in industries; but on the other as an instigating tool of increased cost.

Action in terms of state based federal self-regulation and emission control is presently through the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCE). The mission and vision of CEC is to provide members both from private and public sectors with cost-effective methods for reducing their GHG emissions through building and operating a market-based emission reduction and trading program. The member group operates on a cap-and-trade system at trading prices between $1.15 and $1.35 per Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI) with the base year as 2003. Compliance is through internal reductions, purchase of allowances by members facing emission limitations from others, or purchase of credits from Emission Reduction (ER) projects that meet specific criteria.

But, emission reduction programs / tradables are not “region specific”; by that we mean ER programs are not run at the point of pollution but at “convenient locations” and so are tradables. It can be better explained by the following example (Figure 1). Consider, a Thermal power plant A with X amount of excess over emission regulation; it has the option of,
a) Buying the emission tradable certificates for the excess X (or)
b) Investing in a ER project / renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to provide a sink for excess X
The problem with the scenarios depicted is, they are not region specific; that is, the tradeables or the ER program can be bought/done from any member with no criteria on region of actual pollution control, thus providing no benefits for the stakeholders in the pollution region. This is like “outsourcing” the Pollution Control instead of regulating it at point of pollution.

The future scenario should involve
a) Providing subsidiary and Tax incentives to innovative preventive pollution systems, rather then providing subsidiary across the board for RPS systems.
b) Broader system scope involving pollution abatement technologies executed at point of pollution with stakeholders involvement
c) Basic GHG policy agreeable to all regions at the national level to create universal standards of operation.

As Thomas. L. Friedman puts it as the movement of the herd in his book, “Lexus and the Olive Tree”; one section is looking in to how to abate pollution through innovative technologies and sustainable policies (the Lexus) while, others are involved in stagnant polices involved in subsidized RPS and outsourced carbon sequestering.

External Link: Indian Electricity Sector as of today

2006-04-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Statistics from the horse's mouth

Biggest Biofuels Production Project

2006-02-04T01:28:00.000-08:00

British Petroleum (BP) and TERI have joined hands to undertake India's biggest Biofuels production project.

Total cost estimate: $9.4 million
Estimated period: 10 years
Land area: 8000 hectares
Location: Andhra Pradesh
Sponsor: British Petroleum (100%)
Bio-diesel source: Jatropha Carcus
Expected biodiesel: 9 million litres/year

Update: Asia-Pacific Clean Development and Climate Partnership

2006-01-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

Kyoto Alternative Kicks off in Australia
http://www.modernpowersystems.com/story.asp?storycode=2033553

This was previously covered in this blog

Akshay Urja Shops

2006-01-13T03:33:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) has been promoting the establishment of Aditya Solar Shops in major cities of the country with a view to make solar energy products easily available and to provide after sales repair and maintenance services. From the year 2005-06 the Ministry of Non conventional Energy sources has renamed the shops as “Akshay Urja Shops” with a view to cover wider sale service of all renewable energy devices and systems including solar energy products. So far 81 shops have been established in 28 States/UTs.

Under the new solar energy scheme (which includes Akshay Urja shops) under the direction of the MNES, the network of the shops is being expanded by encouraging private entrepreneurs and NGOs to set up and operate such shops in all districts of the country. Applicants are eligible to avail loans upto Rs. 10 lakhs through designated banks banks for establishment of the shops at an interest rate of 7%. In addition, recurring grant & incentive linked with turnover upto Rs. 10,000 per month (subject to certain conditions) during the first two years of operation will also be available. The scheme will be operated through State Nodal Agencies and IREDA.

An Annexure from the MNES lists down the financial support/incentives in the solar energy programme, including 'Akhay Urja' shops.

Check out the September-October 2005 issue of Akshay Urja - newsletter of the MNES. Archives of the same newsletter can be obtained here.

2004: Power Sector Rating of SEBs

2005-12-22T02:10:00.000-08:00

ICRA / CRISIL have been mandated by the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) at the instance of the Ministry of Power (MoP) to carry out a performance rating of the state power sector (State Electricity Boards) across all states. The initial report, which was finalised based primarily on the information available/made available till August 2002, was released in January 2003. The current exercise is the first surveillance of the rating and is based on data available till mid August 2003 for some states and end August, 2003 for some other states. The parameters used for the rating exercise have undergone a few changes compared to the original exercise. Hence both the original and the revised weightages for the parameters have been listed below.

Parameter Original/Revised
External 40/30
- State Government Parameters 20/17
- SERC Related Parameters 20/13
Internal 60/70
- Business Risk Analysis 25/27
Generation 6/6
Transmission & Distribution 19/21
- Financial Risk Analysis 30/23
Others 5/5
Progress in attaining commercial viability NA/15

Based on overall scores, the top 15 states/SEBs are..
1. Delhi - 57
2. Andhra Pradesh - 56.5
3. Goa - 52.2
4. Karnataka - 51.25
5. Gujarat - 50.99
6. Haryana - 49.63
7. Punjab - 46
8. Himachal Pradesh - 44.16
9. Uttar Pradesh - 41.85
10. Rajastan - 41.83
11. West Bengal - 40.89
12. Tamil Nadu - 39.63
13. Maharashtra - 37.75
14. Uttaranchal - 37.75
15. Kerala - 34.25

Based on scores against government parameters, the rankings are..
1. Haryana
2. Delhi
3. Goa
4. Gujarat
5. Karnataka
6. Uttar Pradesh

Based on scores against SERC parameters, the rankings are..
1. Delhi
2. Andhra Pradesh
3. Uttar Pradesh
4. Haryana
5. Karnataka
6. Tamil Nadu

Based on scores against generation parameters, the rankings are..
1. Karnataka
2. Rajastan
3. Himachal Pradesh
4. Uttaranchal
5. Andhra Pradesh
6. Punjab

Based on scores against transmission & distribution, the rankings are..
1. Kerala
2. Andhra Pradesh
3. Himachal Pradesh
4. Goa
5. Tamil Nadu
6. Gujarat

Based on scores against financial risk analysis, the rankings are..
1. Delhi
2. Goa
3. Gujarat
4. Andhra Pradesh
5. Uttaranchal
6. Karnataka

Based on scores against commercial viability, the rankings are..
1. Goa
2. West Bengal
3. Gujarat
4. Himachal Pradesh
5. Punjab
6. Maharashtra

Apart from extended rankings in each of the above categories, there is also an annexure explaining the rationale behind the overall ranking card. This annexure has a brief analysis of all the 28 states individually.

2005-12-07T00:26:00.000-08:00

From the Power Globe archives..

-----

A few weeks ago I asked about residential prices for electricity and gas service. Thank you to all those who responded. I have finally found time to collate the responses.My first conclusion is that the price of natural gas is currently so volatile that comparison, based on a single snapshot, is rather meaningless. Comparison is further complicated by the many 'standard' units of measurement. I have therefore not attempted to compare gas prices.Regarding electricity service, there are many variations in tariff structures.

To draw a simple comparison, I have assumed a 30 day month, and a monthly usage of 550kWh. (I believe this is somewhere around average monthly use for a family in the US. Of course such a figure will differ greatly from location to location.)

These figures gave the following comparison:

Location Monthly Total (in US $)
Tokyo, Japan 97.43
Baden, Switzerland 86.58
Oakland, CA 83.37
MGE, Madison, WI 77.66
UK 77.50
Tallahassee, FL 73.30
TXU, TX 71.38
UK (renewable rate) 71.12
Entergy Gulf States Louisiana 69.87
Powergen (London) 68.18
Entergy Louisiana 66.64
Nepal 62.75
Mississippi 62.45
Unitil, Hampton, NH 62.37
Newfoundland, Canada 61.07S
alt River 58.05
Scottsdale, AZ 55.00
Tucson, AZ 55.00
Costa Rica 54.95
Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) 54.92
Croatia 54.84
ntario, Canada 53.06
ComEd, IL 52.64
AmerenIP, Champaign, IL 51.69
Country Energy (Australia) 51.38
Arkansas 50.51
Otsego, Hartwwick, NY 49.25
Public Service of Colorado 49.02
Ames, IA 47.45
Manhattan, KS 45.65
Chennai, India 45.65
Eskom, South Africa 41.50
Unitil, NH 41.49
Alabama Power 40.21
Gainesville, FL 34.04
Sao Paulo, Brazil 33.78
India 30.25

From a personal perspective, it's interesting to see that MGE, our local energy company in Madison, has one of the highest rates in the world. And they have just been granted an 11% increase (not included here).

In drawing conclusions from the above data, please keep in mind this survey is quite unofficial, and in no way rigorous.

Regards,Ian
Professor
Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Wisconsin - Madison

-----------

p.s: just thought i could put it on the blog cuz i participated in this survey and found it interesting to see India having the least electricity rates, and the city I live in (Chennai) seems to hover in the mid-range!

Differing Viewpoints: India's Electricity Reforms

2005-09-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

This is what Frontline wrote about the Delhi power strike in its Sep 10-23rd issue. A wonderful analysis..
* A major issue highlighted in the protests over the tariff hike was that while tariffs had risen significantly, the power situation in the capital was yet to improve. Another important issue was "meter terrorism". Over the past three years, the Tata-owned NDPL and the Reliance Group-owned BSES companies had changed electricity meters across the city. While the DISCOMs claimed that the new meters reduced power leakage and loss, residents alleged that the meters were faulty and the electricity bills shot up after they were installed. The prospect of being forced to pay an additional 10 per cent galvanised the middle class into action.

*The protest against the tariff hike was noteworthy for several reasons, including its methods, strategies and participants. Unlike most protests, it was not led by any political party.

*The fires of protest were kindled by a number of prominent Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), which asked its members to refuse to pay the additional 10 per cent and urged other citizens of Delhi to follow suit. While effectively deploying the ideas of "civil disobedience" and "people's power", the RWAs used the media as the primary means of exerting pressure on the Government. After a protracted struggle, the government relented.

*It is important to note that the protest was a middle-class and upper-middle-class movement and not a "mass movement" as described by certain sections of the media. Most of the RWAs represented regions inhabited by the wealthy, such as Defence Colony, Greater Kailash and Panchsheel Park, and had well-defined and narrow interests.

* People's Action is a lobby group for middle-class interests and feels that "vote-bank politics" has ensured that the middle class has been marginalised. The middle-class background of the participants is a major reason why the protest received the media support that it did. Another important point is that the RWAs are not calling for an end to privatised power distribution. They are asking for enhanced competition through open access and better results.

Ok, here are the good numbers..
1. Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in the NDPL sectors are down from 48.1 per cent in 2002 to 33.79 per cent in 2004-05.
2. BSES Yamuna, the worst-performing DISCOM, has reduced losses from 57.2 per cent to 50.12 per cent
3. The percentage of required power shedding has come down to 0.85 per cent - the lowest since 1991.

Bad numbers..
1. An examination of the Aggregate Revenue Requirements (ARR) filed by BSES Radhani and Yamuna show that the Reliance Group filed for an ARR of Rs.1,400 crores and Rs.1,165 crores respectively, against NDPL's ARR of Rs.361.11 crores. In its response, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority (DERA) sanctioned only Rs.477 crores and Rs.446 crores for the two companies. While this is not evidence of corruption per se, it illustrates that the DISCOMs are a far cry from the efficient, thrifty corporates that the government imagined them to be. (The ARR is a detailed account of a DISCOM's proposed expenses for a year. It includes the money required for power purchase from the transmission company, administrative and general expenses, capital investment and a 16 per cent return on equity. Given the revenue requirement of the DISCOM, and taking into account the subsidy provided by the government for a given year, the DERA sets the tariff for the year.)

* It may be true that less power is lost and load shedding has been reduced significantly. However, privatisation was sold as the silver bullet to Delhi's power woes. Predictably, performance has failed to meet expectations. This, coupled with faulty meters and rising tariffs, could be why the public reacted the way it did.

* While the RWAs and the DISCOMs continue their public blood feud, the real story has been buried under a heap of performance targets. The essential problem with the public discourse on power sector reforms is that it has adopted the language of the DISCOMs. An evaluation of reforms purely on the basis of systemic parameters such as loss reduction, load shedding percentage, and transformer failure frequency glosses over some harsh truths.

* In their paper, "Impact of power sector reform on poor: A case study of South and South East Asia" (TERI Project Report No. 2002 RT 45), A.R. Sihag, Neha Misra and Vivek Sharma illustrate how privatisation of power distribution in Orissa, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh has caused a dramatic reduction in the poorer sections' access to and consumption of power. The study says, "[In Orissa] it is observed that the electrification levels for the non-poor have increased, whereas electrification levels for the poor have gone down in the post-reform period. The electrification levels for the non-poor have increased from 47.60% in 1999-2000 to 56.06 in 2001-02, whereas electrification levels for the poor have decreased from 3.67% to 3.31% in the same period." Similar trends were observed in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

* To understand why the reform process reduces access to electricity, one must examine how the poor gain access to it in the first place. In Delhi, power can only be supplied to residential areas deemed "authorised" by the local municipal council; "un-authorised colonies" exist outside the formal power supply network. These colonies cannot get access to power even if they are willing to pay for it. Thus, a poor person who cannot afford to live in an authorised colony is expected to forfeit any claim to water, electricity or any other state-sponsored service. Such a system would be untenable if it were not for quasi-legal interactions between the residents of an unauthorised settlement and the local municipal machinery. Under a state-owned network, a certain grey area of legality is established whereby the poor are offered minimal access. However, once the network is privatised, these informal arrangements are not recognised and access is immediately denied. Another reason for reduced access is that post-reform tariff hikes force many existing customers to terminate their connections. The third possible reason is that private companies are reluctant to invest in areas where the return on investment is low.

* This does not mean that the only means to supply power to low-income groups is through illegal networks of tapping and theft. Instead, the message is that reform in such essential sectors is meaningless unless supported by a parallel system of entitlements. A good example is documented by the TERI report. In the Philippines, private participation in the power sector was accompanied by legislation that mandated the expansion of power services to the rural areas and compulsory levying of a universal charge for meeting the subsidy requirement for the electrification of homes of the poor. Unfortunately, the Indian Electricity Act, 2003, while imposing strict penalties on power theft, contains no specific provisions dealing with the economically weak sections.

* In a lecture titled "The Three Rs of Reform", the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen suggests that every reform process be evaluated on the basis of three parameters - reach, range and reason. He explains that each process should be assessed on the basis of the sections of society it would affect, the ways and means by which it would affect change, and the reason for such a change. Not only must the end result of a reform process be "person-related", but the means also must be so. If these parameters were to be applied to the power sector reforms in Delhi, the results are rather disturbing.

The Economist magazine (article here, subscription required) has an article about India's poor electricity generation.
"Last month, Delhi's middle class made a huge fuss about paying a 10% increase in residential electricity, because they say they should not have to pay first world electricity prices for third-world service. Only 56% of India's households have a connection to the grid, and even less in rural areas. Over the past 10 years, electricity generation in India has grown at an annual rate of 5.5%, but peak demand exceeded supply by 11.3% in 1998 and by 12.1% last year. When electricity is available, it is not reliable (in some locations it is only available a couple of hours a day) and it is unusable for industry. Industry has survived by building its own generating capabilities. Despite this, India's economy has been growing at an average of more than 6% for the last 15 years. The government realizes that they need to improve their electricity generation and have set goals of reaching every village by 2008 and every household by 2012. The problem is that India's state electricity boards poured too much money (90% of investment) into generation and transmission instead of distribution. The price of making electricity more reliable is pegged at $10-15 billion per year, and India has not been successful at attracting outside investment (a 2200MW power plant built by Enron which lasted for only 3 years was their largest failure). India has so far planned to build up their nuclear power by 1 new reactor every year until 2020."

Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

2005-09-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Typed it all and lost the content...Grrr!

Please check the Rurual Electrficaton Corporation Limited website for more information.

EnY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices

2005-08-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

The Ernst andYoung Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices Summer 2005 is a set of indices that provide scores for national renewable energy markets, renewable energy infrastructure and their suitability for individual technologies for countries around the world. The indices provide score out of 100 and are updated periodically.

Now to the Indices and the rankings..

Long-Term Indices - The Long-Term Indices are forward looking and take a long-term view of the renewable energy technologies. The overall rankings of countries is based on individual indices that combine to form the All Renewables Index. The All Renewable Index is a combination of four different technology indices, each carrying a specific weightage - Wind Index (85%), Solar Index (5%), Biomass & Other Resources (includes small hydro, landfill gas, wave, tidal and geothermal technologies) Index, and Renewables Infrastructure Index (10%). Each of these Technology Indices in turn consider, on a weighted basis - Power Offtake Attractiveness (19%), Tax Climate (11%), Grant/Soft Loan Availability (9%), Market Growth Potential (18.5%), Current Installed base (8%), Resource Quality (19%) and Project Size (15.5%).

Rankings based on the All Renewable Index
1. Spain - 68
2. USA - 67
3. UK - 66
4. Germany - 65
5. Portugal - 58
6. France - 57
7. Italy - 56
8. Ireland - 56
9. India - 55
10. Netherlands - 53
..

Rankings based on Long-Term Solar Index
1. USA - 72
2. Germany - 70
3. Spain -67
4. France - 57
5. Italy - 57
6. Portugal - 55
7. Australia - 55
8. Austria - 54
9. India - 51
10. Greece - 51
..

Rankings based on Long-Term Biomass & Other Resources Index
1. Spain - 64
2. USA - 64
3. UK - 60
4. Sweden - 58
5. Germany - 57
6. France - 56
7. Portugal - 53
8. Italy - 51
9. Denmark - 48
10. Ireland - 47
..
*India - 41*

Rankings based on Renewables Infrastructure Index
The Renewables Infrastructure Index is an assessment by country of the general regulatory infrastructure for renewable energy. On a weighted basis, the index comprises - Electricity Market Regulatory Risk (29%), Planning and Grid Connection Issues (42%) and Access to Finance (29%).
1. Spain - 73
2. UK - 71
3. Portugal - 64
4. USA - 63
5. Ireland - 63
6. Denmark - 63
7. Italy - 59
8. Netherlands - 57
9. Canada - 56
10. Greece - 56
..
*India - 51*

Long-Term Wind Index - The Long-Term Wind Index combines a weightage of 70% of the Onshore Wind Index and 30% of the Offshore Wind Index. Each of these indices comprises 35% of the Renewables Infrastructure Index and 65% of Technology Factors.

Rankings based on the Long-Term Wind Index
1. Spain - 68
2. UK - 68
3. USA - 67
4. Germany - 65
5. Portugal - 58
6. France - 58
7. Ireland - 58
8. India - 57
9. Italy - 56
10. China - 56.
..

Near-Term Wind Index - The Near-Term Wind Index takes a two-year view based on the parameters of most concern to a typical investor looking to make an investment in the near-term. The Index on a weighted basis comprises - Power Offtake Attractiveness (27%), Tax Climate (8%), Resource Quality (14%), Market Growth Potential (40%) and Project Size (11%).

Rankings based on the Near-Term Wind Index
1. Spain
2. USA
3. Germany
4. India
5. UK
6. Italy
7. France
8. Portugal
9. China
10. Canada
..

Data: Evaluation of Power Distribution System

2005-08-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

I came across an interesting set of data in the Central Electricity Authority's website. The table ranks the performance of power distribution system of distribution companies (DISCOMs)/ state electricity boards (SEBs) for the month of March 2005 of 22 urban agglomerations, with population more than 8 lakhs. Among the notable cities not in the list - Banglore, Mumbai City, Pune (due to non-furnishing of information).
The evaluation has been done based on the average number of trippings per feeder and the outage duration per tripping for 11 KV system.

Based on number of trippings per feeder
1. Kolkata (WB) - 0.13
2. Surat (Guj) - 0.16
3. Mumbai (Mah suburbs) - 0.31
4. Ahmedabad (Guj) - 0.34
5. Vishakapatnam (AP) - 0.64
6. Delhi (provider: NDPL)- 1.11
..

Based on outage (in minutes) duration per tripping
1. Jabalpur (MP) - 6.43
2. Coimbatore (TN) - 6.83
3. Chennai (TN) - 9.52
4. Mulund (Mah) - 9.73
5. Kochi (Kerala) - 12.19
6. Trichy (TN) - 14.93

What I was actually looking for was some data on inadequate capacity in feeder lines between newer generation centers (wind energy, etc) and load centers. The interest was sparked off by an article in The Hindu earlier this month.

Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate

2005-08-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

In the recently concluded 12th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Vientiane, an important international agreement was reached among some leading countries in the world. The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP4CDC) comprises Australia, United States, China, India, Japan and South Korea. This agreement is in line with the Kyoto Protocol in combatting climate change, however, the partnership does not enforce mandatory limits for greenhouse emissions. The limits are self-mandated but important considering the founding countries account for around half of global greenhouse emissions. ASEAN countries are not yet part of this partnership.

An article regarding the new Partnership and a small comparison to the Kyoto Protocol can be read here. Quoting from the article..
'..the Asia-Pacific partnership recognises the unique needs of both developing nations and resources-supplying countries. It does not seek to mandate emission targets on disparate national jurisdictions and societies but seeks to promote clean energy technologies appropriate to them. And it proposes to allow a "clean development mechanism" and the workings of competitive clean energy source pricings to respond to national and international market forces.
This ensures that climate change is minimised and sustainable development aspirations are maximised without heavy impacts on national economies.'

Except for the short short vision statement, not many details are available at this time.

Relevant links..
Wikipedia - APP4CDC

Please also check a short discussion about APP4CDC in worldchanging.com. Although I have my own apprehensions (unfair at this point of time!!), I would like to see something positive come out of it.

India: Power Sector Rating

2005-08-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

I came across a report titled "Power Sector Rating: Consolidated Report to the Ministry of Power", from the Ministry of Power - Govt. of India. This report gives the performance rating of the state power sector across all the states in India. The standings from data based until December 2004 is as follows:
1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Gujarat
3. Delhi
4. Karnataka
5. Tamil Nadu
6. Goa
...

p.s: not enough time to write a review/brief about the report!!

Plus: Also check out a wonderful speech given by P. K. Pachuri (Director-General, TERI) at the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) Annual Meeting at Cambridge, MA in March 2005.

Kyoto Protocol: Clean Development Mechanism

2005-08-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is presented as Article 12 in the Kyoto Protocol. To put it simply..
'The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the two project-based flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. These mechanisms are designed to make it easier and cheaper for industrialised countries to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets that they agreed to under the Protocol. The CDM is also mandated to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development.'

India Slant:
Chapter IV of the white paper 'Financing Sustainable Development with the Clean Development Mechanism' (edited by Duncan Austin and Paul Faeth of the WRI) is titled 'India: CDM Oppurtunities and Benefits'. This part (dated March 2000) was written by Milind Pathak, Leena Srivastava and Sudhir Sharma of TERI. The study presents a preliminary prioritization of CDM projects in India based on a ranking scheme called the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP).

An interesting e-book titled 'Sustainability Check-Up for CDM Projects' (2003) by Christoph Sutter provides a systematic overview of various approaches to assess the sustainability of CDM projects. The methodology - Multi-Attributive Assessment of CDM (MATA-CDM) - evaluates CDM projects by means of 12 clearly defined criteria. The methodology has been tested in case studies in India and South Africa and Uruguay. Pages (121-166) in the above mentioned e-book analyses a particular type of CDM project in India - the biomass power generation in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

In an article early this year in The Financial Express, Dr. P. C. Maithani, Director - MNES, Govt. of India, discusses the impact of CDM on the Indian industry (eight years after the Kyoto Protocol). The author concludes..
'In a nutshell, CDM fails on all the promised fronts of technology transfer, FDI flows and carbon money.'

Relevant Sites:
CDM Home
CDM Watch
CDM Capacity
Prototype Carbon Fund
National CDM Authority
CDM India
CDM - TERI India
CDM - Winrock India

Update: 'Why Kyoto Protocol was dead in the Water?'

Publications:

2005-08-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Akshaya Urja - Official newsletter of the MNES, Govt. of India
The Bulletin on Energy Efficiency - Official newsletter of IREDA Ltd.

Books: Energy Policy for India

2005-08-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Energy Policy of India: Towards Sustainable Energy Security in India in the Twenty First Century by Dr. S. K. Chopra
Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd New Delhi; 2004; ISBN 81-204-1604-X

Dr. S. K. Chopra is Senior Adviser in the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. He was formerly a Young Professional in World Bank and subsequently served the Government of India in the Planning Commission.

The only review of the book I found was by Dr. P. C. Maithani (Director, MNES) in the Akshaya Urja newsletter (p. 40).

Solar Water Heaters - Soft loans

2005-08-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking into programs by the MNES in encouraging 'common people' to invest in non-conventional sources of energy. The Ministry has been supporting solar water heater (SWH) initiatives as part of its Tenth Five Year Plan (valid till 31/3/2007) under the Interest Subsidy Scheme.

Notes..
* The scheme is open to end-users (individuals, cooperative housing societies, non-commercial organizations), intermediaries and commerical organizations through two different sources:
1. IREDA, and 2. Banks and Financial Institutions (Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Punjab & Sind Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Punjab National Bank)
* Rates of Interest:
IREDA - 7% for commercial organizations, 4.5% for intermediaries lending to commercial organizations, 5% for end-users, 2.5% for intermediaries lending to end users
Banks and FIs: 5% for individuals
* Loan Amount covered:
IREDA - Upto 80% of the cost of the project as apprised by IREDA
Banks and FIs: Upto 85% of the cost of the system
* Supported Technologies:
1. Flat Plate Collectors (FPC) based SWH, and 2. Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) based SWH
* Eligible Suppliers Information (Govt. Approved):
1. FPC based SWH - 83 manufacturers, and 2. ETC based SWH - 4 manufacturers (Detailed information on each supplier is available in the Ministry website)
* Cost Estimates:
FPC based SWH:
1 collector sytem-100 litres capacity-Rs. 18000
2 collectors system-200 litres-Rs. 35000
3 collectors system-300 litres-Rs. 50000
...
ETC based SWH:
75 litres-11 tubes-Rs. 14500
100 litres-14 tubes-Rs. 18000
200 litres-28-Rs. 35000
...
(Please check the Minsitry's site for more cost estimates)
* Maintenance guarentee: (for both IREDA and Bank loans)
Suppliers will be responsible for maintenance of the systems for 5 years and it will form part of unit cost to be financed by the banks as per above guidelines.

Relevant Information:
* All information from the Ministry's site is as of September 2003. So please verify all information.
Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources,
Block-14, C.G.O. Complex,
Lodhi Road,New Delhi 110003, India.
Phone No. : 91 - 011 - 4361604
Fax No. : 91 - 011 - 4361604
E-mail : dirmnes@ren02.nic.in
* Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd.,
India Habitat Centre Complex, Core-4A, East Court, Ist Floor,
Lodi Road, New Delhi – 110 003.
Tel: 24682214-21
Fax: 24682202
E-mail: mdireda@rediffmail.com
Website: http://www.iredaltd.com/

Plus: Motto of the MNES - "Gaon-Gaon Bijali, Ghar-Ghar Prakash" (translates to 'electricity and light to every village' in India)
Plus: National Renewable Energy Day - August 20

Microbial Fuel Cells

2005-08-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

An article in any science journal/magazine/newspaper that talks about new ways to produce/harness electricity (preferably 'cheap') definitely grabs my attention. And a recent article in the EETimes talked about harnessing electricity from wastewater. This time, it is from the lab of Chemical engineering Professor Lars Angenent @ Washington University, St. Louis. To simply put it in one sentence..

"Angenent's microbial fuel cell design uses the bacteria from wastewater on its anode and cathode instead of platinum, enabling it to make a fuel from the water to create electricity while simultaneously neutralizing the biological matter that would otherwise have to be purged from the water. "

For the scientific types - please visit Angenent's lab and browse through some of his work available as full texts.

Quoting from the same article..

"Angenent has applied for a patent on the stacked microbial fuel cell design and received preliminary funding from Washington University to scale up the device. The university hopes to license it commercially to existing companies or to fund its own startup."

AAh!way to go..

Relevant MFC research links..
Professor Bruce Logan's research team @ Penn State
Geobacter Project @ UMass-Amherst

Some interesting (technical) reads include..
"Electricity generation by direct oxidation of glucose in mediatorless microbial fuel cells" by Swades K Chaudhuri and Derek R Lovley.
"Electricity production by Geobacter sulfurreducens attached to electrodes" by Daniel R Bond and Derek R Lovley.
"Production of bioenergy and biochemicals from industrial and agricultural wastewater" by Largus T Angenent et al.
"Electricity generation from artificial wastewater using an upflow microbial fuel cell" by Zhen He, Shelley D Minteer and Largus T Angenent.
"Harnessing microbially generated power on the seafloor" by Leonard M Tender et al.

India Slant: (Non-MFC news..)
Just last year, Professor Ajay K Sood @ IISc (along with his doctoral student Shankar Ghosh) demonstrated that an electric current and a voltage difference can be generated merely by flowing a common gas like oxygen, argon or nitrogen over a doped semiconductor.
Quoting from Dr. Sood's paper titled "Direct generation of a voltage and current by gas flow over nanotubes and semiconductors"..

"We report here a direct generation of measurable voltages and currents when a gas flows over a variety of solids even at the modest speed of a few meters per second. The underlying mechanism is an interesting interplay of Bernoulli's principle and the Seebeck effect: Pressure differences along streamline give rise to temperature differences across the sample; these in turn produce the measured voltage. The electrical signal is quadriatically dependent on the Mach number M and proportional to the Seebeck coefficient of the solids. Results are presented for doped Si and Ge, single wall and multiwall carbon nanotubes, and graphite. Our results show that gas flow sensors and energy conversion devices can be constructed based on direct generation of electrical signals."

A Business World India article rightly put the commercial aspect of the 'Sood Effect'..

"Sood's discovery can be used to generate electricity. You could bundle several wires, and all of them would produce currents that can be added up and transmitted. Windmills generate power from winds, but Sood's technique needs no moving parts. You can put wires wherever there is a gas flow, and generate electricity. The current is proportional to the speed of the flowing gas, so the principle can be used to measure velocity directly. Velocity sensors form a multibillion dollar market. It is not out of place to mention that IISc has filed a patent application in the Patent Cooperation Treaty."

Some relevant reads..
"Carbon nanotube sensors" by Shankar Ghosh, A K Sood and N Kumar.

For readers with a non-Science background..
Bernoullis' theorem (Basic, Advanced)
Seebeck Effect
Semiconductors (doping, etc explained too)

Snippet: "Use a 10-Kilowatt Brain"
A research student of Physics was conducting an experiment using an one-kilowatt power X-ray tube. On hearing that a scientist in England was experimenting on the same problem with a five-kilowatt X-ray tube, he grew dejected. When his Professor got to know of this, he walked up to the student and with supreme confidence and a smile, said: "There is a very simple solution: use a 10-kilowatt brain on the problem.” Professor Chandrashekhar Venkata Raman was speaking from experience. He had won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930, with simple equipment barely worth Rs 300 (approx $7), for the famous 'Raman Effect'.

Bhutan: Hydro-Power

2005-07-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is the only Democratic Monarchy in the World. In the late 1980s, Bhutan's University of Oxford-educated king famously asserted that gross national happiness (GNH) was more important than gross national product (GNP), and yes, he meant it seriously!! An interesting assessment of the Kingdom's recent modernization plans and its impact on the culture can be read at TechReview.

However, what really interests me is how it is self-sufficient in its energy demands (although not too much consumption!!) using ONLY hydro-power.
Here are some facts..
* Bhutan’s total electricity output from the major hydro-power projects as of September 2004 stands at 445 MW.
* Total domestic consumption is 105 MW.
* Bhutanese currency is the ngultrum (Nu). The approximate exchange rate is Nu 42 for one US dollar. The ngultrum is on par with the Indian rupee (both the Nu and Indian Rupee can be used in Bhutan).
* The hydroelectricity power sector is the single biggest revenue earner of Bhutan. This is achieved by exporting excess power to India. According to the government sources, by the year 2006, Bhutan would be exporting about 6,400 MUs of power annually. The revenue from hydropower projects along with earnings from the other traditional revenue sources could reach about Nu. 15 billion annually.
* Bhutan’s hydro-electricity power potential is estimated at over 30,000 MW. Out of which, safe and exploitable water resources potential are estimated at 16,000 MW.
* The major hydro-power projects in Bhutan are -
1.Chukha (fully operational) 2.Tala (under construction), 3.Kurichhu (commissioned in 2002), 4.Basochhu (commissioned in 2005), 5.Punatsangchhu (MoU signed)

Related Links:
Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan Power Corporation
Department of Tourism - Bhutan
Bhutan News Online
The Centre for Bhutan Studies
Embassy of India, Bhutan
CIA World Fact Book - Bhutan

Update: Other countries with more than 90% hydro-power of the total installed capacity include Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Paraguay, Zambia, Norway, Congo, Cameroon, Albania, Lesotho, Tadjikstan, Brazil, Georgia and Nepal. Hydro-power share in India's total capacity is around 26%.

Wind Power Evaluation

2005-07-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

For wind energy enthusiasts, here is a cool study (first time supposedly) of the wind power potential in the world. The paper is titled "Evaluation of Global Wind Power" and authored by Christina L. Archer and her advisor Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University.

India Slant:
To know more about wind power potential, operators, existing systems, recent news, etc. in India, please visit WindPowerIndia (a website that has been operational since 2000). A list of states that have wind power installed capacity (as of March 31, 2004) include..
1.Tamil Nadu - 2036.9 MW, 2.Maharashtra - 456.3 MW, 3.Karnataka - 410.7 MW, 4.Rajastan - 284.8 MW, 5.Gujarat - 253.5 MW, 6.Andhra Pradesh - 120.6 MW, 7.Madhya Pradesh - 28.9 MW, 8.Kerala - 2.0 MW, 9.West Bengal - 1.1 MW
Total Installed Capacity = 3594.8 MW

Here are some facts..
* World-wide installed wind-power capacity at the end of March 2005 reached 50,630 MW. India attained the fourth position by superseding Denmark. The first five countries are..
1.Germany (17000 MW), 2.Spain (8959 MW), 3.USA (7000 MW), 4.India (3595 MW), 5.Denmark (3115 MW)
(Source : Wind Power Monthly, July 2005)
* With 2037 MW installed capacity, wind power in Tamil Nadu is now 18% of total installed capacity of 11113 MW by all sources as on March 31, 2005.
* A good number of wind turbine manufacturers are active in India and producing Wind Electric Generators (WEGs) of rating 225 kW to 2000 kW.
* A National Renewable Energy Policy, now under consideration, envisages 10% of total installed capacity through Renewables. By 2012 AD, projected wind power installation is likely to be around 5000 MW.
* Financial assistance for Renewable source of energy is available through IREDA, a supporting arm of MNES, Govt. of India.
* The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES), Govt. of India has established a Centre for Wind Energy Technology at Chennai with field test station at Kayathar to act as technical focal point for wind power development in the country.

Related Links:
Ministry for Non-Conventional Energy Sources
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency
Indian Wind Energy Association
Centre for Wind Energy Technology
Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association
WindPowerIndia
EU-India Wind Energy Network
Suzlon Energy Limited

Update: Windicator from windpower-monthly.com

Energy Blog India

2005-07-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

India, Energy: Two words
Population: One Billion+
Opportunities: Infinite