Two traders - Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and GMR Energy Ltd - have already surrendered their licences.
The Union government's six-year initiative to unbundle state electricity boards into separate entities for power generation, transmission, distribution and trading businesses is set to be delayed further, with seven states still to do so, even as the Centre's latest time-limit expired on June 30. After 6 years of pushing, just 14 states have turned these into separate units.
With deficient monsoon reducing hydropower generation in the country by around 40 per cent, the power ministry has started stressing more on power from coal and natural gas.
the terminal will not be used to run the Dabhol power plant and would be supplied entirely to other domestic companies
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to decide on a Planning Commission proposal to allocate a portion of power generated from Centrally-owned utilities for open access to large consumers.
The company has four lenders -- State Bank of India, IDBI, ICICI and Canara Bank. According to the Reserve Bank of India norms, these loans would be declared as NPAs if the project is not financially restructured by March 31, 2009. The restructuring exercise includes a 50 per cent hike in the tariff for sale of power from the project, to be allowed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. The project is expected to become viable after this.
The Maharashtra government has offered some respite for the troubled Dabhol Power Project by agreeing to provide a guarantee for a Rs 300 crore
Planning Commission to ask Prime Minister's Office to intervene.
This supply is likely to start in the next few weeks. A proposal to hive off the terminal was turned down by the government last year after it was opposed by NTPC Ltd and Gail, which hold 28 per cent each in the project. The terminal has an LNG regassification capacity of five million tonnes per annum. It will, however, be fully operational only after the completion of the breakwater facilities in 2011.
The government may revive a proposal limiting the number of Ultra Mega Power Projects awarded per developer.
The Tilaiya project is a part of the government's showcase UMPP scheme under which a power generation capacity of around 50,000 Mw is planned to be created through 13 of such mega projects, which will come up mostly in the Twelfth Plan period.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power is likely to announce the financial closure of its 3,960-Mw Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP) in a few weeks.
Amid concerns expressed by short-listed bidders over the ongoing financial crisis, the bids for the 4,000-Mw Tilaiya Ultra Mega Power Project in Jharkhand will be opened on December 29. "The bidding will take place as announced," said Power Secretary Anil Razdan.
Fresh addition of power capacity in the first half of the 2008-09 financial year has fallen short of target by nearly two-thirds because of delays in supply of critical components for thermal projects and non-availability of fuel for a nuclear project.
The government had earlier said it would give incentives of around Rs 12 per unit of solar power sold. Companies have, however, already lined up capacities to the tune of 3,000 Mw involving investments of around Rs 48,000 crore (Rs 480 billion). This means that of the total planned solar power capacity, only 50 Mw will be incentivised, while the rest will continue to be very expensive.
Company officials admitted that they had juxtaposed the emission data for 2005-06 with the generation data of 2007-08 to arrive at such a conclusion. This was in response to a report by Washington-based Centre for Global Development, which said NTPC was the world's third-largest polluting power producer.
Bharat Heavy Electricals, the country's largest power equipment manufacturer, is working on low margins when bidding to supply super-critical equipment for the upcoming ultra mega power projects as it has to import a substantial amount of components from Europe.
India's energy deficit is likely to improve as hydro power stations can ramp up generation on account of adequate rainfall in the last fortnight of July, wiping out the shortfall of the previous months.
Central Electricity Authority data reveal that orders for some higher capacity (500-800 Mw) equipment have not been placed.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), India's largest electricity transmission company, has found the installation of power transmission lines between India and Sri Lanka to be feasible, paving the way for eventual trading of electricity between countries.
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