Industrial News

Govt Targets 10,000 MW in 11th Plan

Economic Times/PTI (Wednesday, 25th April, 2007, 03:20:12 PM)

NEW DELHI: The government is targeting a fresh power generation capacity of about 10,000 MW from renewable sources such as wind during the 11th Five-Year plan.

"Our 11th Plan target is to add 10,000 MW of installed capacity to the grid. In the first year, we plan to add around 1,800-2,000 MW, majority of which would be through wind energy," V Subramanian, secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said at a conference here.

Addressing the South Asia Renewable Energy Conference organised by industry body Assocham, he said the stakeholders of this sector should not wait for government encouragement in terms of subsidies and incentives.

"Renewable energy need not be driven only by government policy, subsidies or initiative. The government should put up the right policies for renewable energy and let stakeholders take from there and not wait for subsidies," he said.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan, the latest entrant in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), invited Indian firms to participate in the country's energy sector.
"Afghanistan has rich sources of gas and has vast potentials of investment in different sectors, especially the energy sector," Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, the country's ambassador to India, said.

Patel Engg Plans foray into Power Generation

Economic Times PTI (Monday, 30th April, 2007, 08:00:21 PM)

MUMBAI: Patel Engineering on Monday announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore for setting up its maiden 1200 MW thermal power plant near Bhavnagar, which would mark its foray into power generation segment. The project would be undertaken under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and would be funded by a mix of debt and equity, Patel Engineering informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company has now decided to foray into Independent Power Producer (IPP) through this maiden venture in the thermal space and said it is also actively looking at IPPs for power generation in the hydro power space. The thermal power plant would be set up through the company's subsidiary - Patel Energy Ltd and the electricity generated would be sold to power traders, captive consumers and state governments, the company added. The coal for the plant would be imported from abroad and the plant would confirm to international environmental norms. The company's current order book without the said project is around Rs 5,000 crore, out of which 55 per cent of the orders are from multi-purpose water supply and power projects, 25 per cent were from irrigation and 20 per cent were in transportation and other sectors.

The company as lead partner had recently bagged a Rs 806 crore order from the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd for the 434 MW Rampur Hydro Electric Project in joint venture with Gammon India Ltd.

CEA releases user guide for CDM Project Developers

Economic Times/PTI (Thursday, 24th May, 2007, 04:30:32 PM]

NEW DELHI: The Central Electricity Authority today released a handbook to help those developing power projects using clean technology to calculate Certified Emission Reductions (or carbon credits) due to them.

The developers would be able to sell these credits to countries with emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto protocol.

"Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is vitally important for the country's power sector. There is a need for CDM, not only for cleaner fuel but also for energy security," Power Minister Sushikumar Shinde said at a workshop here on clean power technology.

Around 124 Indian clean projects are already registered under the CDM Executive Board and host country approval has been granted to as many as 421 other schemes by the National CDM authority, established under the Environment and Forests Ministry.

Shinde said this reiterated India's strong commitment to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases.

The CDM is an opportunity to introduce new and efficient technology and has a great potential in CDM projects in not only hydro, but coal as well.

"This guide would be used as an authentic case for CDM projects. This is the first time in the world, a country has brought out such information about CDMs," CEA Chairman Rakesh Nath said.

The baseline data would help in obtaining uniformity of approach toward implementing CDM benefits, Nath said.

Shinde said the hydro policy was under consideration and had been sent to different departments for their views before presenting it before the Cabinet.

Centre approves Hyderabad Metro Rail Project

Economic Times/PTI (Thursday, 3rd May, 2007, 10:15:43 PM)

HYDERABAD: Union government has approved the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project and decided to extend financial assistance under Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme.
A recently held meeting, chaired by Finance Additional Secretary Khullar, approved the project for a total cost of Rs 8,482 crore, an official release said here on Thursday.
According to the statement, the financial assistance from the Central government is Rs 1,639 crore, which is 20 per cent of the project cost.
With 60 per cent of the project cost being raised by the private BOT (build-operate-transfer) developer, the remaining portion would be contributed by Andhra Pradesh government. "During the deliberations, it was indicated that Union government could consider more grant," the statement quoted the Managing Director-designate of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Ltd, a special purpose vehicle being set up by state government, N V S Reddy, as saying. The technical bids for the project, to be invited from five international consortia, will be evaluated on international safety standards and then the financial bids would be invited only from those bidders, Reddy, who also attended the meeting, said. All the three routes of the 66-km project would be given "as a single package" to only one developer and he will have to build the system within five years and can run it for 30 years, he added.

Govt puts Navi Mumbai Airport Plan on Fast Track Add to Clippings

Economic Times/Subhash Narayan, Times NEws Network (Thursday, 26th April, 2007, 01:45:26 AM)

NEW DELHI: Fearing increasing congestion at Mumbai airport despite the ongoing modernisation programme, the government has put on fast track the proposal to construct a greenfield airport at Navi Mumbai. The ministry of civil aviation has moved a Cabinet note to get in-principle approval for the second airport near Mumbai. The new airport would be constructed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model by a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

As per the proposal, the new airport would come up at Navi Mumbai with a total investment of Rs 9,970 crore. When fully complete by 2028, the airport would have a capacity to carry 40 million passengers per annum (mppa).

By then, the number of air travellers to and from Mumbai is expected to grow to about 90 million passengers per year from 20 million passengers at present. The existing airport is also expected to become saturated by 2012, necessitating launch of the second airport. Work on the airport is expected to begin next fiscal. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Monday that bids for the greenfield airport would be invited by the end of the year.

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), consisting of GVK and Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), which has been appointed to carry out the modernisation of the existing Mumbai airport, would have first rights of refusal for the second airport, the source said.

CIDCO (City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra) and IL&FS have started work on the business plan for the project. The corporation, along with Airport Authority of India, would hold 26% equity in the second airport and the rest would be held by a private developer.

The government has identified a location on National Highway 4B, roughly 35 km from the existing international terminal at Santa Cruz, for the new airport. The first phase of the new airport is expected to be completed by 2012 at a cost of Rs 4,200 crore. At this stage, the airport would have a capacity to carry 10 millions passengers per annum.

Groundwork for 3 Metro Rail Projects by Year-End

Rediff.com/BS Economy Bureau in New Delhi (14th May, 2003, 13:52 IST)

The groundwork for the metro rail projects in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad would be completed by the year-end, Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

"The project report for the Bangalore metro has already been prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The project report for the Hyderabad-Secundrabad metro will be submitted on May 31," Kumar said, after taking stock of the progress of the Delhi metro project.

The Centre had already initiated talks with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the proposed Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar link and a detailed project report would soon be prepared, he said.

The minister said in the next phase, the government would take up metro rail projects in Mumbai, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

The construction of the Bangalore project, covering approximately 33 km, is expected to start within this year, he said. The construction cost was estimated at Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) per km for the section above ground and Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) per km for the underground section, he added.DMRC would provide consultancy, logistics and other necessary help to all the metro projects, Kumar said.

The urban development ministry is bearing 40 per cent of the total cost of the project reports worth Rs 2-3 crore (Rs 20-30 million), he said.Lauding the pace at which the Delhi metro rail project progressed, he said with the completion of a stretch of 65 km by September 2005, the Delhi metro would carry around 22 lakh (2.2 million) passengers per day. Kumar said funds would not be a constraint till September 2005 since DMRC had tied-up funds worth Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion).