India

What is Geothermal Energy? As the world takes measures to move towards lower carbon energy production, many forms of renewable energy technology have been developed. Geothermal energy is heat (thermal energy) that is generated and stored within the core of planet Earth. It is generated from the difference in temperature between the inner core and the surface of the Earth. When compared to other formed of renewable energy production geothermal is considered one of the most promising forms of production. To harness geothermal power involves drilling up to five kilometres below the Earth’s surface and pumping water into the Earth’s core where it is naturally heated before returning to the surface where the heat energy can be used through transfer to generate electricity and/or heat. Mitigating Geothermal Development Risks Whilst the concept is simple, construction of the required infrastructure requires significant development cost both in terms of drilling works and uncertainty over the volume of water that can be efficiently pumped and what temperature increase it will achieve. This often constitutes a major barrier to investment for the sector. For a project to have good chances of success a thorough sub-ground analysis is required, which can cost up to several million dollars. Only once this analysis is completed can actual success of a project be estimated. Should the sub-ground analysis work only identify a thermal capacity which is not sufficient to allow economic operation of a geothermal power plant, all investment made in the analysis work will be lost. Historically there has been no ability to insure risks inherent wit development of geothermal power; however Marsh in Germany has now developed a service that can assess project specific risks before the commencement of any drilling works and significant capital expenditure being incurred. The team is working to expand availability of the geothermal power risk assessment so the service can be made available for all Geothermal Power plants globally.  

ADB is providing a $36.8m loan to increase the capacity of a wind farm in Sindh, Pakistan.

NEEPCO's 600 MW Kameng hydro electric project is suffering from massive time and cost overruns encountered as a result of the adverse geology of the project area.

The Working Group has sought the formulation of a separate power policy for India's North-Eastern Region, whose 7 states continue to suffer from massive power deficits. 

Some of the Russian supplied machineries meant for Kudankulam were found damaged even before their installation, according to a top nuclear engineer.

Coal stocks at India’s thermal power plants are critically low on the eve of Diwali, and will not improve unless coal supplies are stepped up significantly, a senior power ministry official said. However, coal-sector authorities said dispatches to power plants had increased. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has directed coal companies to give top priority to power plants compared to other customers, but power stations are running with very thin stocks and supplies are not enough to build stocks to a comfortable level. “The critical stock with power projects is a matter of great concern. The coal supply is sufficient for hand-to-mouth existence. There is no coal on railway sidings. Stock would not improve unless we get at least 30-40 additional rakes everyday. The silver lining, however, is that we are receiving 100 per cent coal supply now and projects are operating at full capacities,” a senior power ministry official said. Many plants, including units run by leading energy companies such as NTPC, Reliance Power, Sterlite and Damodar Valley Corp had coal stocks for less than seven days, a condition that the Central Electricity Authority says is “critical”. Latest CEA data shows that number power projects with critically low stocks of coal increased to 48 on Monday from 44 two weeks ago. Thirty plants had “supercritical” stock that would last less than four days. There are 89 coal based electricity generation stations in India that have a capacity of 86,000 mw. NTPC’s Singrauli, Mejia, Vindyachal and Damodar Valley’s Kodarma projects and few other projects with about 9,000-mw had no coal stock as against a normative requirement of 15-20 days. On an average coal plants have stocks for barely seven days. The power ministry official said coal stocks would continue to deplete unless about 190 rakes are dispatched to power sector alone. The coal ministry said a total 147 rakes were dispatched to power projects on Monday. In addition seven rakes and another 1,77,000 tonnes of coal was dispatched through exclusive transportation ties ups. A coal ministry statement said a total of 181 coal rakes were dispatched to all consumers including power plants on Monday. “The coal companies have been advised to ensure priority movement of coal to the power stations of the country and their coal availability is improving,” a coal ministry statement said. The overall average rail loading from Coal India Ltd was 156 rakes per day, of which 127 were dispatched to power stations. During the last three days, 146 rakes have been dispatched to the power stations in northern India. Heavy floods, strikes at mines and the Telangana agitation has crippled mining and loading operations in several states had depleted coal stock at power plants in the beginning of this month.  

Hydropower helped push bilateral trade between India and Nepal bilateral up to 38% from US$ 1985 million in 2009-10 to US$ 2700 in 2010-11.

 

Kiran Energy Solar Power Pvt. raised US $50 million from three private equity firms for its 20-megawatt solar plant project in Gujarat.

The governments of Kerala and Orissa will form a Special Purpose Vehicle for implementing 2,000 MW thermal power plant propject in Orissa at an estimated cost of Rs. 8,000 crore. This will be completed in three phases of 650 MW each.

Areva T&D India won a contract for a 765 kV extra high voltage substation from Rajasthan Raja Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd  worth close to Rs 400 crore. The former will design and build a 765 kV turnkey substation including Extra High Voltage transformers and reactors at Anta near Kota. The scope of this contract also includes a long term maintenance contract for the substation. This first-of-its-kind 765kV EHV substation in Rajasthan will improve power transfer capacity and reliability of the electrical network through power transmission from several generation plants located in the state. All 765 kV products for this substation will be delivered from Areva T&D India’s world-class factories located at Vadodara, Padappai, Pallavaram, Hosur and Noida. These manufacturing facilities were set up in India to meet the future needs of the country as transmission voltage levels move to Extra or Ultra High Voltage levels of up to 1,200 kV.  Rathin Basu, Managing Director of Areva T&D India Limited said, “Areva T&D India is proud to be selected as the supplier for RRVPNL to enhance the power transfer capacity in the state. We continue on our leadership journey by leveraging our strong expertise and experience in delivering Extra High Voltage transmission solutions with our locally manufactured Extra High Voltage transmission products.”

Nuclear opposition in India has remained resilient in the months since the devastation at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.

Spain-based Isolux Corsan will build a 340MW combined-cycle power station in Siddhirganj, Bangladesh.

India expects a wind energy installation of about 3,000 Mw this year driven by strong policy framework and better cost competitiveness compared to conventional power generation, says a report.  

Nordex will supply its N100/2500 wind turbines to four companies in Pakistan for wind farms to be installed in 2012.

A feasibility study on the nearly Rs 4,000-crore India-Sri Lanka grid interconnection project is expected to be complete by December.