India

Hyundai Engineering & Construction will construct the main plant at the Mong Duong power project in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam.

India's Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde made a strong pitch for US investment in India's growing power sector.

Shanghai Electric Group develop large-scale power plants and wind power projects in India based on its agreement with CESC.

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has still yet to approve Jindal Steel and Power Limited`s (JSPL) request for the Right of Way (RoW) needed for laying a water pipeline through the villages of Bhalugadia, Pirakhaman and Kankarie in Orissa, which comes under the command area of the coal company. The private company intends to use the conduit to supply water to its 6 MTPA steel and 900 MW power plant located in the Angul district of the state. JSPL has maintained that it has already entered into an agreement with the Department of Water Resources (DoWR), Government of Orissa, for drawl of water from the river Brahmani and has paid a sum of Rs 1,42,70,000 towards the cost of the same. Further, since DoWR has allowed drawing of water only from Brahmani for the next season, JSPL is now required to lay the pipelines at the earliest, the firm has contended. Any further delays may therefore, push the project off schedule. Claiming that it has already procured all necessary clearances for the implementation of the project and that process of land acquisition and alienation for the remaining areas are in an advanced stage of completion, JSPL has now sought the coal ministry`s intervention for a speedy resolution of the matter.

The recurring problems associated with the dam works and other critical activities at NHPC's 2000 MW Subansiri Lower hydro electric project (HEP), situated near North Lakhimpur, on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, has pushed back the commissioning date to August 2014. Furthermore, the delay in signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State government of Assam has added to the woes of NHPC, which is already struggling to complete the works associated with the critical milestones. The hydro mechanical contractor has almost completed the heading excavation of the head-race-tunnel (HRT). On the other hand, more than half of benching excavation still needs to be finished. Power house concreting is progressing slowly, with only 2,690 cum out of 10,000 cum laid out during the month of August. Moreover, merely 9% of pressure shaft liner and 12% of intake gate 7 have been erected. The Subansiri Lower HEP, with 8 units of 250 MW, each, is a run-of-river scheme, on the river Subansiri. Apart from a 116 m dam, the project involves construction of eight 1,168 m horseshoe-shaped head race tunnels (HRT) of 9.5 m diameter, eight pressure shafts, a surface power house to accommodate eight Francis turbines, along with a 206 m long tail race tunnel (TRT).  

The pending resolution of contractual issues has led to severe time and cost overruns for completion of work related to the head race tunnel (HRT) and other critical activities at NHPC's Parbati-II hydro electric project (HEP). More delays are now expected since no solution seems to be in sight, despite numerous negotiations held between the state-owned equipment major, BHEL and NHPC. No progress on HRT overt lining works in August has forced NHPC to carry forward the balance quantity to be finished in the coming month. Barely half of the lining has been laid out during the month, with 16,012 m of overt lining still remaining to be completed for the project. Moreover, 4,915 m of HRT needs to be excavated as per schedule to avoid any further delay in project commissioning. Also, in the sphere of electro mechanical (E&M) works, the power house (PH) activities were suspended due to slide of backhill slope. Although the work has resumed, the progress is not up to the mark for the project. In contrast to this, the retendering of Manihar Pancha and Jiwa Nallah feeder tunnels has progressed smoothly. With the excavation done so far, 59 m and 1291 m for the two tunnels respectively, remains to be completed. Parbati-II HEP, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, entails the construction of a 85 m high, concrete gravity dam, a 6 m x 31.52 km Head Race Tunnel, a 17 m x 130 m surge shaft, 2 m x 3.5m x 2133 m pilot shaft, a surface power house, pelton turbine and a 400 kV switchyard.  

State owned power generator National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is trading higher by more than 2 per cent at Rs 168 after commencement of 500 Mw thermal power project. “The Unit 3 of 500 Mw of Simhadri super thermal power project is declared on commercial operation w.e.f. 00:00 hours of September 16, 2011,” the state-owned power company said in a filing to the stock exchanges. “With this the commercial capacity of Simhadri is 1500 Mw and that of NTPC is 30,330 Mw,” it added.

Generation at the 2,600-Mw NTPC’s Ramagundam Thermal Power Station further declined to 1,400 Mw due to disruption in coal supplies from Singareni coalfields, impacting power supply across the Southern grid.

Change in the fuel cost of central generating stations operated by NTPC and National Power Corporation (NPC) has led to an increase in the power purchase cost (PPC) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for the first quarter (Q1) of the ongoing fiscal.

Asian Development Bank has granted a $100 million loan to the Indian state of Gujarat to support acceleration of work at new large-scale solar power facilities.

Godawari Green Energy has awarded a Rs5.51bn or $115.1 million contract to Lauren Jyoti to build a 50MW solar thermal power plant in Rajasthan, India.

Coal India Limited has called for supply of coal to power stations for meeting their input requirement.

The Bangladesh-India cross border electricity trade is set to be delayed as the power purchase deal was not inked during the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh.

ZTE Corporation bagged a contract from Power Grid Corporation of India to help the state-run firm reduce costs.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has agreed with Iranian President Mehmoud Ahmadinejad to expedite  the import of 1000MW electricity from Iran.

NHPC is ensuring that erection of radial gate for bay-6 proceeds smoothly for a timely commissioning of its 132 MW Teesta Low Dam stage-III hydro electric project.