The contract is worth about Rs. 43 crore.  It is also the single largest overseas order received by NTPC, making its foray as an overseas O&M operator. NTPC would offer O&M services for the 2×120 MW Gas-based Siddhirganj Peaking Power Plant near Dhaka.

“Services to be provided by NTPC includes Transition Management & Take Over services, O&M of owner’s facility, Recruitment & Training of owner’s staff, Health, Safety, Quality and Environment Management for a period of six years,” NTPC said in a statement.

EGCB would get funds for this O&M services from the International Development Association (The World Bank). India’s largest power producer, NTPC has an installed capacity of 35,354 MW, while 13,588 MW is under construction.
Agencies

“The Ministry of Coal is regularly reviewing the coal stock position with the power plants of the country and government coal companies have been directed to give the highest priority to coal dispatches for the power sector,” an official statement said.

In a bid to improve the stocks position at power stations, a total of 141 rakes carrying coal were dispatched to various units on October 30, it said. “In addition to that, seven rakes and another 1,88,000 tonnes of coal were dispatched through the MGR (Merry-Go-Round transport mode, an exclusive arrangement made by the power stations themselves) to the power stations,” it added.

In October, the railway load dispatched daily from CIL sources was 157 rakes, out of which 128 rakes were destined for power stations. As per data released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 33 power plants with a total generation capacity of 39,054 Mw across the country were facing an acute fuel shortage and had coal stocks for less than four days on October 28.

Power plants usually maintain 10-15 days of coal stocks. The situation is considered critical if the reserves fall below seven days’ generation requirement. The Coal Ministry said, “The stock position in the power stations of northern India has also been continuously reviewed. The average loading to these stations during the current month has been 44 rakes per day.”

On October 30, a total of 51 rakes were dispatched, out of which 24 rakes were sent to the power stations of Uttar Pradesh alone. While three rakes were dispatched to the Unchahar plant, the Dadri project was sent 10 rakes. In addition, the thermal power station at Faridabad was sent 10 rakes and the Panipat plant four rakes.

During the last three days, 166 rakes have been dispatched to power stations in northern India. Regular coal supply is being maintained to power plants in Andhra Pradesh as well. The Coal Ministry has attributed the shortage of coal to a number of factors, including lower production by Coal India on account of heavy rains in August-September and a strike at Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL), which has been called off.

Regular coal supply from SCCL has been restored, the ministry said last week, adding that it will take some more time for these plants to build up their coal stocks.
Agencies

NTPC Consultancy, a part of the state-run power major, has secured a six-year contract to provide O&M services at the Siddhirganj Peaking Power Plant in Bangladesh.

In a statement, NTPC said the contract, which was won through international competitive bidding, would also mark the entity’s foray into the international O&M services space. The contract is worth about Rs 43 crore (US  US $8.8 million) and will be funded by the International Development Association.

“Notice of Award (NOA) has been received for operation and maintenance services for 2×120-MW gas-based Siddhirganj Peaking Power Plant (SPPP-A) from Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh Ltd (EGCB),” the statement said.

The contract is expected to be signed in Dhaka this month. NTPC also offers engineering and project management consultancy services, among others, to clients within and outside the country.

The power producer has an installed capacity of 34,854 Mw, according to its website.
Agencies

Losses of state electricity boards (SEBs) were at over Rs 1,00,000 crore in the 2009-10 fiscal, and account for a large proportion of the fiscal deficit and subsidies in state budgets, increasing the burden on state finances without coming anywhere near providing 24×7 power for all, CII said in a report released on Sunday.

Combining theft and agricultural subsidy, on an average almost 40 per cent of the power generated has little or no cost recovery, imposing burden on the other consumers, CII points out.

While the government is going all out to increase generation capacity (including building controversial mega-nuclear plants) the financial situation of the distribution sector, which is the cash-generating segment of the power chain, is dismal. ”The key issue facing the SEBs is cost-tariff mismatches. While there have been no substantial tariff revisions in the past five or six years, power procurement costs have risen sharply,” the report added.

 ”The financial loss has been estimated at 1.5 per cent of the national GDP. This will act as a major deterrent to the private as well as global investments in the sector,” CII director-general Chandrajit Banerjee said while releasing the report in New Delhi.

With mounting losses, the ability of the SEBs to buy power is also curtailed, leading to constant load shedding [power cuts], he added. Among the CII’s many suggestions for reforming the distribution sector is to increase competition in power distribution through adoption of a franchisee route and increase private participation through public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Another is implementing an ‘open access’ system, which would provide electricity buyers the option to select their source of supply. High-paying industrial or commercial consumers could procure power directly from power generators or another SEB providing cheaper power. This would not only ensure uninterrupted power supply to the consumers, but it would also promote competition amongst SEBs and power generators.

As an example, it pointed out that while Gurgaon has a serious power shortage, neighbouring Delhi has surplus power. If industrial, commercial and residential complexes in Gurgaon (which currently have to resort to expensive and polluting diesel generators) are allowed to take the open access route and purchase power from Delhi, it will be a win-win situation for both the buyer and the seller. While the distribution company will be able to sell its surplus power, the consumers will have access to uninterrupted cheaper electricity.

Another CII suggestion is to place electricity under the purview of the proposed goods and services tax (GST). This will ensure that input tax credits can be availed of, which would help balance the withdrawal of exemptions and concessions. Exemption from additional customs duty and service tax should be extended to all power projects.

Timely issuance of cost reflective tariffs, including introduction of ‘time of day’ tariffs, would be a help. Further, creation of regulatory assets by deferment of cost-reflective tariffs needs to be discouraged, the CII said.

The practice of cross-subsidising agricultural consumers with domestic users and other consumer segments such as industries and commercial units has in large part contributed to the deteriorating financial health of the SEBs. For instance, 23 per cent of the electricity supplied to the agricultural sector yields less than 6 per cent of the SEB revenues, the report points out.
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“There is an urgent need for strong policy actions to reform the power sector if we have to maintain the health of lenders, including the banks, along with PFC and REC. We estimate around Rs 56,000 crore or 12 percent of the lenders’ total advances to the sector as potentially risky, if there is no meaningful progress on reforms in the next 18 months,” Crisil Chief Executive Roopa Kudva told reporters.

Calling for a massive 50 percent spike in tariffs by state utilities, the agency said this is needed to break even the SEBs and eliminate subsidies. Such a steep increase will need political will, Crisil Ratings Director Pawan Agarwal said.

As of March 31, the total power sector advance stood at around Rs 4.8 lakh crore and it is likely to grow at 23 per cent over the next two years. “The risk to these lenders arises primarily from potential weakening in the asset quality due to escalating losses and debt levels in the distribution sector and shortage of fuel,” Kudva said. According to Crisil’s estimate, the losses in the distribution mounted to Rs 35,000-40,000 crore in FY11, nearly double from the FY09 level.

Due to funding of these losses by debt, the cumulative debt of state power utilities, including distribution entities, has risen to an estimated Rs 3 lakh crore by March 31. “Further, the structural threat of fuel unavailability and pricing can potentially impair the viability of almost one-third of the 56,000 mw of thermal generation capacity under implementation today,” Kudva said.

“Therefore, power sector reforms have become imperative to contain the potential asset-side risks for the lenders.” “Improvement in systemic efficiency is required through reduction in distribution losses which can be achieved by involving the private sector in distribution, and broad-based political consensus is needed for implementing tariff increases…” Kudva added.

The agency opines that there is a need to hike tariffs by an average of 50 percent for state utilities to break-even, and eliminate need for subsidy.

“We believe that such hikes will have to continue over the medium-term despite political compulsions to bridge the large revenue gap. At the same time, the state support in the form of timely and increased subsidy disbursal will have to materialise to address the funding requirements,” Agarwal said.
Agencies

“More than one million tonnes of NTPC’s imported coal is understood to be lying at the ports for which indents with the railways have not been placed. If the coal is also dispatched and is blended with the domestic coal, the coal stock of power stations will be build up immediately,” the coal ministry said.

“Ministry of Power has been requested to instruct NTPC to take immediate steps in this direction,” it said.

The coal ministry has taken various steps after power firms, including NTPC, complained that they were facing coal shortages. It dispatched 30 rakes of coal to NTPC AND Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited on Sunday.

Over the past few days, the coal ministry has stepped up the supplies to power firms to overcome the crisis of load-shedding.

Power supply has been badly hit in several parts of the country, including in North India.

The total dispatches are likely to be increased further over the next few days, the coal ministry had said last week.

The power situation in the country is grim as many plants of the country’s largest power generator NTPC are running below capacity levels due to lack of sufficient coal supplies.

Many states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal, have seen long power cuts in the past few days. A slew of factors, including floods in Orissa and Telangana agitation, have hit coal supplies to power units.

At present, over 40 thermal power stations have coal stocks sufficient to meet demand for less than a week. As many as 29 projects have less than four days of coal reserves.
Agencies

Plans to ramp up its power generation capacity by giving out contracts for large projects–typically of 4,000 Mw and commonly called ultra mega power projects–to companies that quote the lowest tariff for selling electricity while meeting other criteria. Two such projects, which were to be run on imported coal, were affected due to Indonesia’s plan to change its coal pricing rules. Indonesia is working on a law that prohibits coal producers from selling the fuel, even to their affiliate companies, below a reference price. The reference price is linked to international coal prices and needs adjustments every year. The law will make coal imports from Indonesia more expensive.

Reliance Power Ltd’s project at Krishnapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh has been affected as it is unable to draw funds due to the new rules, said state minister for power KC Venugopal said in August.

Tata Power Ltd, which is building a 4,000 Mw project in Mundra in Gujarat state, may be “adopting a go-slow” approach as the new rules in Indonesia may have affected the project’s viability. Reliance Power owns mines in Indonesia. Tata Power also has coal mining interests there.

Shankar didn’t say whether changes will be made to the agreements for these two projects. “Two meetings have been held with stakeholders to prepare future bid documents for such projects,” he added. India plans to build 16 ultra mega projects, including four that have already been awarded.
Agencies

The country has adequate reserve its power plants but was currently facing a mismatch in demand and supply and a Group of Ministers (GOM) was set up to address constraints in coal production growth, Shinde said. He also mentioned that a price hike from Coal India to Utilities was not expected immediately.

Shinde stressed that the government was unlikely to bail-out the loss-making state-owned discoms and said that states would have to take the necessary steps to make the discoms viable. He mentioned that the political will to implement reforms in the distribution sector have started to emerge, which should support a turnaround in state electricity boards.
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However, the company did not state how much quantity of coal it will get from Amelia block. “The addition of Amelia will significantly extend coal availability from Essar’s captive blocks for Mahan I from the current estimate of approximately 12 years. Both blocks are within very close proximity to the power project,” it said. The state government has formally notified that Essar Energy and another company, DB Mining Power, will jointly be allocated 40 per cent of the coal from Amelia. The block is being operated by Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corp (MPSMC).

Amelia is estimated to have around 214 million tonnes of coal reserves, according to the Ministry of Coal. The block still requires environmental and other approvals before mining operations can begin.
“Essar Energy will be supplied with its entitlement of coal from Amelia by MPSMC under a long term linkage arrangement once a Fuel Supply Agreement has been signed,” the statement said.

It added, “The FSA is expected to be signed once the required environmental and other approvals have been obtained. The coal will be supplied at prevailing Indian coal linkage prices.”

The company said it still expects to secure a separate shorter term tapering coal linkage arrangement to secure fuel for Mahan I until the Mahan block produced sufficient coal. The Mahan block will supply fuel to Mahan I, which is due to be completed by March, 2012.
Agencies

NTPC has signed preliminary agreements with the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the execution of four coal-based power projects with a combined capacity of over 8,300 Mw.

The company would set up three projects — 1,980 Mw project at Barethi, 1,320 Mw at Khargone and 2,640 Mw at Gadarwara — in Madhya Pradesh and a 2,400 Mw Lara project in Chhattisgarh. “We have signed agreements for setting up four thermal projects — Barethi, Khargone, Gadarwara and Lara projects at an investment of over Rs 41,000 crore to be executed over the next Five-Year Plan period (2012-17),” an NTPC official said.

The company is also executing 1,980 (3×660) Mw Sipat power project in Chhattisgarh, the first 660 Mw unit of which has been commissioned and the other two units would be commissioned by March, 2012.

NTPC generates over 34,000 Mw electricity with 15 coal- based and 7 gas-based power stations, besides 6 joint venture or subsidiary power projects across the country.

It has set an ambitious target of taking overall power generation to 75,000 Mw by 2017. The company is working on projects of about 40,000 Mw at present. Projects with capacity of over 14,000 Mw are under various stages of implementation.

NTPC added capacity of about 2,500 Mw during 2010-11 by commissioning Dadri (490 Mw), Korba (500 Mw), Farakka (500 Mw), Simhadri (500 Mw) and Jhajjar (500 Mw) units.
Agencies