Here is an ongoing summary of developments in the power T&D space during the month of November 2017
- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, in collaboration with cab aggregator Ola, has launched the country’s first electric charging station at its fuel stations at RBI Square in Nagpur, on November 19, 2017. (20-Nov)
- The National Power Portal, which can be accessed at http://npp.gov.in, was recently launched by the Union power ministry. NPP is a centralised system for indian power sector and facilitates online data capture/ input (daily, monthly, annually) from generation, transmission and distribution utilities in the country. It also seeks to disseminate power sector information (operational, capacity, demand, supply, consumption etc.) through various analysed reports, graphs, statistics for generation, transmission and distribution at the state, regional and national level. The dashboard would also act as the single point interface for all existing power sector apps like TARANG, UJALA, VIDYUT PRAVAH, GARV, URJA, MERIT. (17-Nov)
- Rural Electrification Corporation and Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd have signed a loan agreement for establishing 3×800-mw Patratu Super Thermal Power Project Phase-I in Jharkhand. The project cost of Rs.18,668 crore is funded in debt-equity ratio of 75:25. REC will be the sole lender financing the entire debt component of Rs.14,000 crore for the project. PVUNL is a joint venture between NTPC (with equity stake of 74 per cent) and Jharkhand power utility Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd, which holds the remaining 26 per cent. (17-Nov)
- The Bihar state Cabinet has sanctioned Rs.1,097 crore to Bihar State Power Transmission Company Ltd for strengthening its transmission network to meet total power demand by 2021-22. Funds worth Rs.253 crore were also sanctioned for expansion and of power transmission network in Patna and its neighbouring areas. (11-Nov)
- Elevator and escalator industry player KONE has announced the opening of its larger office at Noida, Uttar Pradesh. This investment is to enhance the service level to both its existing Customer base and gear up for the approaching growth. KONE has entered into an agreement with IBM, which will further help KONE to harness the potential of digitalization and innovate New Solutions. Using IBM’s Watson IoT Cloud Platform KONE aims to improve and integrate existing service operations around the world, a release from KONE said. (10-Nov)
- Adani Power has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd [APJL] has signed a power purchase agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board for a capacity of 1,496 mw, for a period of 25 years. Power supply envisaged in the PPA will be met through the new 1,600-mw ultra supercritical power plant of APJL that is coming up in Godda district of Jharkhand. Electricity will be supplied to Bangladesh through a dedicated 400kV double-circuit line to be constructed from the power plant site up to an interconnection point in Bangladesh. (08-Nov)
- Schneider Electric along with its Singapore-based consortium partner Temasek is in the final rounds to acquire the electrical and automation (E&A) division of Larsen & Toubro for around Rs.15,000 crore, according to unconfirmed media reports. L&T, India’s largest switchgear manufacturer, has been planning to exit the switchgear business with a view to focusing on core areas. (08-Nov)
- Essar Power is expected to fully commission its Mahan power transmission project in the January–March quarter of 2018, according to news reports. The project will help evacuate power from Essar’s 1,200-mw Mahan power project in Madhya Pradesh, to the western grid. Currently, work on the second phase that envisages a 337-km 400kV transmission line from Mahan to Sipat pooling substation in Chhattisgarh is underway. The first two segments of the Mahan power transmission project were commissioned in 2013. These included a 224-km LILO of the 400kV Vindhyachal-Korba transmission line and the 105-km 400kV twin conductor line from Gandhar to Hazira, both in Gujarat. (07-Nov)
- AXISCADES, a product engineering solutions company, has announced the acquisition of Mistral, a Bengaluru-based specialized embedded technology company. The acquisition to be completed in a phased manner will add significantly to AXISCADES’ embedded practice and Make-in-India opportunities. Mistral specializes in end to end embedded solutions & product engineering catering to aerospace, defence, industrial, consumer, wearable, medical and semiconductor verticals. The current founders and management team will continue to run the operations. (07-Nov)
- The board of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has approval a proposal to form a 50:50 joint venture with Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. The proposed JV will take up intrastate power transmission works in the northern state (07-Nov)
- The Rs.18-crore tender of Chandigarh Electricity Department for converting its overhead lines into underground cables in Sector 8, could not elicit any response. This is the second time that a tender for this project has been floated. Bidders failed in the technical evaluation, it is reported. Tendering will be done afresh, it is further reported. (06-Nov)
- Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) has completed the acquisition of 100 per cent stake of Western Region Transmission Maharashtra and Western Region Transmission Gujarat, having operational transmission lines aggregating 3063 ckt kms with deal valued at around Rs.1,000 crore. This acquisition is in sync with ATL strategy to enhance the value for its stakeholders, through organic as well as inorganic growth. With this acquisition, the cumulative network of ATL will reach around 11,350 ckm, out of which approximate 9,000 ckm are under operation (including 458 ckm under process of acquisition) and approximate 2,350 ckm under various stages of construction. The assets of ATL also include 28 substations with more than 16,200 MVA of transformation capacity across the country. (04-Nov)
- Tata Power Company Ltd has announced the commissioning of a 30-mw solar power plant in Palaswade, developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. The plant will annually produce over 62 million kwh of solar power, covering the annual energy needs of over 14,000 Indian households. The solar plant, spread over 140 acres, is located at Palaswade village in Maan taluka, in Satara district, Maharashtra. The new solar plant uses domestically manufactured crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules. (04-Nov)
- Skipper Ltd has announced that its new plant built at Guwahati in Assam has received approval from Power Grid Corporation of India. Located at Kampur, this plant has the capacity to produce 30,000 tonnes per year of galvanized tower structures and parts. This approval will help Skipper actively support various transmission projects being undertaken by PGCIL in the northeastern region, under the NERPSIP scheme. The North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSlP), with an outlay of Rs.5,111 crore, aims at strengthening the intrastate transmission and distribution system for six northeastern states—Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland. (03-Nov)
