L&T commissions 6-MW solar project for Sun Group in Gujarat

Larsen & Toubro has commissioned a six-MW solar project for Sun Group in Gujarat. L&T said the project, at Gujarat Solar Park in Patan district, was commissioned in a little over three months. The current capacity of the park is 215 MW.

Sun Group is a leading principal investor and private equity fund manager in India, Russia and other emerging markets. The group is into mining, energy, renewable energy, real estate, infrastructure, technology and food and beverages.

“We were able to complete the six MW in a short time only because of the solar park’s infrastructure,” said Mr Pankaj Sehgal, Head of SUN Group’s Renewable Energy.

Mr S.N. Subrahmanyan, Senior Executive Vice-President, L&T, said: “The solar park provided us significant logistical ease besides economies of scale and scope, allowing us to complete multiple projects simultaneously within the Government’s deadline.”

Tata Power eyes 25% of total power generation from renewable energy

New Delhi: India's largest integrated private power utility, Tata Power, intends to generate 25% power through renewable energy sources out of the total power produced in the upcoming few years. For the purpose, it is looking forward to purchase stakes in firms, which are developing clean energy technologies. 

Tata Power's Executive Director, S Ramakrishnan said, "In the past, we have bought stakes in firms involved in developing clean energy and will continue to do so if any significant opportunities prop up in the future." 

Recently, Tata Power purchased 5% and 10% stakes in two Australian firms, Exergen and Geodynamics, for US$10 million and US$50 million respectively. 

Exergen has developed and proven breakthrough clean-coal technology, which will reduce carbon emission from the current 1500 kg per MW to 800 kg, from brown coal-fired power generation. On the other hand, Geodynamics is Australia's leading geothermal energy explorer. 

Meanwhile, Tata Power intends to add 150 megawatt (MW), every year, to its present installed wind capacity of 375 mw, until fiscal 2015. The firm is also working on power generation from waste gases generated while making steel. 

TN plan to encourage energy efficient systems

Reeling under a severe power crunch, the Tamil Nadu government has drawn up plans to encourage energy efficient systems using solar and other forms of energy in the coming months. The proposals include provision of subsidised solar pumps, generation based incentive scheme for domestic solar roof tops, besides presenting awards to those who use solar power lights effectively. 

The government has proposed to provide "generation based incentive for domestic solar roof-tops for a total maximum capacity of 50 MW during this financial year", the energy department said in its policy note. 

Besides this, the government is also mulling providing subsidised solar pumps (86 per cent subsidy-- 56 per cent from Ministry of Agriculture and 30 per cent from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) on a pilot basis to select applicants for agriculture service connections. 

The Government has also planned to recognise usage of solar roof-tops by presenting the Chief Minister's Awards which would be given annually to different categories of consumers generating maximum solar energy, it said. 

A 60kW roof-top solar power plant at the Electricity Board office headquarters here would also be set up for promoting solar energy.  The policy note said government has proposed to distribute one crore CFL lamps at a subsidised cost of Rs 15 per bulb to achieve a savings of around 250MW at a cost of Rs 85 crore. 

Energy efficient agricultural pump-sets (having a minimum three star label) would be made mandatory for new connections. "The Government is also planning to set up a demonstration project by erecting star-rated energy efficient pump sets in a select feeder on pilot basis", it said adding a Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) mechanism would be followed to target energy savings of upto Rs 200 crore. 

On the Centre's proposal to achieve 22 GW of solar capacity by 2022 under the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission, the policy note said 22 MW is scheduled to be commissioned in Tamil Nadu in the first phase. "The entire capacity addition would be done using solar PV technology", it said. 

For this year, under Chief Minister's Solar powered Green Houses Scheme, the government would add 60,000 solar energy powered green houses at a cost of Rs 180 crore. This scheme was the first such in India with a grid back-up. On the proposal to energise solar energy powered street lights in 2012-13, the policy note said 20,000 more street lights will be solar powered at a cost of Rs 50 crore. 

"This scheme is unique in nature and the first of its kind in India", it said.  According to the Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 document released by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in March, the government expects Rs 4.50 lakh crore investments to be made in the power sector. "The major share of the investments amounting to Rs 2.80 lakh crore will be utilised to augment power generation capacity in the State", the document said. 

According to energy department sources, the present installed capacity of the State is 10,364.5 MW. The average availability of power is 8,500 MW. Demand ranges from 11,500 MW-12,500 MW, leaving a shortage of 3,000 MW to 4000 MW. 

As part of tapping other energy sources, the State government has planned to increase capacity of wind power to 5000 MW at a rate of 1000 MW per year in the next five years. 

West Bengal government prepares first renewable energy policy draft

KOLKATA: At a time when the entire world is focusing on non-conventional or renewable sources of energy, it took the eco-friendly Bengal government 10 months to prepare a final draft of the seems little bothered about it. Now after years of neglect, the Mamata Banerjeegovernment has now finally prepared a draft policy on renewable energy policy. The draft was submitted that was sent to the state power minister Manish Gupta last week.

A power department official said that different changes were made after the draft policy was filed.

"We have sent the final draft to the minister last week," said a power department official. Once Gupta approves of it, the draft will need an assent from from the minister, it will require chief minister Mamata Banerjee and a cabinet approval before it can be implemented nod for finalization.

The Bengal government had earlier lost quite a few projects with an investment of over Rs 500 crore as the state did not have any renewable energy policy in place.

The draft was prepared by an expert committee that included S P Gon Chaudhuri, the former advisor to the state government's power department. While PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as a consultant, it was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). funding and PricewaterhouseCoopers was the consultant for it. An expert committee was formed that included S.P Gon Chaudhuri, the former advisor to the state government's power department. However, the state government made a delay of more than 10 months to finalize the draft.

Bengal, which could have flourished as a renewable energy hub in the past few years, suffered a setback due to the nonchalance on part of both the Left Front government and the present one. The dilly-dallying tactics by the previous and the present state government have driven out many prospective companies who had evinced interest in setting up solar power plants in the state.

The list of companies, which could not do project in the state are - a US-based company Astonfield Renewable Resources, Videocon, Reliance Power and a Germany-based company. All these firms had approached the state government back in 2009 but as the government did not have a proper policy in place, it lost quite a few projects worth about Rs 500 crore. The investments would had crossed Rs 500 crore.

Astonfield had planned to taken up a 10-acre plot in Bankura to for set up a 5 MW solar power project on a 10-acre plot in Bankura, while Videocon had planned a 10 MW solar power plant spreading over some 100 acres at Raghunathpur in Purulia which had a capital outlay of about Rs 200 crore at that time. Though the price of MW renewable energy per unit has come down now, the now. The Videocon project had now could hav e attracted an investment of about Rs 100 crore. "More than Rs 500 crore of investments were lost only because the state did not have any policy on renewable energy and no separate tariff for developing solar energy. At present, one megawatt of solar power plant costs around Rs 8 crore," said SP Gon Chaudhuri, a national expert on renewable energy.

After the new government came to power, it constituted a separate department for non-conventional energy. But after a few months of operation, the department was merged with the power department.

Also, due to lack of a apresently as there is no separate tariff for West Bengal and the eastern region of the country, solar power projects are not very competitive in the state. Bengal has thus been losing out in the competitive bidding with states like Gujarat and Rajasthan., as solar radiation is lower in the state from states like Rajasthan and Gujarat and Bengal have been losing out to these states in competitive bidding.

Wind farms may have warming effect

Large wind farms might have a warming effect on the local climate, research in the United States showed on Sunday, casting a shadow over the long-term sustainability of wind power.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming, which could lead to the melting of glaciers, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failure and other devastating effects, scientists say.

In a move to cut such emissions, many nations are moving towards cleaner energy sources such as wind power.

The world's wind farms last year had the capacity to produce 238 gigawatt of electricity at any one time. That was a 21% rise on 2010 and capacity is expected to reach nearly 500 gigawatt by the end of 2016 as more, and bigger, farms spring up, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany analysed the satellite data of areas around large wind farms in Texas, where four of the world's largest farms are located, over the period 2003 to 2011.

The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed a warming trend of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade in areas over the farms, compared with nearby regions without the farms.

"We attribute this warming primarily to wind farms," the study said. The temperature change could be due to the effects of the energy expelled by farms and the movement and turbulence generated by turbine rotors, it said.

"These changes, if spatially large enough, may have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate," the authors said.

MORE RESEARCH NEEDED

But the researchers said more studies were needed, at different locations and for longer periods, before any firm conclusions could be drawn.

Scientists say the world's average temperature has warmed by about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1900, and nearly 0.2 degrees per decade since 1979. Efforts to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are not seen as sufficient to stop the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees C this century, a threshold scientists say risks an unstable climate in which weather extremes are common.

The Texas study found the temperature around wind farms rose more at night, compared with nearby regions. This was possibly because while the earth usually cools after the sun sets, bringing the air temperature down, the turbulence produced by the farms kept the ground in their area warm.

Previous research in 2010 by other US scientists found wind farms could make the nights warmer and days cooler in their immediate vicinity, but those effects could be minimised by changing turbines' rotor design or by building the farms in areas with high natural turbulence.

That research was based on evidence from two meteorological towers over a six-week period.

Although the warming effect shown in that study and the latest research is local, and small compared to overall land surface temperature change, the findings could lead to more in-depth studies.

The authors of the study released on Sunday said: "Given the present installed (wind farm) capacity and the projected installation across the world, this study draws attention to an important issue that requires further investigation."

"We need to better understand the system with observations and better describe and model the complex processes involved to predict how wind farms may affect future weather and climate."

Commenting on the study, Steven Sherwood, co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said: "Daytime temperatures do not appear to be affected. This makes sense, since at night the ground becomes much cooler than the air just a few hundred metres above the surface. The wind farms generate gentle turbulence near the ground that causes these to mix together, thus the ground doesn't get quite as cool."

Strong winds bring power to Tamil Nadu

With wind-power generation in the state picking up in the last 3-4 days, parts of Chennai, including Kolathur, Villivakkam and OMR, were spared load-shedding Sunday.

The districts have been reeling from over 10 hours of daily power cut, while Chennai and suburbs face a two-hour load-shedding.

About 2.24 million units of wind power was generated on April 27 and 11.78 MU the next day. On Saturday, high-velocity winds made sure the generation shot up to 21.6 MU.

“Whenever there is supply in the grid, we are not enforcing load-shedding,” a senior Tangedco official said.

He attributed the sudden surge in power generation to rains accompanied by strong winds in the southern and western parts of the state.

“The peak season for wind-power generation begins in the first or second week of May and lasts till October,” the official said, adding, “Usually, power generation by windmills will be between 5 lakh and 1 million units in this period.”

The winds have brought much-needed relief to the corporation which has not been able to purchase power from northern states due to clogging of transmission lines and delay in commissioning of thermal plants in the state.

Tamil Nadu has an installed wind energy capacity of 6,696 MW, which is 41 per cent that of the country.
“Once the wind season begins, we will get 2,000 MW to 2500 MW a day from the windmills,” the official said.

The state is facing a deficit of 3,000-4,000 MW.

Haryana varsity to generate 500 KW solar power

Chandigarh, April 28 -- To meet its requirement of electricity for laboratories and classrooms and ensure uninterrupted power supply, the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, has formulated a plan to generate 500 KW electricity through solar devices installed on its buildings.

Stating this today, University Vice Chancellor H S Chahal said solar energy was being utilised for street lights and heating water in the hostels. He said the Haryana government had also honoured the University for bagging first position in energy conservation at state level.

He said the University had been introducing new courses from under-graduate to research, had developed infrastructure of the college and had made many achievements like getting registration of its name with many national and international educational institutes.

He said the other initiatives taken up by the students of the University included free school education to the poor children of daily wagers engaged in construction activities of the University.

He said the University had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Universities of South Korea and Finland for research and academic exchange. Also, application had been sent to register the University as national implementation entity. UNI MA DB SY SB1838 NNNN Published by HT Syndication with permission from United News of India.

National Solar Mission completes 89% of allotted capacity

The National Solar Mission, which aims to install 20,000 MW capacity of solar energy by 2020, has commissioned 89% of its allotted capacity in its first stage, government officials said.

The government had signed power purchase agreements (PPA) with 28 solar power developers for 140-MW solar photo voltaic (PV) projects in January 2011, out of which 125-MW of capacity stands commissioned currently.

"The progress so far is very good as most of the projects are commissioned. The delayed projects have been given one month extension with a part of their bank guarantee encashed," said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy.

For solar thermal sector, power purchase agreements were signed for 27 projects for a capacity of 470 MW in batch 1. They would be commissioned by May 2013.

NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), which executes the bidding and trades power with the developers, is satisfied with the result, which, it says could have been 100% if hiccups like allegations against Lanco and delays by some other developers had not taken place. "We are now stricter than before with the mission guidelines and will work more closely with the developers of batch 2," said a senior official of NVVN.

One of the major participating companies in the mission, Lanco Infratech recently faced allegations irregularities such as creating front companies. The investigative report on the matter will soon be presented, officials said.

"We expect to place it in a week or two. Our investigation concludes that the company did flout some guidelines but there is no scam as such, but we are more cautious with the batch 2 now," said Kapoor.

The solar PV projects under batch 2 of phase 1, with the selected capacity of 340 MW, signed the PPA in January this year and will commission by February 2013. These projects are highly awaited as this round of bidding saw some big names in the solar energy market quoting tariffs as low as Rs 7.49/unit.

"The projects under batch 2 are under construction and we are hopeful that they will start commissioning in time," said Kapoor. The ministry also hopes to achieve grid parity in next five years. Mission statement has set a target to achieve 20,000 MW of solar generated power by 2020.

The total installed capacity of solar generated power in the country stands at 503.9 MW so far. The total investment, as estimated by the ministry is about Rs 6,000 crore.

Solar plane to make first cross continent flight

Bern, Switzerland: The world's largest solar-powered plane, Swiss-made Solar Impulse, will make its first ever cross-continent flight in May or June.

The plane, co-piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, will attempt for the first time to fly more than 2,500 km, taking off in Payerne in western Switzerland, crossing the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean without using fuel, and landing in Morocco.

The exact date for taking off will be decided according to weather condition, said Andre Borschberg, co-founder and CEO of Solar Impulse that made the aircraft.

Bertrand Piccard and Borschberg will take turns to fly the aircraft on its 48-hour journey, with a scheduled stopover near Madrid to change pilots.

This long-duration flight will serve as a dress rehearsal for the round-the-world flight in 2014.- IANS

World Bank arm considers funding Sri Lanka waste-to-energy plant

The World Bank’s private-sector financing arm is considering $9 million in debt and equity funding for a project in Sri Lanka that will sell electricity produced from burning municipal waste.

RenewGen Enviro Ventures India Pvt. won a 25-year contract to build and operate a 10-megawatt plant in Sri Lanka’s Western Province, according to a summary of the proposed funding on the International Finance Corp.’s website. The $29 million project will be able to incinerate as much as 580 metric tons a day of solid municipal waste. Japan’s Hitachi Zosen Corp. (7004) will provide the technology and the electricity will be sold to the Ceylon Electricity Board, according to IFC.