Welspun Energy to invest Rs 1,000 Cr on 100 MW solar project in Chattisgarh

Welspun Renewables Energy Ltd (WREL) has inked a memorandum of understanding with the Chattisgarh Government for installing a 100 MW solar power project.

The renewables unit, part of Welspun Energy Ltd, will invest about Rs 1,000 crore on the project.

The Chattisgarh government will facilitate approvals, permission, land acquisition, registration and clearances for the project.

Recently, the company won a 130 MW solar power project mandate through a bidding process in Madhya Pradesh.

Vineet Mittal, Co-founder and Managing Director of Welspun Energy, in a statement said, “WEL is confident of sourcing appropriate funding for this project in time. The company recently achieved financial closure for a 50 MW solar project in Rajasthan. A consortium of banks led by Central Bank of India have supported this project.”

However, an uncertain policy framework and payment security issues create edginess in investors to support power projects, he felt.

With this, WEL is developing more than 250 MW of solar and 800 MW of wind capacity in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

MNRE releases "Green Energy Corridors" report

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released a report which covers both renewable energy policy initiatives in the nation and technical requirements for integrating more renewables into India's generation mix.

"Green Energy Corridors" poses these goals within the government's efforts to reach 85 GW of electricity generation during the 12th five-year plan, which lasts until 2017. MNRE notes that renewable energy has the advantage of greater resource flexibility through the deployment of distributed generation.

Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah is co-author of the report

First report of its kind in India

MNRE states that this report is the first of its kind in the nation, and hopes that it will provide an impetus to large-scale integration of renewable energy.

The report includes studies on transmission infrastructure requirements and related services for the integration of large-scale renewable energy capacities, as well as intra-interstate transmission system strengthening, flexible generation, and forecasting to address intermittency and variability aspects.

The report was released jointly by Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Dr. Veerappa Moily.

Renewable energy could fall victim to low natural gas prices warns IEA

NEW YORK, NY, Jun 04, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Clean energy stocks have struggled recently as concerns about a loss of subsidies and tax credits have led to growth concerns. The PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW) is down more than 17 percent over the last month. Cheap natural gas prices in 2012 have recently become a nuisance to the renewable energy industry. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Renewable Energy Industry and provides equity research on Capstone Turbine Corporation CPST +1.72% and First Solar, Inc. FSLR -0.31% .

The emergence of "fracking" has led to abundant supplies and low prices for natural gas. This has put pressure on the renewable energy industry which by comparison is more costly. When burnt, natural gas produces roughly 50 percent of the carbon emissions of coal. "Renewable energy may be the victim of cheap gas prices if governments do not stick to their renewable support schemes," said Fatih Birol, chief economist for the IEA.

Five Star Equities releases regular market updates on the Renewable Energy Industry so investors can stay ahead of the crowd and make the best investment decisions to maximize their returns. Take a few minutes to register with us free at www.FiveStarEquities.com and get exclusive access to our numerous stock reports and industry newsletters.

Capstone Turbine is the world's leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems, and was the first to market commercially viable microturbine energy products. Capstone Turbine has shipped over 6,500 Capstone MicroTurbine systems to customers worldwide. The company will release financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 at 1:45 p.m. Pacific Time (4:45 p.m. Eastern) on, June 14, 2012.

First Solar is a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) solar systems which use its advanced thin-film modules. The company's integrated power plant solutions deliver an economically attractive alternative to fossil-fuel electricity generation today. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation recently inaugurated a new 250-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) power system donated by First Solar which will help power the historic Taliesin West campus.

BRIDGE TO INDIA: Increase in Indian fossil fuel prices to benefit solar

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah today inaugurated a 18-KW Solar Power Plant at Sub-District Hospital at Charar-i-Sharief in Budgam district.

This was the second such solar power unit inaugurated by the two leaders in the past two days. Yesterday, one such plant was inaugurated at the Old Assembly Complex here.

The unit inaugurated at Charar-i-Sharief involved an expenditure of about Rs 50 lakhs, an official spokesman said.

He said the Union ministry of new and renewable energy has approved a total of 69 solar power plants for the State to be installed in as many health institutions as backup power supply units.

This involves an amount of Rs 32.70 crore, the spokesman said, adding, the tenders for 32 such units have been finalized and for the remaining units the process is going on.

During the last three years the MNRE headed by Farooq Abdullah has sanctioned over 50000 solar home systems for the 225 un-electrified villages and hamlets of the State.

As many as 50 water mills have been upgraded, while financial assistance to upgrade 2000 more such water mills for electricity generation and mechanical activities has also been approved, the spokesman said.

He said the Union ministry has also sanctioned 58 micro-hydel projects being installed in remote villages to generate electricity.

It has also sanctioned and installed solar water heating systems at 10 locations, while solar photo voltaic power plants at 69 locations to generate 1.09 MWs have also been approved, the spokesman said.

Chattisgarh villagers go hi-tech, cry for more power

Villagers in the remote areas of Chhattisgarh go hi-tech propelling the state government to moot a plan for increasing the capacity of solar power stations following boost in the electricity demand.

The Chhattisgarh State Renewable Development Agency (CREDA) had lit up more than 1200 villages that cannot be electrified through conventional power. These villages have been powered with solar energy with the state-run agency installing solar photovoltaic power plant.

For the last eight years, the villagers have been using the same capacity power plant even as their socio-economic condition has increased that has resulted in boosting the power demand. Even the population in the villages has increased with addition of new houses.

“As the purchasing power of the villagers have increased, they have gone hi-tech; using mobile phones, television and other electric appliances that has increased the demand of power,” a senior official with the agency said. The capacity of the plant installed in the villages is not enough to meet the demand.

The matter also came to the notice of Chief Minister Raman Singh when he paid surprise visit to a few villages during the village contact programme. Taking serious note on the issue, he has directed the officials to moot a plan and enhance the capacity of solar power plant installed in the villagers.

“The chief minister yesterday night convened a meeting of agency and energy department officials to discuss the issue,” a government spokesperson said. Singh directed the officials to take necessary step in this regard and start the work in the project as soon as possible.

The agency officials said they had prepared a preliminary report and identified 25 villages in Jashpur district to increase the capacity of solar power plant in the first phase. The project of enhancing the capacity would be taken up in phases, they added.

Gujarat has highest potential for generation of renewable energy, says GoI report

The state of Gujarat has the highest potential for generation of renewable energy from various sources, revealed the report 'Energy Statistics 2012' by the Central Statistical Office (CSO), government of India.

The report was brought out by the CSO which is under the ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) to help planners and reserchers.

India’s energy-mix comprises both non-renewable (coal, lignite, petroleum and natural gas) and renewable energy sources (wind, solar, small hydro, biomass and cogeneration bagasse) and information on its reserves of non-renewable sources and potential for generation of renewable energy sources is a pre-requisite for to assess the country’s potential for meeting its future energy needs.

Talking about the potential for generation of renewable energy the report states, “The geographic distribution of the estimated potential across states reveals that Gujarat has the highest share of about 14% (12,489 MW ), followed by Karnataka with 12% share (11,071 MW) and Maharashtra with 11% share (9596 MW), mainly on account of wind power potential.”

The report estimated total potential for renewable power generation in the country at 89760 MW by end of financial year 2010-11.

The report estimates Gujarat’s potential for generating wind power at 10,609 MW, small hydro power at 197 MW, Biomass Power at 1,221 MW, cogeneration bagasse at 350 MW and waste to energy at 112 MW.

However, when it comes to installed capacity of grid interactive renewable power Gujarat does not figure in the top three.

It is below Tamil Nadu which has highest installed capacity of grid connected renewable power (6500 MW) followed by Maharashtra (3005 MW) and Karnataka (2882 MW), mainly on account of wind power.

Gujarat has 2197 MW of installed capacity of grid interactive renewable power as of year ended March 2011. This is however, jump of 17 per cent compared to the previous year.

The total installed capacity of grid interactive renewable power, had gone up to 19971 MW in 2010-11 a growth of 18.75per cent compared to previous year. Out of the total installed generation capacity of renewable power as on year ended March 2011 wind power accounted for about 71%, followed by small hydro power (15.2%) and Biomass power (13.3%).

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. 

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.

Bulgaria to focus on small renewable power projects

 To encourage small solar and biomass installations.  Likely to cut incentives for solar energy in July

SOFIA, April 24 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will now focus on small renewable energy projects, Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev said on Tuesday, as the Balkan country tries to avoid a jump in power prices and prevent its grid from overloading due to a surge in bigger projects.

A number of investors including U.S. company AES, South Korea's SDN and Austria's EVN have rushed to take advantage of higher tariffs that Bulgaria began offering in 2007 for power output from renewable projects, with the costs passed through to consumers. Dobrev said the Balkan country was on track to meet its target to get 16 percent of its final energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020 and should now shift its focus away from big wind and solar power investors.

"At present, we are exceeding our mid-term green target. The installed renewable energy capacity is over 1,000 megawatts. But by July 1, it will grow by a two-digit percentage," Dobrev told a green energy forum. "From now on we have to concentrate on projects that are most beneficial for the country and for the society. We will be backing small projects," Dobrev said.

Dobrev said the small rooftop solar installations or small biomass and hydro projects were best for the European Union's outdated power grid, because their output is usually consumed on spot, without requiring new power infrastructure. Bulgaria, European Union's poorest member state, already has amended its renewable energy law to slow the surge in solar and wind power projects.

While the country offers plenty of sun for solar energy, government officials say the costs are too high and want to limit its use mainly to small roof panels rather than construction of large solar energy parks. Investors turned to southeastern Europe after countries, including Germany and the Czech Republic began slashing generous feed-in tariffs to rein in booming solar sectors, which raised fears of skyrocketing power prices and grid overload.

Electricity prices are politically sensitive in Bulgaria, where power bills eat away a huge part of monthly incomes, especially during winter months. Sofia cut by 30 percent the preferential prices for energy from photovoltaic installations last July and is likely to further cut the incentive this year, industry officials say.

Bulgaria has about 600 megawatts installed in wind farms and about 400 megawatts in solar energy parks, industry officials say.

MSU to build $5M alternative energy device

Michigan State University plans to build a $5 million alternative energy device that will convert waste from its farms and dining halls to energy for powering campus buildings.

Trustees approved the project Friday, along with a broader outline for making decisions about meeting energy needs. Their goal is for MSU eventually to be powered entirely from renewable sources.

Officials describe the so-called “anaerobic digester” as a sealed oxygen-free tank where organic waste will be degraded at an elevated temperature, producing methane for fuel. They say it will be the largest of its type on any U.S. college campus.

The university’s long-range energy plan calls for improving the physical environment on campus, investing in sustainable energy research and development, and becoming a leader in educating others on the topic.

Gujarat approves funds for India tidal-energy project

The western Indian state of Gujarat plans to spend 250 million rupees ($4.8 million) to help develop the nation’s first project to produce power from ocean tides.

Gujarat approved the funding along with an additional 100 million rupees for a pilot geothermal power project in its budget for the financial year that started April 1, D.J. Pandian, the state’s principal energy secretary, said today.

“After we see how these pilot projects do, then we’ll take a look at developing a policy to attract more investment,” Pandian said in an interview in Gandhinagar.

The state may work with the International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private-sector financing arm, which is interested in supporting a tidal-energy project with a loan or equity investment, he said.

Atlantis Resources Corp., a tidal-turbine maker backed by Morgan Stanley (MS), is developing a marine energy project in the Gulf of Kutch with the Gujarat Power Corp. with an initial capacity of 50 megawatts.

Denmark will produce a third of its energy from renewable sources

Denmark has announced that by the end of this decade, it will produce a third of its energy from renewable sources - wind power and solar power. They also hope to expand the number of electric vehicles.

More ambitiously, the Danish Government has set a goal of running the entire country on renewables by 2050. What makes Denmark's announcement even more unusual is that it has won support from across the country's political spectrum.

Ms Friis, for example, is a front-bench spokeswoman for the opposition Liberal Party, right-of-centre and fiercely pro-business. For her, the decision to ditch fossil fuels is a matter of sound financial planning.

"No matter what we do, we will have an increase in the price of energy, simply because people in India and China want to have a car, want to travel," she says.

"That is why we came out with a clear ambition to be independent of fossil fuels: so we are not vulnerable to great fluctuations in energy price."

There is an historical experience at work here. The oil-shocks of the early nineteen-seventies were a particular blow to Denmark.

With few home-grown sources of energy, the country saw prices rocket, and this led to widespread acceptance that a new path needed to be taken.

Nuclear power was never seriously considered, the opposition from politicians and civil society always strong. So long before other countries, Denmark began developing renewables, and is now something of a world leader, particularly in the field of wind energy.

Storage problem

At the Avedore Power Plant, just outside Copenhagen, nearly a thousand megawatts of energy is being generated from renewables, enough to sustain a quarter of a million homes.

Some of this is from giant wind turbines, but most comes from two biomass plants, burning straw and other types of industrial waste.

The plant is run by Denmark's largest power company, Dong Energy, and they too have ambitions to take this process further, to the point where almost all their electricity will come from clean sources.

"It's a huge transformation of the company," says executive vice-president Thomas Dalsgaard. "We believe the future is not based on coal. But it is difficult; you have to make a whole new way of operating the business."

And it is not only individual power stations that have to be modified, nor is it a matter simply of building more wind-turbines and other power plants. For a start, there is the challenge of storing all the energy produced by renewables, for use when the sun is not shining and the wind is still.

Engineers are looking at proposals to generate heat from electricity when it is available, and then using it later. They also hope to expand the number of electric cars in Denmark; they could act effectively as rechargeable batteries. But all these are very much in the development stage.

Another challenge is distribution. Conventional power stations are located close to towns and cities. If wind farms are built far out at sea as planned, then a wide network of cables will have to be built, to bring that power to land, and on to the places where consumers use it.

"Huge investments are going to be needed," says Erik Kristofferson, from Energinet, which runs Denmark's grid system, "And these investments are needed now. It's a political choice, but we believe it can be done."

The actual quantities of shale gas remain unknown. Poland was boasting until recently that shale could supply much if not most of its energy needs; it has now had to downgrade its estimates of the amount available.

And shale gas needs to be extracted by a process known as "fracking", which some argue causes severe environmental damage.

For Denmark's Energy Minister, Martin Lidegaard, shale does not provide solutions, any more than other fossil fuels. Its price, he warns, could be just as volatile.

"The risk that we will see explosions in resource prices is there. What we want is to secure a stable, clean and cheap energy supply." he says.

The Minister acknowledges that they cannot calculate the price of a complete transition to renewables, but argues that it still makes financial sense, and not just for Denmark.

He says: "I am 100% sure not only that other countries could to it, but that they will do it, simply because of the development of the markets. Each will have to find their own solutions, but will it happen? Yes."

Denmark's new commitment to renewables does still have to be debated by the country's Parliament. But with almost every MP supporting the move, approval should be a formality.

After that though, the real work begins: working out exactly how to turn this ambitious goal into a physical reality. 

India to get Rs 700 cr German loan for renewable energy projects

New Delhi, April 2 -- Germany will help India in renewable energy projects by giving a low interest loan of about 100 million Euros(about Rs 700 crore). An agreement for that has been signed by German Government owned development bank KfW with the Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC), which is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, the national initiative for rural electrification.

A financing agreement has also been signed for a project development and capacity building grant of EUR 500,000 (approximately INR 3.5 crore)The reduced interest loan provided by KfW on behalf of the German Government will refinance sub-loans made by REC for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in rural areas.

The grant component is intended to provide capacity building support to REC in order to enable the development of bankable projects and innovative business models for energy access at the tail ends of the electricity grid.

India has set ambitious goals to replace coal with renewable sources to meet power shortage in rural areas and also to reduce its share of carbon emmission. The agreements form part of the financial cooperation between India and Germany, the German Embassy said here today.

German Financial Cooperation is channelled through KfW, which acts as the implementing agency on behalf of the German Government. KfW German Development Bank is one of the largest banks in Germany and largest financier of renewable energy projects under development cooperation worldwide.

Germany and KfW have been longstanding partners of India. Since the 1950s, more than EUR 9 billion have been sanctioned by KfW, primarily in the fields of energy, financial sector development, health, and the protection of the environment and natural resources. Currently, about 15 energy sector projects with KfW loan commitments of more than EUR 1.5 billion are in various stages of execution in India. UNI NAZ RSA 1520 NNNN Published by HT Syndication with permission from United News of India.

Welspun Energy to invest Rs 15,000 cr in renewable projects

Welspun Energy, a part of diversified Welspun group, plans to invest about Rs 15,000 crore in solar and wind projects in the country in the next five years.

The focus would be on states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for renewable projects, Welspun Energy Managing Director and co-founder Vineet Mittal said.

"The company plans to invest Rs 15,000 crore in the next five years in solar and wind energy sectors," he told PTI.

At present, Welspun Energy has about 30 MW installed solar project and expects to add another 80 MW capacity by the end of this year. Further, the entity expects to have 150 MW wind energy capacity. The entity aims to have 1,000 MW wind and 500 MW solar projects by 2014.

According to Mittal, the company is actively looking at opportunities for renewable projects in Africa, especially South Africa and Kenya. "We are looking at bidding for projects in South Africa and Kenya ... Where eco-system is very good, payment security mechanism is there and solar policy is good," he said.

"We as a corporate feel that solar power would be what mobile was for telecom, solar and wind are two proven large scale sources of renewable energy," Mittal added.

Welspun Energy is also into thermal power projects.

Winners at the energy innovation summit of DOE

The Department of Energy selected three startups as winners of its America’s Next Energy Innovator award.

As part of the Obama administration’s Startup America initiative, the department made it easier and less costly for startups to license technology from its national labs. This prompted 36 startups to sign option agreements with these labs. The winners of the America’s Next Energy Innovator awards were chosen from among these startups, based on online votes from the general public and a separate review by an expert panel. Besides the prestige of winning this award, the winners also will get a chance to show off their technologies to potential investors at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit near Washington, D.C., at the end of this month.

And the winners are:

• Iowa Powder Atomization Technologies Inc., a Nevada, Iowa, startup that’s using gas atomization technology developed at Ames Laboratory to make titanium powder with processes that are 10 times more efficient than conventional powder-making methods. This lowers the costs for manufacturers. Titanium powder can be used in medical implants, heart valves, aerospace screws, and armored vehicles.
• Umpqua Energy, a Medford, Oregon-based business using technology developed by the Argonne National Laboratory to enable gasoline engines to run in an extreme lean-burn mode and thereby get more miles to the gallon.
• Vorbeck Materials, a Jessup, Maryland-based company using a method developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for building small chemical structures to dramatically improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. This could extend the range for electric cars to 400 miles and allow smartphones to be fully charged in 10 minutes, according to the company.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said allowing startups to license technology cheaply will help move research conducted at the agency’s labs to factory floors in the U.S. Too much technology invented in America has gone overseas for production, he said.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Corp to set up 1,000 MW solar park in India

It is in the very early stages, but the thinking in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Corporation is for the newly set up Solar Energy Corporation to put up a 1,000-MW solar park in the country.

Confirming this to Business Line, Mr Tarun Kapur, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, said that developing such a park would be one of the Corporation's activities.

Business Line has heard from industry sources that the MNRE is thinking in terms of mandating local content for projects that would be set up in the park, while those come up elsewhere would not have any such restrictions. Asked about this, Mr Kapur just said that various ideas were being discussed in the Ministry.

The Solar Energy Corporation is a not-for-profit, “Section 25” company, formed for the purpose of taking forward the objectives of the National Solar Mission, from the second phase onwards.

The recently concluded phase-I was handled by the public sector NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), which is also the buyer of the power produced by the ‘Phase-I solar plants'.

LOCAL MANUFACTURING

A question facing the policy makers is whether or not to mandate local manufacture.

Engendering local solar manufacturing industry is an objective of the Solar Mission. Mandating local content has cost implications that impact projects coming up; on the other hand, without any such mandating, developers would only import plants and no local industry would develop.

PACTS SIGNED

Meanwhile, it is learnt that except for Sujana Towers, all the other (19) solar power developers who won projects in the second round (Batch II) of the National Solar Mission, have signed power purchase agreements with the buyer of the power, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. The deadline for signing of the PPAs was January 27.

In the case of Sujana Towers, which won the right to put up a 10-MW plant in southern Tamil Nadu (incidentally, the State's only one), some “clarifications have been sought”, Mr Kapur said.

Projects worth 350 MW were bid out in the Batch II of the first phase of the Solar Mission.

ABB, Siemens to tap India’s renewable energy sector for power equipment and automation business

Global majors such as ABB and Siemens aim to tap India’s renewable energy sector for power equipment and automation business. ABB, the Swiss-Swedish power equipment and automation company, is eyeing orders from solar power developers with two recent acquisitions in the solar technology space.

“We are already in the invertor market in the solar sector,” said Bazmi R Husain, managing director, ABB India. “In December, we acquired stake in the US-based GreenVolts, which makes solar photovoltaic panels with 40% conversion efficiency. In India general conversion rate is 20%. We also acquired a company called Novatec, they offer solar thermal technology. We are going with all of them.”

Siemens, the competitor of ABB, also eyes major share in the solar invertor market. Solar plants generate direct current (DC) and needs invertors to convert it into alternate current (AC) to connect it to the power grid. EPC players such as Moser Baer, Tata Power and Lanco are target customers for Siemens and ABB.

Siemens also sees potential in automation of solar plants. “India’s solar mission plan is very promising,” said Karl-heinz Kaul, global CEO, Siemens Industry Automation Control Equipment. “We expect this will expand the solar power capacity in a big way. We see potential business in automation of solar plants as well as in sale of equipment such as solar tracker.”

Renewable energy’s funding to be doubled by Power Finance Corp.

Power Finance Corp., India’s largest state-run lender to electricity utilities, plans to more than double lending for renewable energy projects within a year as coal-fired plants become riskier investments.

The company’s approved loans to projects, particularly solar and wind plants, will increase to 15 billion rupees ($305 million), or 4 percent of the total in the next financial year, from 6.75 billion rupees, or just 1.2 percent in the year ending in March, Chairman Satnam Singh said. The company does not plan to increase its total loan outlays of 450 billion rupees in 2013, he said.

“Given that fossil fuel costs have gone up, investments in wind and solar are surging,” Singh said in an interview in New Delhi. “We’re not afraid to go at renewable in a big way where lending happens much faster, within six months.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans to spend more than $300 billion to expand India’s electricity systems in an attempt to spur 9 percent economic growth by 2017. An increasing share of that may be directed toward clean energy projects as lenders shun new conventional power projects that are facing risks such as rising fuel costs.

Coal imported from Australia and Indonesia climbed about 28 percent in the last two years, according to weekly benchmark prices from McCloskeys on Bloomberg. That eroded profit margins at plants burning the fuel.

Power Finance shares fell 0.8 percent to 194.85 rupees at 9:26 a.m. in Mumbai trading. The stock has gained 41 percent this year, beating India’s benchmark Sensitive Index, which has gained 15 percent over the same period.

The company started a subsidiary, Power Finance Green Energy Ltd., in July to broaden its exposure to renewable energy projects. To date, Power Finance has approved almost 30 billion rupees to renewable projects, with 13.4 billion rupees in loans outstanding as of Dec. 30.

‘Clean’ Versus Coal

The balance and all future loans will be managed by the green energy unit in the new financial year, Singh said.

“Purely from an investment perspective, a clean energy project in India is a lot more attractive than a coal-based project, right now” Praveen Kadle, managing director for Tata Capital Ltd. said by phone yesterday in Mumbai. “Solar and wind can’t possibly replace the capacities of conventional projects, but the risk involved in coal certainly has institutions looking for alternatives.”

Germany designs financial plan for renewable energy

Germany recently passed the 20 percent mark for renewable energy in the electricity mix. And the federal KfW bank group has introduced a new plan to further accelerate this shift to renewables, with increases in multimillion euro business loans now available.

As more renewable energy is generated, energy management and storage are also receiving increased focus. Germany Trade & Invest, together with representatives of Germany’s six E-energy model regions, will be at this year’s E-world from February 7-9 in Essen to highlight opportunities for international companies in these growing market segments.

 ”With such a large share of renewable energy in the mix, it is becoming more urgent to implement smart grid and storage technologies to balance the fluctuating supply. Germany is making an exceptional team effort to achieve our ambitious goals, with businesses, banks, researchers and the government all working together” said Heiko Staubitz, renewable energy expert at Germany Trade & Invest in Berlin.

The new KfW plan outlines efforts to ease the financial burden of a wide-ranging shift to renewable energy. Previously, loans were available to small businesses for their efforts to move to renewables, and these have been expanded to cover companies with annual revenue of up to 3 billion euro. At the same time, loans are available to support research and development of energy storage, transmission, production, and efficiency techniques with grants up to EUR 25 million, marking an increase.

In light of last year’s decision to phase out nuclear power, Germany is further ramping up investments in renewable energy. Already, Germany features the world’s strongest photovoltaic market, with nearly half of all global installations worldwide. In wind power, Germany leads Europe in total installations and is currently preparing for a major expansion in the offshore segment.

Germany Trade & Invest is the foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The organization advises foreign companies looking to expand their business activities in the German market. It provides information on foreign trade to German companies that seek to enter foreign markets.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah calls for increased lending to renewable energy sector

Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah has urged the banking sector to scale up lending to renewable energy projects especially those aimed at providing energy access in remote areas and to disadvantaged rural communities. He was speaking at a high level panel discussion organised in New Delhi yesterday to mark the “Asian rollout of the International Year of sustainable Energy for All”. 


He said that certain risks are essential to achieve growth and development. Highlighting the progress India has achieved in the field of wind and solar power, the Minister said that despite this a large number of people in the country still lack access to commercial energy. He emphasised the role of renewable energy in providing energy access to these rural communities and said that it could be the biggest driver for inclusive growth. He said the development of renewable energy can substantially help in reducing consumption of kerosene and diesel.

Terming access to power to all as a key challenge, Dr. Farooq Abdullah called upon the global community to unite in this endeavour. The Minister said that the market can play a key role in enhancing use of renewable energy. Emphasising the need for providing easy availability of finance and modern technology, he said the sector needs high level of investment. The Minister called for focused research and innovation in renewables. Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resource Institute, TERI and other key participants on the panel also highlighted the role of renewable energy in providing energy access.