Oil sector ‘regulator’ needs a pipeline for talent

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The DGH is looking to end the ‘revolving door’ culture

It may be time for the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons to create its own cadre to avoid conflicts in its role

The clichéd stereotypes about government offices – as stuffy, overstaffed bureaucratic mazes – seem to slip-slide away at the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the nodal body tasked with overseeing many important aspects of the oil and petroleum sector.

That’s because although the DGH, which was set up in 1993, has an approved strength of 220, it has only about 150 people, many of whom are on deputation from public sector undertakings. It additionally has eight consultants with expertise in different fields. Given the expanding ambit of the DGH over these two decades and more, it is actually understaffed.

Set up at a time when private players were entering the oil exploration business in India and there was a need for a supervisory body, the DGH has no cadre of its own. It depends on staff on deputation from the National Oil Companies (NOCs), primarily ONGC and Oil India. But since these companies are themselves into oil and gas exploration, this raises questions of the DGH’s independence.

Over time, the DGH’s responsibilities have expanded. Besides monitoring the production in discovered fields, it is tasked with implementing the New Exploration Licensing Policy and opening up new unexplored areas and looking at futuristic hydrocarbon energy resources.

There have been repeated demands for the creation of a permanent cadre for the DGH or to allow it to recruit independently. But nothing has changed.

Conflict of interestOf all the concerns, it is the potential conflict of interest that worries industry players the most. Since the DGH oversees business across the public and private sectors, the fact that its staff is drawn from ONGC and OIL raises uncomfortable questions. “Remember, the DGH has access to all our data,” says an oil explorer from a large private sector company.

A former Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry official says, “The system of rotation is unhealthy and ill-serves the independence of the DGH.”

Till recently, even the DGH chief was drawn from NOCs. Rajiv Nayan Choubey became the first bureaucrat without a background in the energy sector to head this upstream technical arm of the Ministry. Now, another career bureaucrat, Atanu Chakraborty, heads the organisation, but the Gujarat cadre IAS officer has served as Managing Director at Gujarat State Petroleum Corp.

So, is creating a cadre a solution or should the DGH get geological experts, petroleum engineers and others as consultants on market-based remuneration, as opposed to the PSU-style perks and incentives they are offered currently?

Niche, technical workThose in the DGH say that a cadre can be built only when the organisational strength is large and the work is of a generic nature. DGH work, on the other hand, is highly technical, and it has tough regulatory duties of monitoring exploration and production contracts. Considering this, the DGH can perform better if it has the flexibility to attract talent from diverse sources, admits a senior DGH official.

Deputations from PSUs typically last three years, extendable to five. How can people who come in for just a few years take complex decisions with long-lasting impact?

Senior DGH officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledge that short stints don’t engender a learning attitude. “Organisational memory is critical,” they say. Currently, officers expend the initial years of deputation in learning, but invariably, by the time they are trained, their deputation period has wound down.

There have been suggestions to appoint officers for long tenures with DGH and facilitate an assembly line for grooming talent.

DGH officials, however, dismiss concerns about potential conflict in their roles, noting that the responsibilities of officers on deputation are vastly different from their work in the PSUs.

So, why can’t the DGH hire people from the private sector? Earlier, expertise in exploration and production was only available with NOCs, but today the private sector too is talent-rich.

They don’t come cheap, but as a bureaucrat points out, the DGH has hired private sector experts in the past. “What draws experts to the DGH is a high level of motivation to serve with utmost integrity,” he says.

“If an individual is able to combine his knowledge and capability with organisational goals, the DGH will go the extra mile to hire and retain him,” he asserts.

Going forward, the fight for talent will only get more challenging if the DGH does not resolve its staffing issues one way or another.

 

View original post on Hindu Business line: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/the-babu-seat-middle-piece/article9459550.ece

Filed Under: Enegy, Gas, LNG, Oil, Politics, Regulations, Uncategorized, USA Energy Sector, World Affairs

Cross-subsidy of power tariffs lure businesses to solar energy

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The fall in solar power generation cost has now made it attractive for businesses to go for captive solar power plan

solarpower2-kEzG--621x414@LiveMint.jpg

New Delhi: The practice of forcing industries to cross-subsidize household consumers’ power tariffs is leading to an unprecedented shift among businesses towards captive solar power with some committing to go fully reliant on clean energy.

Cost of producing solar power, which was over Rs12 per kilowatt hour (unit) in 2010, has dropped sharply over the years.

The latest auction, which was held in November, saw takers for solar power projects willing to sell power at Rs3 a unit.

The fall in solar power generation cost has now made it attractive for businesses to go for captive solar power plants, including rooftop plants that supply power cheaper than from the grid, which is expensive on account of the cross-subsidy that industrial consumers are saddled with.

Businesses, especially in the manufacturing sector, have long been complaining of high cost of power, exorbitant tax on diesel and escalating cost of capital as factors that render them less competitive in global markets where their peers enjoy low or negative cost of capital and in some cases, subsidies.

“Solar power is now available at Rs 4-4.5 a unit. In the future, it will cost much less because of technology improvement and possibly low cost of capital. In West Bengal, for instance, cost of power from the grid for industries ranges from Rs 6-8 per unit at present. In Maharashtra, it is Rs 6.5 a unit. Everywhere, except two or three states, tariffs are above Rs 5 a unit for industrial consumers. If you are able to get concessional finance from any multilateral agency and you can produce solar power at Rs 4 a unit consistently for 25 years, it can reduce cost of energy for the business and reduce carbon emissions,” said Mahendra Singhi, chief executive officer, Dalmia Cements (Bharat) Ltd.

Dalmia Cements’s short term goal is to raise the share of clean energy in its total electricity consumption fourfold from 7% at present and to go fully reliant on clean energy in the long term.

Multilateral agencies such as International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private investment arm of World Bank Group, US Exim Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Germany’s KFW are bullish on India’s rapidly expanding renewable energy industry for investment opportunities.

“We already have $1 billion of investments in clean energy projects in India. We are open to scaling it up to $3-4 billion in coming years,” said Shalabh Tandon, India lead, climate business & clean energy, IFC.

IFC on Thursday announced an equity investment of $125 million in Hero Future Energies Private Ltd., a clean energy firm, for a minority stake. Tandon said that IFC does not invest in coal-based thermal power because of its commitment to climate change goals.

Companies like Apple Inc., IKEA Group, Nokia Oyj, Infosys Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd are among those committed to becoming fully reliant on clean energy.

The Economic Survey 2015-16 had suggested that the burden of subsidising poor consumers can shift from industrial consumers to rich individuals and that state electricity regulators should use income as a yardstick to fix the power tariff for individual consumers. The idea was to help businesses become more competitive.

India has a target of putting in place 175 gigawatt (GW) of renewable power capacity by 2022, out of which 100 GW is to come from solar. At the moment, the country has about 8.7 GW of solar power capacity.

One hurdle that companies face in going fully reliant on clean energy is that storage of energy is a costly proposition, which makes them rely on stable power from the grid for a significant part of their energy consumption when renewable energy is not available. Singhi of Dalmia Cements said that once power storage becomes a viable option, the company will be fully run on clean energy.

View original post on: http://www.livemint.com/Industry/hjuezPVDJdbEbipsCKavSN/Crosssubsidy-of-power-tariffs-lure-businesses-to-solar-ener.html

Filed Under: Economics, Enegy, Energy Storage, Finance, International Trade, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Renewable Renergy, Solar, Technology, Urban Renewal, USA Energy Sector, World Affairs

Accountability of regulators a serious crisis in India: Goyal

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Stating that accountability of regulators was a very serious crisis that the country was facing, Union Minister Piyush Goyal today said very often they are not even able to justify many of their decisions.
“The one very, very serious crisis that the nation is facing today is the accountability of regulators. There is almost no accountability of regulators. And in the garb of independence of regulation, it occasionally goes to another extreme,” the Union Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines said.
He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Ease of Doing Business- Regulators as Facilitators’ at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 here.Pointing at regulation of environment sector as a case in point, he said the sector suffered due to “over regulation as regulators are not able to justify many decisions”.

“The environment sector has suffered due to over regulation and very often regulators are not able to justify many decisions. So, you have a situation, where there is nothing like forest for an area called forest, no satellite image, no ground report says there is a single tree in that area,” he said adding that seeking building permission or regulatory permission for such areas causes a lot of trouble.

Attending the seminar were chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Ashish Bahuguna, chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI) Devendra Kumar Sikri, and chairman of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) Gireesh Pradhan, among others.

“Transparency is another area, when we look at the regulatory process. Regulators should be open about their working, hearings should as far as possible be more and more in public domain, and speaking orders, with a logical approach, should be available in public domain so that others should benchmark their business process to whatever is decided by regulators,” he told the audience.

“And regulators should also be user-friendly rather than being under the shroud of what really was the intent of regulators and intent of law. Lastly, it is important to target regulation on what the problem is, so that we don’t tend to go haywire and over-exceed our brief,” Goyal said.

“If we can keep the side effects of regulations minimum, it can help make regulators truly a facilitator person and help economic growth. We can then have a situation where people are not fearsome of regulators, we have to get fear out of regulation,” he said.

“In that sense, policy makers and regulators should work hand in hand. You can’t have a situation, where policy makers and regulators think differently,” he added.

View original post on Business standard: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/accountability-of-regulators-a-serious-crisis-in-india-goyal-117011101448_1.html
Filed Under: Coal, Economics, Enegy, Finance, International Trade, Natural Gas Fired Electricity Generation, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Renewable Renergy, Solar, Technology, Urban Renewal, USA Energy Sector, Wind, World Affairs

Can India dump coal quite so easily?

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

(Getty Images)

Since the Paris Climate Conference in 2015, India vouched to increase its renewable energy production by 175 gigawatts. These broad claims made many wonder whether India would ever be able to achieve this feat, until now. The government’s energy advisory board in a statement said that India could meet its energy needs by 2022, without the need for more coal-powered plants.
The national electricity plan, the draft of which was released by the Central Electricity Authority on 12 December 2016, stated that the share of non-fossil fuel production capacity of the country was to increase to 46.8 per cent by 2022. It may further grow by close to 10 per cent in the subsequent five years. These figures also take into account another 50 GW of coal-based power plants that are in construction and would likely come online by 2022. “The study result for the period 2017–22 indicated that no coal-based capacity addition is required,” said the report.
It’s not just the Indians who are confident and invested in making India renewable energy-sufficient. The confidence comes from the fact that the demand for electricity in India is growing continuously. One quarter of India’s population, which equates to 300 million people, still has no access to electricity. KfW Development Bank, a unit of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, recently concluded a 0.5 billion-euro loan agreement with Powergrid, the Indian power transmission company. This is the first leg of a KfW 1 billion-euro loan for expanding Indian transmission lines.
This investment, along with other minor investments from other countries and banks, seems set to fuel India’s renewable energy production in the coming years. These investments, coupled with a billion dollars from the Indian government, are a part of the construction of “green-corridors”. These new transmission lines will feed on electricity obtained purely from renewable energy sources.
Similarly, there is another mega project to expand the transmission network in the States. The government has signed contracts for expanding the networks in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. 125 million euros were provided to each of these States’ power companies to finance the project. This will enable electricity to be transmitted in a much more efficient way. It would reduce power loss during transmission and reduce our carbon footprint. If India wants to see a noticeable reduction in its CO2 emissions, there needs to be at least a 15 per cent increase in its renewable energy production by 2022, to match the increase in demand through the years. The main issue with renewable energy is that the end customer will only be able to access power from these renewable energy sources if they are stable and efficient. Stability is not as much of a problem for hydro power plants as it is for solar power and wind.
Another issue is that solar and wind power plants are primarily located in only seven states in the country, that is, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Some of these are situated away from the financial centres that are the primary consumers of the power. Therefore, it is very important that the transmission lines be expanded and made efficient.
To increase renewable energy production by such a magnitude is a huge turnaround for one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters that has thrived until now on cheap coal. The energy policy announced in 2006 said that coal would continue to dominate the energy production matrix of India till 2031-32 and maybe even beyond. It projected that India may need 2 billion tons of coal by 2032.
However, with this new turnaround, the new plan puts the total coal requirement for 2022 at 727 metric tons, and for 2027 at 901 metric tons, provided renewable energy targets of 175 gigawatts are achieved. This is after factoring in a 30 per cent reduction in hydropower generation due to monsoon failure being supplemented by coal-based generation.
This bold move has been inspired by, in part, the successful deployment of various renewable energy programmes, especially the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission that has added 10 GW of power in six years.
The Draft Electricity Plan is the only policy paper we have today that provides an insight into the government’s intentions on energy. Thus contradictory plans seem to flow with government intending to increase the supply of coal and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions by turning to renewable energy.
First, coal output is not being curtailed. With Coal India ready to produce a billion tonnes and private coal mines another half a billion, India will have twice the coal it needs. This coal would have to be pushed for export, a wise thing to do as long as the coal markets are buoyant and profitable. This would help India earn foreign exchange and help the country’s negative balance of trade. Second, the government has no legal power to prevent private coal mine owners from setting up coal-based power plants. Power generation no longer requires a license after the Electricity Act of 2003 opened it up.
So we might see a shift from state-owned coal power to privately owned coal-power generating capacities. Coal power nevertheless will grow as coal mining continues to grow. About 83 GW of India’s thermal generation capacity of 214 GW and 130 GW of its total power generation capacity of 308 GW is already privately owned.
The government believes that renewables, especially hydro and even nuclear power would help overcome some of the key problems that have led to a persistent gap in energy access. Moreover, off-grid localized production is also under discussion. It may help ensure stability and efficiency that may be a problem with high transmission and distribution losses.
There is some scepticism about India’s renewable energy policy. India is almost as big as China in terms of population; however, it still is desperately poor and is determined to develop. The easiest way to get richer is to industrialise the nation. This would require more power, and the easiest way to get more power is to dig up coal and burn it, especially as India is endowed with very large coal deposits.
Increasing the renewable energy base is welcome for the fight against global warming. To prevent the adverse effects of climate change, India will have to industrialise differently from the way Europe and the US did. They industrialised by burning coal. India will have to skip most of the coal stage and go right to solar.
The falling cost of solar will help with that, obviously, but India’s unusually abundant, cheap coal resources mean it will not quickly convert from coal to solar power. Although the Narendra Modi administration has made big promises on cutting carbon emissions, many question the government’s ability and will to follow through, especially given the country’s traditional reluctance to address the issue.
This reluctance is understandable. India is very vulnerable to climate change, with long coastlines and a lot of poor people. Therefore, it needs to industrialise quickly and also fight global warming. It is manifestly unfair for India to hobble its growth when most other nations got rich by burning fossil fuels. That will create popular pressure for the government to do less than it should.
The simple solution then would seem to be for rich countries to pay India and other fast-developing nations to skip coal and go straight to solar. However, with European economies in the dumps and the US soon to be headed by the Trump administration, such a bargain seems unlikely.
A more realistic solution to our present situation is for India and other developing countries to receive trade investment, access and know-how from the developed countries. Ways need to be provided to India to ensure it receives the required inputs and the technology base at a competitive price so that it grows faster and does not have to rely on more coal. Additionally, India can impose a high tax on carbon, and adopt other incentives to substitute solar for coal more quickly.
To summarise, developed countries should also do two things. First, they should direct large amounts of investment India’s way, and drop trade barriers. Second, they should set up technology transfer programs that give away clean energy know-how.
This kind of grand bargain would satisfy Indians’ desire for fairness, while also helping them to industrialise quickly. It would also strike a big blow against climate change. This is something that Europe, Japan and other developed countries can do, even if the US opts out under Trump. Though solar has given humanity a possible window out of the climate change trap, bold policy is needed to take advantage of that window.

 

View original post on: http://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/can-india-dump-coal-quite-so-easily-1484422630.html

Filed Under: Coal, Economics, International Trade, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, World Affairs

Stop and Acknowledge How Much Luck Has to Do With Your Success

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

By Carl Richards 

View original post on New York Times: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/your-money/stop-and-acknowledge-how-much-luck-has-to-do-with-your-success.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

I have a lucky friend. Chances are you know him. He has written several New York Times best sellers. By any outward appearance, he has officially made it.

I wanted to know what role he thought luck played in his career. Without batting an eye, he said, “Oh, luck has been everything. I can point to at least 10 occasions where pure, dumb luck landed me a huge break in my career.”

I was skeptical. “O.K., maybe you’ve had some luck,” I said. “But you’ve been working hard and ‘playing in traffic,’ right?”

“No,” he told me. “I’m talking about flat-out luck. A guy I met on a plane, a random stranger, an introduction to a friend of a friend who happened to know great book agent — that kind of luck.”

He is not alone. From Warren E. Buffett, who says he won the “Ovarian Lottery,” to the venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a lot of smart, industrious and hard-working people admit that luck played a role. Mr. Wilson writes that he wouldn’t suggest anyone take his career path: “It won’t work unless you get incredibly lucky.”

And yet, it feels as if for every person who credits luck for his or her success, 10 others dismiss luck. They don’t acknowledge the kind of luck that you can’t take credit for when it happens to you — if you are being honest.

Many of us, in fact, seem to be scared to give this kind of luck any credit because we feel doing so devalues our talent or hard work. But here is the conundrum: If bad luck exists and it is not your fault, so does good luck that has nothing to do with your efforts or actions either. And that is O.K. too.

We shouldn’t rely on luck, but let’s stop kicking it in the teeth when it does show up. Go ahead. Practice saying out loud, “I am very, very lucky.” And guess what? You can say those words and still have working hard, learning more and daring to play in traffic be really important.

By recognizing the role luck has played in our lives, we can go forward with just a little more humility and a little less ego. That is a great investment for long-term success.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Electricity may get costlier as states demand higher royalty on coal: India Ratings

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

If the hike in royalty is accepted, it will lead to coal attracting the highest ad-valorem duty compared to all other minerals

Electricity may get costlier as states demand higher royalty on coal: India RatingsElectricity may get costlier as states demand higher royalty on coal: India Ratings - Image
New Delhi: Chhattisgarh’s request for a revision in royalty rates on coal to 30 per cent from the existing 14 per cent ad-valorem, will push up the cost of electricity by 7 per cent or 10-12paisa/kWh, India Ratings today said in a report.

The state government has constituted a study group to consider the revision in the royalty rates based on the request.

“Ind-Ra believes the royalty hike looks quite steep at 30 per cent, and if accepted, it will lead to coal attracting the highest ad-valorem duty compared to all other minerals,” the report said.

Assuming a pithead price of Rs 720 per tonne for coal, the royalty increase will also lead to a higher contribution towards district mineral foundation (DMF) at 30 per cent of royalty and National Mineral and Exploration Trust (NMET) at 2 per cent of royalty, which translates into a higher cost of electricity generation by 10-12paisa/kWh.

Since January 2015, coal consumers have been hit by rising prices due to the imposition of DMF and NMET (effective January 2015), taking the effective royalty rate up to 18.48 per cent from 14 per cent.

Additionally, if the royalty rates were to increase to 30 per cent, the effective royalty rate would be 39.6 per cent including DMF and NMET contribution.

Furthermore, the clean energy cess increased to Rs 400 per tonne from Rs 200 per tonne in the Union Budget 2016.

During May 2016, Coal India Limited (CIL) increased the run-of-the-mine prices for the most widely supplied grades of coal to the power sector by an average of 16 per cent. Similarly from 1 April 2015, freight charges for coal were hiked by 6.3 per cent.

Therefore, the variable cost of generation for a plant situated 500km from the mine which used to receive grade G13 coal, has increased by 24 per cent to Rs 1.69/kWh.

“If the revised royalty rates were to be accepted as proposed by the Chhattisgarh government, the variable cost of generation can increase by another 7 per cent,” India Ratings said.

It added that on the positive side, coal linkage rationalisation for companies has led to a decline in the transportation costs, thus easing some impact. Industrial power rates are a critical pre-investment consideration for manufacturers and given that bulk of the coal-based capacity in India is on a cost pass-through basis, the ultimate impact of such hikes is passed on to consumers. Such regular hikes in one form or the other are not a healthy sign for thermal power generators.

“Ind-Ra believes that as alternate sources of power namely solar see further reduction in tariffs, the competition between thermal and solar will intensify, with a high probability of solar winning. These price hikes have played out at a time when the all-India power situation continues to improve and CIL is looking at a coal surplus situation, with the possibility of coal also being exported,” it said.

Even after the hike, the coal supplied domestically by CIL continues to be cheaper than the imported coal. Coal has seen a change in royalty rate in 2012, with the royalty being changed to the ad valorem basis at 14 per cent from the earlier system of tonnage based and ad-valorem with royalty on Grade D/E coal being Rs 70 per tonne plus 5 per cent of CIL run of the mine price.

It furthr said the states will benefit at the expense of consumers paying more for electricity.

“Ind-Ra estimates that the increase in royalty up to 30 per cent for the top three states could result in an additional income between Rs 5 billion to Rs 39 billion, depending on the final royalty rate,” it said.
View original post on Economic Times: 
http://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/coal/electricity-may-get-costlier-as-states-demand-higher-royalty-on-coal-india-ratings/56649160

 

Filed Under: Coal, Economics, Enegy, Finance, International Trade, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Technology, USA Energy Sector, World Affairs

Has India’s Energy Sector Really Transformed?

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

SL Rao

What Has Changed?

Most importantly, Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy, Coal, and Mines has cleared the coal sector’s Augean Stables, which were riddled with corruption, theft, and inefficiency. Coal is easily available today, imports have fallen, and global prices have fallen along with those of oil and gas.

Falling domestic demand has sent coal prices lower as well. Power is surplus despite power plants working at a low average plant load factor of 60 percent. But at the same time, around 30 crore people remain without electricity.

Does This Indicate A Transformation?

Not so much. On the positive side is the coal availability and price situation, increasing but still inadequate interstate transmission capacity, some reduction in transmission and collection losses.

But state-owned power distribution companies do not generate enough of their own funds to buy power from within the state or from outside. This is because tariffs remain uneconomical for the distribution companies.

States have violated the law that permits open access for distribution companies to purchase cheaper power from other states. Instead, they buy expensive power from within the state.

Ruling parties treat power as a public good which must be available to all, irrespective of their ability to pay. This has meant that power is given free or below cost to many households, for agriculture in many states, and to some other favoured consumers. Agricultural use of free or cheap power has led to a surge in water-intensive crops like rice and sugarcane, often on soil that is unsuitable. Outcomes range from saline soil to depleting groundwater and river water levels.

The government just ends up accumulating large stockpiles of rice. Compounding that, the Government of India has a minimum support price policy that encourages cereals even when the demand is falling. It has no relation to water availability and use for the crops.

There has been no improvement in gas supplies to operate stranded power generation capacity. Even when gas is available, demand may not be sufficient. Gas generation is flexible and can usefully back-up variable generation from renewables.

Renewable Energy And Efficient Appliances

Wind and solar renewable energy capacities have gone up significantly, as have some small hydro-electric projects. Governments incur subsidy expenditure in promoting renewable energy, but regulators have failed to enforce renewable energy obligations, resulting in a loss of revenue for the generators of clean power. State power distribution companies have not been compelled to meet renewable energy obligations in their total power supply mix.

Progress has been made on energy efficiency. The distribution of LED light bulbs has helped conserve a significant amount of power, as have other measures initiated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. This may well have resulted in some decline in demand for generated electricity.

UDAY Scheme: A Stop-Gap Fix

The power sector benefited from the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme, which reduced debt on the books of state distribution companies by getting the corresponding state government to take over the debt. This, however, has not made any of the distribution companies profitable, but the saving in interest costs has freed some cash.

The UDAY scheme is the best that the Centre can do since electricity is a concurrent subject in the Constitution.

The scheme needs to be seen, not as a solution, but as short-term relief. Power distribution is a state subject, and ruling parties are populist about electricity pricing as they are able to woo large electoral voting blocs.

This is made possible via the appointment of state regulators who are mostly compliant, often from the community of retired bureaucrats who have served in the same state. Until regulators are appointed for their independence, courage, and lack of subservience to ruling governments, there can be little change in the dire financial position of power distribution companies.

It is apparent that fundamental change still eludes the power sector.

UDAY is merely transferring some distribution debt to state governments. It does not tackle the problem of below-cost tariffs and significant inefficiency caused by government ownership.

The only way state governments can indefinitely continue taking on power distribution debt as it accumulates, is via the annual budgetary exercise. But doing so will divert funds from vital state spending – on human capital, law and order, and the building of infrastructure.

There is no option but to charge users a tariff that is remunerative to the company.

Regulate Well, Build Capacity, Store Better

Regulators must have the authority to punish those responsible for below-cost tariffs, and delays in Aggregate Revenue Requirement filings. Transmission and distribution losses, poor collection, and theft of electricity must be targeted, monitored and failures severely penalised.

Interstate and intrastate transmission capacities are grossly inadequate. Governments are the primary investors in this space, more so because private investors are put off by long and frequent government delays, and the consequent costs.

Delays in giving government clearances on land, environment, forest and others have held up many a project, keeping out subsequent private investment.

While India is taking rapid strides in renewable energy, and there are heavy government subsidies involved, there is little investment in backup storage capacity to make up for a shortfall when there is no sun or little wind.

This storage can be of water, batteries or as flexible generation capacities in gas or coal.

In sum, the energy and especially the power sector in India has experienced an uncoordinated set of policies that have left this vital sector largely in government hands and running at a loss. Foreign investment is most unlikely in such a sector. The domestic investment that has taken place is not very profitable. Their supply is either confined to large users or use other means to cover costs.

Huge investment has been made in the power sector, but it needs more. The present surplus is artificial and not due to demand satisfaction, as much as to poor revenues. The energy sector must be approached in its entirety, policies must be integrated for the private as well as public sector to run it in a way that is remunerative.

SL Rao is a Distinguished Fellow Emeritus at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and was the first chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

(This article was originally published in BloombergQuint.)

 

View original Post on: https://www.thequint.com/environment/2017/04/03/energy-sector-transformation-renewable

Filed Under: Coal, Economics, Enegy, Energy Storage, Finance, Gas, Interesting, International Trade, LNG, Natural Gas Fired Electricity Generation, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Renewable Renergy, Solar, Technology, Urban Renewal, USA Energy Sector, Wind, World Affairs

Infrastructure: As far as private power producers are concerned, no light at the end of the tunnel

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

With around 45,000 MW of power capacity running at sub-60% Plant Load Factor (PLF), servicing their staggering debt of `1.9 trn has become a challenge for India’s thermal power producers.

With around 45,000 MW of power capacity running at sub-60% Plant Load Factor (PLF), servicing their staggering debt of `1.9 trn has become a challenge for India’s thermal power producers. To make matters worse, state discoms have been unwilling to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with private producers, opting for central and state power utilities instead. The PLF of the private sector’s coal-based plants fell to 56.45% in the ten months to January 2017 from 83.9% in FY10, as per data available with the Central Electricity Authority. The figure stood at 62.60% in January 2016.

The authority estimates that another 50,000 MW capacity would get commissioned over the FY18-22 period. The central and state utilities would account for 50% of this capacity and the private sector for 40%. Unfortunately, things are unlikely to get any better in the near future. “As the short-term power prices are likely to remain benign and discoms are unwilling to sign PPAs, capacities are unlikely to see an increase in PLF going forward,” Salil Garg, Director Corporate at India Ratings, says.

An analysis of the financials of power producers like GMR Infrastructure, GVK Power & Infrastructure, Lanco Infratech, KSK Energy, and Jindal India Power Ltd reveals the state of affairs as far as private power producers are concerned. GMR Infrastructure suffered a loss of `381 crore in the third quarter of FY17 compared with a profit of `40 crore a year ago. Two of its coal-based power plants—GMR Warora Energy Venture Ltd and GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd—registered an accumulated loss of `3,022 crore as of December 31, 2016. GMR Chhattisgarh Energy, another subsidiary, saw lenders taking control of the project in February by converting `2,992 crore of the `8,800 crore debt into equity.

Lanco Infratech, an infrastructure-cum-power company, incurred a loss of `813 crore for the third quarter ended Dec 31 compared with a profit of `35.19 crore a year ago. The earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for its power segment dropped 47.24% to `232.10 crore and the revenues fell around 20% to `1,190 crore. The company is looking at options to sell its operational assets. As for GVK Power & Infrastructure, it incurred a net loss of `71 lakh in Q3, compared to a loss of `6.80 crore a year ago. For its single coal-based power plant in the Taran Taran district of Punjab, the company is facing fuel supply issues.

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Another Hyderabad-based power producer, KSK Energy Ltd, saw its losses growing to `17 crore in the third quarter from `14 crore a year ago. The company is believed to be in talks with lenders to refinance its Mahanadi project debt—`11,691 crore of the total `19,000 crore—under the 5/25 scheme of the Reserve Bank of India.

The fall in tariffs in solar and wind segments has compounded problems for thermal power producers. “The drop in tariff for solar projects to `2.97 per unit in the latest bidding in Madhya Pradesh and the levellised tariff of `3.34 per unit would be an additional burden for conventional power generators, as their cost of production has gone up due to cost overruns on fuel supply and environmental clearances,” an analyst with a Mumbai-based foreign brokerage says. The renewable segment is likely to see consolidation going ahead as the government’s target of attaining 175,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 approaches closer, he adds. As much as 15,000 MW of solar and 9,000 MW of wind capacity creation is likely to be targetted in the new financial year (FY18).

 

View original post on Financial Express: http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/infrastructure-as-far-as-private-power-producers-are-concerned-no-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/612437/

Filed Under: Coal, Economics, Enegy, Finance, International Trade, LNG, Politics, Power Sector - India, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Renewable Renergy, Solar, Technology, USA Energy Sector, Wind, World Affairs

India Focus: Financing the renewables dream

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

India has surprised many with the speed and government commitment of its renewable energy programme. But what are the financial challenges behind taking the country’s clean energy ambitions to the next stage. 

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There are few countries in the world – and arguably none in the so-called developing world – that have renewable energy targets as ambitious as those of India.

When the country announced in 2015 that it was planning to have an installed renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, many industry observers believed this was simply undeliverable.

And yet the country is on track to beat that target by a couple of years, thanks to a raft of policy initiatives and financial backing, not least from domestic investors.

“India is absolutely committed to renewable energy targets and clean energy growth and nothing will stop that,” said Piyush Goyal, minister of state for Power, Coal New and Renewable Energy and Mines at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi in January.

He said that today, “renewable energy stands on its own feet”.

“Gone are the days when governments need to provide support. It makes good economic sense to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency.”

Kishor Nair, chief operating officer of Welspun Energy, says that when Goyal took charge, “particularly in the first six months, he was having a lot of discussions with industry to understand the problems of developers in executing projects. The tariffs have come down because of a lot of enabling policies. A lot of initiatives were taken in cutting down the project costs, optimizing the projects earlier.”

Vikram Kailas is managing director of Mytrah Energy, which was formed in 2010, when it raised $80 million from institutional investors such as Capital Group, Blackrock and Henderson.

“So we have seen the transformation of the industry,” said Kailas at the World Future Energy Summit. “When we started the company, a seven-year loan was standard and interest rates were about 13 per cent. Today, 18-20 year loans are standard in India and interest rates have down to about 10 per cent.”

Mytrah Energy presently has a total wind portfolio capacity of 1000 MW across 15 wind farms in eight states – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Kailas says “India is going through a transformation” with, for the first time, 1000 MW of wind having been tendered. “It’s a good move for two reasons. One, it opens up the boundaries beyond state level and increases the demand, and I believe that it leads to transparent pricing. It’ll lead to a better price realization both for the state and for the industry.”

Vinjay Rustagi is managing director of Bridge to India, a renewables consulting and research company working with “everybody across the whole value chain”.

He said: “When you talk to major international investors about the Indian renewables sector, the fundamentals for the sector are compelling.”

“When you look at the imperative to reduce carbon emissions, the growing power demand, the desire to reduce energy costs, as well to provide power to people 24/7 across India, the fundamentals are so strong that we see a strongly growing renewable power sector for one or two or more decades in the future.”

Rustagi says that the key in India is that the renewables market “provides visibility, growth and strong government support which are huge positives for financiers in the sector”.

To deliver India’s big renewables ambitions is going to take big money. “We think that the total financing requirement for the sector is about $120 billion based on today’s cost of installing and setting up these systems,” says Rustagi. “That is spread between equity and debt in the ratio of 25 and 75 per cent. Most of that investment is geared towards power generation, which is being dominated by the private sector. And of course there needs to be a lot of ancillary investment in transmission and distribution and upgrading of the grid, which is currently led by the public sector.”

The scale and pace of India’s renewables rollout is vast and fast. “The key thing is, historically, the sector has been about 5 GW a year – going forward we want to scale that up to 10-15 GW a year,” explains Rustagi. “Is India and investors ready to make this sustainable on a long-term basis? Is there enough appetite in the financing market to support this growth?”

He said “the biggest risk for any entity that is setting up a renewable project is the ability of the grid to absorb and sell the power to consumers. A huge amount of work needs to go into making the grid strong and resilient enough to cope with the growing renewables capacity in the country.”

“If the Indian government wants to attract enough private investments, it needs to make sure that developers don’t have to take risks and that the transmission grid is capable of coping with the extra supply of renewables.”

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Minister Piyush Goyal: “It makes good economic sense to invest in clean energy.”

Credit: IRENA

Another risk which international investors are worried about in India is the country’s distribution companies. “There are companies which still by and large are government-owned and they have various pressures – political and regulatory – to keep tariffs low,” says Rustagi. “Their balance sheets are not very strong, so the question really is: can distribution companies make sure that they can absorb all this growing capacity in the country.”

A further concern – though perhaps less so now than in past years – is the Rupee risk. He said PPAs were all structured in Rupees and “when you’re coming from outside, there’s a genuine concern over what happens when the Rupee depreciates. The Rupee has been volatile over the last six-to-seven years. But I think over a period of time, driven by the attractiveness of the market, many international investors have got comfortable with the Rupee depreciation risk. This is something that you can build into your financial model – you can quantify it.”

The financial players

So who is playing in the Indian market? There is huge interest from both the international and the Indian community to finance projects: international developers, private equity and Indian corporates.

“The interesting thing,” says Rustagi, “is that it is the Indian corporates and private equity funds who have dominated the market. International investors bring big balance sheets, and cheaper cost of money, but we see that the India players have been the most aggressive in the market.”

However, he poses the question: “What happens to these investors over a period of time. Most Indian investors don’t arguably have a long-term view – they want to churn their assets, recycle their funding – so is there enough debt in the market to be able to absorb their funding on a long-term basis?”

Rustagi says debt for the sector is “mainly coming from Indian lenders who seem to have a huge appetite”.

“The India renewables market is very attractive. It offers multiple-decade growth and strong policies from the government. On the equity side, the key issue if scale of capital.”

Daanish Varma, director of Sustainable Investment Banking at Yes Bank, says “lenders have become much more comfortable with the solar story – they understand the technology”.

But he adds that once other capital-intensive infrastructure projects in India start picking up, renewables will have to compete for capital, “so we will have to watch out for that”.

He too says India is a bank-driven debt market. So how does the sector bring in the big bucks of the bond and pension markets. “Once we address the risk portion of it,” says Varma. “Once we are able to say that operating renewable assets in India is as secure as you can get, then you get the bond market and the pension investors coming into the process. You need to move from a private-equity play to a pension play for renewable assets.”

But Anand Rohtagi, managing director of Synergy Consulting, warns: “I don’t think India is ready for the equity capital needed for the quantum of solar technology you are looking at. If you see where India stands today, we have had domestic developers look at the market, international investors are standing behind the domestic developers – there is not a single international developer looking at the market. That’s where the issue lies.

“India today does not have access to long-term equity capital. Most of the capital you see is short term. For the sector to grow it needs long-term capital – it needs players who can hold equity for 15-to-20 years. So India is a long way from the equity-funding cycle.”

View original post on: http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-25/issue-3/features/financing-the-renewables-dream.html

Filed Under: Economics, Enegy, Energy Storage, Finance, International Trade, Politics, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Renewable Renergy, Solar, Technology, Urban Renewal, USA Energy Sector, Wind, World Affairs

‘Lighting as a Service’ Offers New Business Model, Growth Opportunity

May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2017 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

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The lighting industry is in the midst of two concurrent upheavals. First, light-emitting diode (LED) lighting is gaining market share rapidly over incumbent technologies, and second, lighting controls systems are making it possible to optimize the use of lighting in more sophisticated ways to save energy and money. Everyone from building owners and managers to lighting designers and installers is facing the challenge of this two-pronged transformation. But this transformation is paving the way for a third: the rise of “lighting as a service” (LaaS).

LaaS is defined broadly as the third-party management of lighting systems, which may include additional technical, maintenance, financial, or other services. These offerings can begin with the design and installation of a lighting system, continue through maintenance and management, and even include the recycling or disposal of equipment at the end of its life. Companies have begun to offer combinations of these services as they experiment with how best to meet their customers’ needs. These initial efforts represent the beginning of a trend that Navigant Research anticipates will grow rapidly over the next 10 years.

The possibilities for LaaS solutions are wide-ranging, allowing some companies to provide a continuum of offerings, while others simply layer additional services onto the equipment they sell. Current, a start-up within lighting heavyweight GE, is wrapping data and digital solutions around lighting upgrades with optional financing to provide a full suite of LaaS possibilities. Enlighted, a Sunnyvale, California–based startup, has developed a LaaS platform that combines sensors, analytics, and controls. But unlike other LaaS competitors, Enlighted does not use this platform to sell lighting hardware. Rather, the company partners with luminaire manufacturers, facilities management companies, and electrical contractors to create an ecosystem of lighting systems.

Numerous factors are converging to drive the market for LaaS:

  • Looming declines in sales revenue: LED prices are forecast to continue fall, while the lifespan of LED lamps will continue to lengthen. Historically, a significant portion of total revenue in the lighting industry is based on the replacement of burned-out lamps. As a growing part of the installed base of lights is replaced with longer-lasting LEDs at falling prices, lighting equipment revenue will begin to decline. Engaging customers in lighting service contracts presents an opportunity for lighting companies to replace repeat sales of bulbs with recurring revenue from LaaS contracts.
  • Technology marching on: Every aspect of a building’s systems has become more complicated, and lighting is no longer an exception. Rather than trying to keep up with the rapid changes in lighting technology themselves, building owners and managers are beginning to turn to third parties to provide these lighting systems for them.
  • Compelling business case: Advanced lighting controls systems can save significant amounts of energy, but only with optimized operation. Perhaps even more important than direct energy savings, the information gained through a lighting system’s sensors can be used to inform space-use decisions and facilities management in a way that can significantly affect a user’s bottom line.
  • Building codes: Updates to California’s Title 24, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 standard, and the International Energy Conservation Code include increasingly strict requirements for lighting control, from occupancy sensing, to daylight usage, to multi-step or continuous dimming. While none of these codes mandate a networked lighting controls system or third-party management, each requires a significant role for lighting controls. Bringing on a third party to provide LaaS and ensure that all building codes are met is an increasingly attractive choice.

Despite these long-term drivers, the LaaS market is currently in its infancy. Global revenue for these services is estimated at just $35.2 million in 2016; most existing projects are pilots and test cases. But as more lighting companies – as well as outside industry players such as IT integrators and facilities management service providers – enter this market, and as companies refine their business models and offerings to entice customers, Navigant Research forecasts that revenue will grow rapidly.

Through 2025, this market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52%, to a total of $1.6 billion in 2025, with North America representing half of that revenue. LaaS is on its way.

View original post on Advanced Energy Economy: http://blog.aee.net/lighting-as-a-service-offers-new-business-model-growth-opportunity?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=49974066&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–9G4bBrHwCoF5v3gOfpBhu7U-f0imGxtVLJEC2BmfCtOFTrRQiENfJYyzfr4eBkxrqVKUt2c90y3qkbz82OghHuFo7NA&_hsmi=49974066

Filed Under: Economics, Enegy, Finance, Gas, International Trade, Politics, Power/Electricity, Regulations, Renewable Energy Finance, Technology, USA Energy Sector, World Affairs
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