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The power sector’s stressed asset woes seem to be far from over. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, this month, rejected the power ministry’s plea for granting special dispensation to the power sector for relaxing the guidelines for stressed asset resolution. The ministry was hoping to get an extension of up to one year for the resolution period, as opposed to the 180-day period mandated in the RBI’s new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework.
Effective utilTransitioning to a resource-efficient and circular economy is the key to achieving the country’s sustainable development goals. In line with this, concerted efforts have been made in the power sector to ensure effective utilisation of fly ash, a harmful by-product of pulverised coal. As a result, fly ash has found multiple use cases in different segments of the economy today.
Microgrids or local energy grids with distributed generation sources, typically renewables, with control capabilities can provide a promising solution to India’s energy access problem. Microgrids can operate either in grid-connected or isolated mode, but in India, they are mainly being installed in areas where the grid penetration is low or it is not accessible. The modular nature of microgrids enables fast installation, remote monitoring and continuous power supply. Conventionally, microgrids in India have been based on the hydroelectric sources of power, though biomass, wind, gas- and diesel-based, and hybrid systems have also been deployed. Of late, the focus is on solar power-based microgrid systems along with energy storage capabilities, mainly in the backdrop of the government’s ambitious targets for the segment. As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), 63 microgrids totalling 1,899 kWp have been installed in the country so far. The MNRE has provided financial support of up to 30 per cent of the cost of micro/mini-grids systems for installation in rural areas.
The renewable energy sector has made significant strides over the past few years and this growth momentum is expected to continue in the future. The total renewable energy capacity has grown significantly from 34.98 GW in 2014 to 65.54 GW in 2018. It has been complemented by a decline in wind and solar power tariffs. In this context, renewable energy-based microgrids (as compared to diesel generator sets) could emerge as a potential solution to provide energy security to the masses in a sustainable manner.
Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) latest wind project auction of 2,000 MW interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected capacity, the largest so far in the country, attracted the lowest winning bid of Rs 2.44 per kWh from ReNew Power, Green Infra Limited, Torrent Power Limited and Inox Wind Limited, and the second lowest winning bid of Rs 2.45 per kWh from Adani Green Energy, Alfanar Energy and Betam Wind Energy (ENGIE).
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India has an extensive transmission network spanning 390,970 ckt. km (at the 220 kV and above voltage levels) as of March 2018. Minor failures at any point in the transmission network can result in disruptions in the evacuation and delivery of power to a large number of consumers.
Advanced design and technology trends in cables and conductors are centred on reducing the right-of-way (RoW) requirement as well as increasing the current-carrying capacity of transmission lines. As space is often constrained in urban areas, transmission and distribution (T&D) utilities are increasingly installing compact transmission lines, which have lower RoW requirements and small-sized towers. Further, new conductors are being deployed for carrying higher currents while allowing higher temperature ratings. These include aluminum conductor steel supported (ACSS), aluminium conductor composite core (ACCC) and aluminum conductor composite reinforced (ACCR) cables in place of the conventional aluminium conductor steel-reinforced (ACSR) and all aluminium alloy conductor (AAAC) cables.
In recent times, there has been a lot of focus on e-mobility, and its implications on the power and automobile sectors. The power sector has to gear up for the new demand in terms of charging infrastructure as well as adequate supply (the latter has been less of an issue of late). On the other hand, the auto industry has to undergo a complete structural change and create an entirely new manufacturing ecosystem. While it is a recognised fact that the future lies in going electric, the question is how soon and how well can it be organised and managed as it involves substantial long-term investment.
With increasing renewable energy penetration, rural household electrification and proliferation of electric vehicles, power quality is likely to get affected owing to greater harmonics. To this end, policymakers and decisionmakers are working towards reducing power quality issues through regulatory frameworks. There are also a large number of technological solutions that can be deployed by grid operators to mitigate power quality issues at several levels such as transmission, distribution or end-use equipment.
The share of renewable energy in the overall power mix has increased dramatically over the last decade. Today, renewable energy generation accounts for 10 per cent of the total power produced in the country as against a minuscule share of 0.4 per cent in 2006-07. As India moves towards meeting its 175 GW by 2022 renewable energy target, this share is expected to increase to 16 per cent. While this capacity addition will provide significant benefits in terms of reducing emissions, integration of such a large amount of renewable energy poses significant technical challenges for the grid. As per an expert group constituted by NITI Aayog, meeting the renewable energy target would not be as much of a financial challenge as a technical one.
As part of its global climate change commitments, India has pledged to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. This requires reducing the dependence on fossil fuel for transportation and power generation. Electric vehicles (EVs) present a viable solution in this regard as they can help meet both of these requirements and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, if they draw from renewable energy sources. The charging of EVs presents an excellent outlet for surplus energy produced by renewable energy sources during low demand periods. Further, the fulfilment of India’s goal of an all-electric car fleet by 2030 would reduce the fuel import bill as well as the running cost of vehicles.
While the Electricity Act, 2003 allows open access to facilitate competitive sale and purchase of power, its implementation in the country has been a long-standing issue. The non-uniform imposition of various open access charges across states, state governments’ opposition to open access, infrastructural hurdles and the need to ensure the financial well being of the discoms have disrupted open access transactions.
The idea of introducing ancillary services in the country was first mooted by Power Systems Operations Corporation (POSOCO) way back in June 2010. After several iterations and consultations among the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the load despatchers and other stakeholders, the final regulations on ancillary service operations were notified by the CERC in August 2015. This was followed by the introduction of reserve regulation ancillary services (RRAS), the first load generation balancing services, on a pan-India basis on April 12, 2016.
In July 2018, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) passed a landmark order on “Pilot Project on 05-Minute Scheduling, Metering, Accounting and Settlement for Thermal/Hydro, and on Hydro as Fast Response Ancillary Services (FRAS)”. This is in support of the previous orders passed by the regulator to ensure the smooth integration of 175 GW of renewable energy generation by 2022.
To meet the country’s growing power demand, adequate capacity additions have been made in the generation and transmission segments over the past few years. However, the distribution segment has continued to wrestle with an array of challenges with untimely tariff revisions, high network losses, and poor billing and collection efficiency resulting in high accumulated losses. The poor financial health of discoms has impacted their power offtake ability and, in turn, affected the performance of the generation segment. With power demand expected to surge in the coming years, especially given the government’s 24×7 Power for All scheme, the revival of the distribution segment is imperative. To this end, the electricity regulatory commissions are expected to play a crucial role in the distribution segment to bring together all stakeholders and ensure that all activities in the sector are in the best interest of consumers. Since power distribution is the only segment that involves the participation of the end-consumers, the regulator plays a significant role in managing the segment.
Communication has always played a critical role in the power sector and has become even more important in the context of smart grid infrastructure. The communication network in a power system has the important task of conveying information with the aim of ensuring stable electricity supply.
As the 180-day deadline for the resolution of high-value non-performing assets (NPAs) of around Rs 20 billion and above comes to a close end-August 2018, there is heightened anxiety among industry stakeholders.
In recent years, the growth in electricity demand has not been commensurate with the generation capacity addition, which has led to a decline in the plant load factor (PLF) of thermal power plants (TPPs).
In recent years, there has been considerable debate on whether coal can continue to play an essential role in the global energy mix. Coal is the most widely available fossil fuel resource. It forms the backbone of the world’s electricity supply, meeting more than 40 per cent of the global electricity needs. However, cheap and fast-growing renewables are now taking centre stage as economies pursue low-carbon growth strategies. Renewables are changing the way traditional sources of power operate to bring flexibility in generation.
After years of limited investment, the power sector of Argentina is witnessing a fresh growth spurt with the government’s rising focus on developing core infrastructure sectors. To this end, the government has taken various steps including boosting private investment for power network expansion. To support this, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) law was introduced in November 2016 to regulate and stimulate private investment in key sectors of the economy including the electricity transmission infrastructure. To streamline the PPP contract process, PPP regulations were issued in February 2017.
