OREANDA-NEWS. Achievements and Initiatives of Ministries of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy in the first 200 Days.

Mission:

·      Affordable, 24x7 power for all homes, industrial and commercial establishments and adequate power for the agricultural sector

·      Long-term energy security of India

Key takeaways

·      5 unions of Coal India Limited have called off the strike after cordial discussions with senior leadership of the company and the Ministry of Coal yesterday.

·      After collapse of grid in Delhi in May leading to frequent power cuts, Central government acted decisively to restore power lines and provide power to all homes. From these learnings, we have prepared a short term and medium term plan to ensure such a crisis does not occur again, for which massive investments worth ~Rs. 7,700 crores are already underway for:

o       Upgrading power infrastructure

o       Bringing more transmission lines to the city

o       Underground cabling

o       Smart metering to stop wrong billing

o       Emergency response systems

·      National launch of LED and energy conservation mission by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji: 1 crore bulbs in Delhi will be replaced with LED within one year. Similar replacement program of 500,000 street lights of Delhi in one year too. Nationwide rollout thereafter will see a saving of over Rs. 10,000 crores.

·      Amendments in the Electricity Act introduced in Parliament for providing choice to consumers in electricity suppliers (just like we have the freedom to choose a mobile phone operator and can change if dissatisfied, so will be the case with electricity suppliers too). This will ensure more competition, affordable power and better customer service.

·      50% increase in capacity addition in June-Nov 2014 versus June-Nov 2013

·      Record 15.8% increase in thermal based electricity generation in June-Nov 2014 versus June-Nov 2013

·      All time high 14.1% increase in coal production in Oct-Nov 2014 versus 1.0% in Oct-Nov 2013 (and 8.4% production growth in June-Nov 2014 over June-Nov 2013)

·      Central Government grant of Rs. 1.1 lakh crores for comprehensive infrastructure up gradation pan India under two schemes (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) for rural India and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for urban India) towards 24x7 affordable power for all.

o       DDUGJY will see feeder separation in rural India giving assured power to the farms, and 24x7 for homes and small scale industries

o       The Remote villages with small population (e.g., dhanis) will also be covered under DDUGJY.

·      Action plan towards doubling Coal India’s production target to 100 crore tons in 5 years is in place, and transformation process has been initiated.

·      100,000 MW solar and 60,000 MW wind energy capacity installation target by 2022 for long-term energy security of India. This will entail an investment of Rs. 10 lakh crore.

o       40,000 MW of rooftop solar

o       20,000 MW of solar parks

·      A world-class Renewable Energy Investment Summit (RE-Invest 2015) is being held in mid-February to show case India’s potential, ease of doing business and to attract such quantum of capital.

·      Historic coal ordinance was promulgated within a month of cancellation of coal blocks by Hon’ble Supreme Court. Allocation and auction process will be held in a transparent manner exclusively by e-bidding. This will protect the interests of Coal India Limited’s employees and increase domestic production towards 24x7 affordable power for all, and long term energy security of India.

·      Coal bearing states will receive over Rs. 7 lakh crores from e-auction of coal blocks in future, for socioeconomic development and accelerating economic growth.

·      Make in India: Rs. 1 lakh crore worth orders being placed by NTPC, Coal India Limited, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, PGCIL etc. to boost manufacturing and kick start the economy.

·      Long pending transmission projects worth Rs. 35,000 crores cleared and government grant of Rs. 10,000 crores for comprehensive strengthening and up gradation of power systems in 8 North Eastern States

·      Supply of coal from nearest mines will reduce transportation costs by Rs. 6,000 crores, reducing tariffs:

o       Already one exchange between NTPC and Gujarat saved Rs. 300 crores for the customers

·      PSUs under the administrative control of the Ministries of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy are constructing over 100,000 toilets in schools, by 15th August 2015 towards Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.