Infrastructure and Energy Sector

[natarajan]

$10-b solar power project set to shine on Gujarat

Gujarat envisaged only 500 MW of solar power generation by 2014. But this modest target may now be increased to 3,000 MW with the world’s largest solar power project, proposed to be set up with an investment of nearly $10 billion (Rs 50,000 crore), likely to become a reality soon.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed here recently by Mr S. Jagadeesan, Principal Secretary, State Energy Department, and Mr Ira Magaziner, Chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), in the presence of the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. The CCI is a programme of the William J. Clinton Foundation, set up by former US President Mr Bill Clinton.

The proposed solar energy park would be spread over 5,000 hectares which may be made available in a couple of months in Banaskantha, Patan, Surendranagar and Kutch districts along the India-Pakistan border, in a bid to harness otherwise infertile desert land for developing its energy security.

CCI is considering similar parks in the US, South Africa and Australia. It is in talks with companies from across the world to invest in the project, Mr Magaziner said.

CCI is also negotiating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and fund houses to raise money at lower interest rates to bring down the unit cost of electricity in the next five-six years.

In January, the State Government had announced a solar energy policy to harness the potential of the inexhaustible source, and has allotted a capacity of over 700 MW to 34 national and international developers for setting up solar power plants in the State.

The proposed parks would serve as a concentrated zone of solar energy development in Gujarat and would include 3,000-plus MW of solar power generation plants, manufacturing and R&D facilities. Individual solar plants would be constructed on the land in clusters with a predictable timeline, sharing common transmission and infrastructure.

A solar park can lower the cost of solar power due to economies of scale and use of less expensive, domestically manufactured components. It can also serve as a solar manufacturing and technology hub, an official said.

Under the MoU signed with the CCI, the State Government would facilitate identification of land and create the infrastructure for setting up the solar power plants in co-ordination with CCI. It would invite national and international developers to set up these plants on chargeable basis for the infrastructure created. The power produced by these plants would be purchased by the State power utilities.

The proposed 3,000-plus MW solar power plants would generate over 5,200 million units of energy. They would reduce carbon-dioxide emission to the extent of 5.2 million tonnes annually and create employment opportunities for over 20,000 people.
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[Sridhar]

domain-b.com : L&T bags Rs2000 crore power plant order

domain-b.com : ONGC to invest Rs50,000 crore in exploration and production

domain-b.com : Road projects to create a Rs2,128-crore market for geotech industry by 2012

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Delhi Metro's new broad gauge train rolls out​

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro on Friday rolled out its new fleet of broad gauge trains, which are faster and swankier than the present ones. The trains procured from German-based Bombardier were inducted into service by DMRC chief E Sreedharan at the Central Secretariat station. The new trains promise to make the journey more comfortable for the commuters. The first train will run on the Central Secretariat- Jehangirpuri underground line. After inducting the train into service, Sreedharan also took a ride on the train. The acquisition of the train is part of Rs 2,984 crore deal with Bombardier under which DMRC will procure 83 broad gauge trains by 2011. Some of the facilities of the new trains are a high capacity air-conditioning system, heat and humidity control system, sockets for charging mobile phones and laptops and CCTVs to keep a watch on passengers' misconduct. The first train hit the tracks today after the Commissioner of Railway Safety gave the nod for starting the services. The maximum operational speed of the new trains will be 85 km per hour while the existing ones can increase the speed up to 80 km per hour.

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[NSG_Blackcats]

Solar home lighting for 27 villages in J&K

Micro hydel units set to power village homesteads in Karnataka

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Two units of Tatas’ Mundra project to go on stream by 2012​

New Delhi, Sept. 25: Tata Power expects to commission the first two units of its 4,000 MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project in Gujarat before the end of the current Five Year Plan (2007-12) period. The company would commission two 800 MW units by February 2012, a senior company official said. “There is over 30 per cent progress in the project and we would commission the first unit in September 2011 and subsequently other units will follow at an interval of five months each...The second unit would be commissioned by February 2012,” Tata Power’s Executive Director (Finance), Mr S. Ramakrishnan, said here. The 4,000 MW Mundra project would be fully commissioned by December 2013. “Mundra would be the first UMPP to go on stream,” he said. The company will be importing 12 million tonnes of coal from an Indonesian coal block, where it has picked up 30 per cent. Nearly, half of the fuel requirement of the project will be procured from these mines. Tata Power bagged the Mundra project in 2007. The project entails an investment of Rs 17,000 crore and is being funded through a debt and equity ratio of 75:25. “The entire equity is of Tata Power and the debt component comes from both foreign exchange loans and domestic loans,” he added.

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[NSG_Blackcats]

Country’s longest elevated expressway ready for take off​

The 11.6-km elevated expressway, the country’s longest, from Mehdipatnam to Arangarh in Hyderabad, is expected to shorten the travel time from the Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad to the city. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority officials hope to meet the October 2 deadline for the Rs 439-crore project, dedicated to the memory of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

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[LETHALFORCE]

India May Attract $5 Billion in Oil, Gas Exploration Round

India May Attract $5 Billion in Oil, Gas Exploration Round - Bloomberg.com




India May Attract $5 Billion in Oil, Gas Exploration Round

By Dinakar Sethuraman

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- India may attract as much as $5 billion in work commitments in the country’s largest auction of oil and gas areas as explorers such as BP Plc, BG Group Plc and Santos Ltd. seek new deposits, a government official said.

Explorers may bid for about 90 percent of the 70 areas offered in the eighth exploration round compared with 45 of the 57 blocks offered in the previous round, V.K. Sibal, India’s oil regulator, said in an interview today. The previous round may have attracted $3 billion, he said, based on calculations on what companies may spend to collect data and drill wells under a “work program.”

“We expect bidding to be above average because of the meltdown,” Sibal said. “Next year we may offer 70 to 80 blocks under a new round.”

Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc aren’t participating in Indian auctions because they want producing areas, he said. Asia’s third-largest energy consumer, seeking to cut oil imports, may have received about $12 billion in work commitments and additional spending under the country’s first five rounds, Sibal said.

Worldwide spending on oil and gas exploration may drop 12 percent to $400 billion this year, according to Barclays Capital Research.

The government reinstated a seven-year income-tax holiday for gas projects to attract more explorers, changed a three- phase work program to a single one offering companies more flexibility, and has specified the penalties for incomplete drilling commitments in the new exploration round, Sibal said.

Reliance Industries

The legal wrangle between Reliance Industries Ltd. and billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd. over gas pricing may “impact” investments in the country’s latest bidding round, Sibal said.

“No fight adds value,” he said. The government set a price of $4.20 per million British thermal units in 2007 for gas from Reliance’s KG-D6 field, excluding taxes and transportation costs.

The government hasn’t deviated from the terms of the production sharing contract signed with Reliance Industries, Sibal said.

India awarded 44 areas last year to companies including BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, and Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India’s biggest exploration company. A bid for one field by Cairn Energy Plc was rejected.

Companies may have committed to spend $10 billion on energy exploration in India, the finance ministry said in a report in July. Companies have spent $4.7 billion on exploration as of April 1 after India started auctioning oil and gas areas to companies in 1999, it said. An additional $5.2 billion has been spent on developing 68 discoveries in 19 blocks.

India may “soon” shift to an open acreage policy for awarding oil and gas areas after it completes building a data bank of oil and gas areas, Sibal said. Explorers can access the seismic data and make bids for the blocks that interest them, he said.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Norms simplified for grant of mega power status​

New Delhi, Oct. 1 The Centre has approved a slew of modifications to the Mega Power Policy, essentially aiming at simplifying the procedure for grant of mega certificate for projects and encouraging indigenous manufacturing in the field of super-critical power equipment. A ‘mega’ status entails fiscal benefits such as tax holidays and duty breaks on import of equipment for the project developer.

The amendments to the policy, approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday, include scrapping the condition that required a mega power project to sell electricity to more than one State. The clause on inter-State power sale has been done away in view of a multi-fold increase in demand across States, which now makes it possible for large industrialised States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat to consume all of the electricity that a mega project can generate, a Power Ministry official said.

New Rule
Under the new rules, States purchasing power from mega projects will not be required to privatise their distribution utilities to qualify for the fiscal sops under the scheme, as was mandated earlier. Instead, they just need to “undertake to carry out distribution reforms as laid out by the Power Ministry,” according to the modified policy.

Benefits of the scheme have also been extended to the new super critical-technology based projects to be awarded through international competitive bidding, with the mandatory condition of setting up indigenous manufacturing facility.

Besides, while a basic Customs duty of 2.5 per cent will be imposed on imports for expansion of existing mega projects, all other benefits under the policy available to Greenfield projects would also be available to expansion units as well.

The modifications to the policy includes the withdrawal of the 15 per cent price preference for domestic equipment makers bidding for projects being executed by public sector companies under tariff-based competitive bidding process. However, the 15 per cent price preference will continue for domestic bidders in the case of cost plus projects being set up by public sector companies.

Threshold size
The threshold size requirement — 1,000 MW for fossil fuel-fired plants and 500 MW for hydel units — for projects to qualify for the mega power benefits has, however, not been tinkered with. While the term ‘mega’ project denotes stations that qualify under the Mega Power Policy criterion, the new term of ‘Ultra Mega Power Projects’ has been coined for a slew of generation plants that are coming up across the country, which have a minimum size of 4,000 MW each.

“The basic idea behind the amendments was to rationalise the policy and bring it in consonance with the National Electricity Policy 2005 and Tariff Policy 2006,” a Power Ministry official said.

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[NSG_Blackcats]

Three companies bid for Iconic Tower project​

Mumbai, Oct. 2: Three companies, including Reliance Infrastructure of the Anil Ambani Group, have submitted bids for the Rs 4,000- crore Iconic Tower and Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Wadala in central Mumbai. A panel of experts will evaluate the bid documents and declare the winner soon. The project will come up on a 14-hectare plot owned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, which is also the project implementing authority. It will qualify for four FSI (floor space index).

Reliance Infra is part of a consortium with China Building Technique Group Co. Essar Realty Holdings is also in the race and has teamed up with Leighton Contractors (India) and Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises Co (LLP), Dubai. Australia-based Hyder Consulting is a sole bidder without any partners. The bidder who offers the highest annuity payment will get the contract.

The mammoth project would be on a design, build, own, operate and transfer basis under a public-private partnership arrangement. The proposed 531 metre and 101 storey tower will be higher than Petronas Towers in Malaysia (by 79 metres). It will have 60 lakh sq ft of built-up space and is comparable to the Dubai Burj tower with 25 per cent extra built-up area to boot.

The estimated construction of cost is about Rs 10,000 per sq ft. Developers will be asked to build the outer shell with provision for basic amenities including security system, lifts, air-conditioning, communication and electrical systems. The interiors will be done up by the tenants.

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[Sridhar]

India may participate in Black Sea -Red Sea pipeline project

03 October 2009

India is actively examining the possibility of sourcing some of its oil imports through the Mediterranean pipeline, or the Black Sea-Red Sea pipeline project, in a bid to diversify its crude oil supply sources. The project would involve India lifting oil from the Israeli port of Eilat on the Red Sea rather than the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, which so far is the practise.

Oil travels to Ceyhan from Azerbaijan across Georgia on the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. If the Black Sea–Red Sea project fructifies then the delivery point for Azeri oil would shift from the Turkish port city of Ceyhan to the Israeli port city of Eilat on the Red Sea. This would allow maritime traders to bypass the congested Suez Canal, and also press Very Large Crude Carriers into service.
Indian officials stressed that the project is still at a conceptual stage and that the economic viability of the project was being examined. It was not necessary that the country would commit itself to direct participation in pipeline construction, they said, and very likely the network would be built by Turkey and Israel.
According to official sources, currently two million tonnes, of the 120 million tonnes of crude oil being annually imported by India, is lifted from Ceyhan.

Officials said that the pipeline was a good idea as it had the potential of being a cheaper alternative to beneficiary countries. They stressed that the onus of making the project feasible rested with Turkey and Israel.
According to officials India would only consider the proposal if the landing price at Eilat would be cheaper than what the country was currently being offered from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait.
As far as Israel and Turkey are concerned, an agreement in principle already exists on the construction of a Black Sea-Red Sea multiple pipeline that would transmit oil, natural gas, water and electricity. There was also a possibility of including a fifth functionality into the system - that of a fibre optical cable system.
The Black Sea-Red Sea pipeline is being looked upon as an extension of the Samsun-Ceyhan project in which Indian Oil Corp is already a 12.5 per cent stakeholder. The project consists of a 550-km pipeline, a new loading terminal in Samsun and oil storage facilities in Ceyhan. With a designed capacity of 1.5 MMbbls the Samsun-Ceyhan project will have a larger capacity than the BTC project.
The construction of Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline will allow most of the Caspian crude oil production to bypass the Bosphorus Strait.
An enormous significance of the Black Sea-Red Sea project also lies in the contribution it can potentially make to the region's development, especially by catering for the water needs of Palestine and Jordan in particular.
Water is an important source of tension in the region.
However, Jordan has already moved ahead with a project to build a water pipeline of its own with no sign of progress on the Black Sea–Red Sea project. But this is not to minimise the project's potential.

domain-b.com : India may participate in Black Sea -Red Sea pipeline project

 

[BLACK_COBRA]

India gets UN funds to improve conditions in urban areas

India has bagged the maximum number of grants from the United Nations-Habitat to fund its youth-led development projects in urban cities.

The UN agency that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable cities, has granted funds for 67 projects in 33 countries across the world.

The projects will involve themes of poverty alleviation, spreading education, improving environment, health and safety for city dwellers.

“Major challenges of the 21st century include the rapid growth of many cities and the decline of others, the expansion of the informal sector and the role of the cities in causing or mitigating climate change,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki—moon said on the ‘World Habitat Day’, marked to reflect on the condition of towns and cities around the world since 1986.

“Evidence from around the world suggests that the governments at all levels are largely failing to address these challenges,” he said, pointing out the growth of overcrowded tenement zones, ethnic enclaves, slums and informal settlements.

Out of some 1 billion slum dwellers in the world today, it is estimated that more than 70 per cent are under 30.

“World Habitat Day is a good chance to look into the problem of people without housing and how to help them,” US President Barack Obama said in a video-taped message at the function held at the National Building Museum in Washington.:goodstuff:

 

[RPK]

domain-b.com : India to announce National Solar Mission

New Delhi: The Indian government is likely to announce that 15 per cent of its new energy capacity addition would be from renewable resources by 2020. The announcement is likely to be made ahead of the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen at the year end.

Government sources say the prime minister's office (PMO) is preparing a draft on a national solar mission that is likely to be announced on 14 November. With an envisaged installed solar generation capacity of 20,000 MW, 100,000 MW and 200,000 MW in 2020, 2030 and 2050, respectively the mission will aim at making India a global leader in solar energy.

The government is expected to allocate Rs85,000-Rs105,000 crore to support the mission over 30 years.

Sources suggest that the mission would aim at achieving tariff parity with conventional grid power in the period 2017-2020.

Industry experts say that a 15 per cent target ought to be acceptable to the industry, which was actually looking at sourcing at least 20 per cent from renewable resources by 2020.

Developed nations are under immense pressure from developing nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

India unveiled a detailed roadmap to phase out the ozone-depleting greenhouse gases hydrochlorofluorocarbons on Tuesday.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Govt may choose PPP mode for gas highways​

The government may consider a public-private partnership (PPP) mode for setting up national gas highways to ensure distribution across the country. It is likely to set up a national gas highway development authority on the lines of the National Highways Authority of India. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas will seek an in-principle approval from the Cabinet for setting up the authority. It has circulated a draft note to seek comments from other ministries.


"The proposed authority will undertake issues related to planning and funding of the gas highway. The idea is to cover the entire country with a pipeline network, so that as and when gas becomes available either through imports or domestic sources, it can be distributed. Various modes of funding are being looked at, including PPP, government grant and external aid," said a ministry official.

The gas availability will ensure rapid industrialisation and help the growth of small and large units, apart from connecting households to piped gas supply. With the recent find of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the eastern offshore of the country, indigenous production is set to double, with natural gas emerging as an important source of energy. LNG infrastructure in the country is also being expanded. Current domestic gas production is estimated at 141.5 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd).

At present, the bulk of gas consumption is accounted for by the western and northern states, while the eastern and southern states were lagging due to low gas pipeline density. The purpose behind expanding the existing pipeline network is to bring down the considerable inter-state disparity in gas consumption. Unviable routes where the private sector might not be interested in laying pipeline would be taken up under the gas highway plan, said an official.

In his Budget speech this year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government proposes to develop a blueprint for long-distance gas highways, leading to a national grid to facilitate transportation of gas across the country.

While India's current oil production is around 660,000 barrels a day, gas output has touched 676,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. With development of more fields by Reliance Industries, ONGC and GSPC, the share of natural gas in the domestic energy basket would continue to rise and the country will gradually move to a gas economy. In 2008-09, gas production at 32.481 bcm (214 million barrels of oil equivalent) in the country was marginally less than the oil production at 33.507 million tonnes (245 million barrels).

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[ajay_ijn]

While India's current oil production is around 660,000 barrels a day, gas output has touched 676,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

thats gr8, more production natural gas and consumption at market prices will reduce burden from govt. Govt has to spend less on subsisidies for LGP, Petrol, Diesel. Instead Govt will earn billions of dollars in taxes, royalty etc. there are lots of other advantages for economy.

output from RIL Kg Basin alone would be 4.7 Lakh barrels of oil equivalent per day.

As comparision indias consumption of oil+ oil equivalent could be 25 to 30 Lakh barrels per day.

India needs another 3 to 4 KG Basin sized discovery of gas or equivalent oil field to completely free from oil and gas imports for near term.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Cairn crude reaches NMPT​

The first batch of crude from the Rajasthan fields of Cairn India and ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) reached New Mangalore Port on Thursday for processing at the refinery of the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). Mr U.K. Basu, Managing Director of MRPL, told Business Line that the crude from Rajasthan oil fields has already reached New Mangalore Port and unloading will begin soon.

Asked when the company will start processing the crude, he said: "Normally we process the crude within seven days from its arrival." To a query on the price of the crude, Mr Basu said the price will be much lower than the bonny light crude. Sources in NMPT said that the ship, m.t. Cougar, carrying around 29,000 tonnes of crude oil from Kandla port berthed at New Mangalore Port at 2.40 p.m. on Thursday. Crude oil was shifted from Mangala oil field in Rajasthan to Kandla port, through trucks. From there, the oil tanker sailed to New Mangalore Port. - Our Bureau

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[NSG_Blackcats]

2 Reliance Infra roads in TN open for traffic​

Reliance Infrastructure’s two road projects worth Rs 760 crore in Tamil Nadu are commercially operational. The Namakkal-Karur toll road and the Dindigul-Samayanallur toll road started toll collection from August and September, respectively. The Rs 344.77-crore Namakkal-Karur project falls on NH-7 between the proposed flyover at Namakkal and the start of Karur bypass totalling a length of 41.775 km.

The Dindigul-Samayanallur project at a cost of Rs 412.26 crore also falls on NH-7, totalling a length of 53.025 km. Both were the first projects for the company’s road division. The Union Government, through the National Highways Authority of India, awarded the projects to Reliance Infrastructure in January 2006 with a concession period (tolling rights for 20 years, including construction period of 30 months).

The project funded by the concessionaire plus grant from NHAI is on build, own and transfer basis. The company has invested in the design, construction, development, finance, operation and maintenance of the project, said Mr Lalit Jalan, CEO and whole-time Director, Reliance Infrastructure, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

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[NSG_Blackcats]

Reliance surrenders 14 blocks to govt​

New Delhi: Reliance Industries has surrendered 14 blocks back to the government after incurring an expenditure of Rs 1,400 crore in unsuccessful exploration. RIL had in the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds won 45 blocks and of these it has surrendered 14 blocks back to the government as it could not find commercially recoverable oil and gas, sources close to the company said.


The company has invested over Rs 13,200 crore in exploring oil and gas and their appraisal in the 45 blocks but made commercial discoveries only in two blocks - KG-D6 in Krishna Godavari basin and NEC-25 in Mahanadi basin. Sources said RIL cannot recover the Rs 1,400 crore expenditure it incurred on seismic surveys and drilling wells in the 14 blocks and that would be treated as sunk or lost investment.

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[Sridhar]

Lukewarm response to oil, gas blocks auction PSUs rescue NELP-VIII, with ONGC bagging 17 bids. Ramesh Sharma

Empty chairs: The venue of NELP-VIII and CBM-IV bidding wears a deserted look in the Capital. The bids for inviting oil and gas exploration companies to participate in the hydrocarbon exploration business closed at noon on Monday. — Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 12 The latest and most ambitious oil and gas auction round evoked poor response with only 36 of the 70 blocks offered receiving bids.
The subdued participation was attributed to the ongoing gas dispute between the Ambani brothers that has questioned the sanctity of the production sharing contract (PSC), coupled with the impact of the economic slowdown.
To the rescue came public sector oil exploration company ONGC, which swept the NELP-VIII auction, according to provisional results, bagging 17 blocks (operator as well as consortium partner). The Government received 76 bids for 36 blocks out of 70 put on offer under NELP-VIII and 26 bids for eight blocks out of the 10 offered under Coal Bed Methane (CBM-IV). For 16 deepwater blocks, 15 shallow water blocks and three on-land blocks, no bids were received.
Reliance Industries was conspicuous by its absence in the oil and gas bids, though it bid for one CBM block, which slipped out of its hands. In CBM, Essar Oil bagged one, with the remaining seven going to Deep Industries.
Among the foreign players were BHP Billiton of Australia, and BG of UK. Besides Cairn India, some of the other players that emerged winners were Oil India Ltd and Jubilant.
The S-type (small size) blocks, a new category introduced in NELP-VII to attract new players, came to the rescue in the ongoing round also. For the 10 such blocks put on offer, 37 bids were received.
Speaking to newspersons, Mr R. S. Pandey, Petroleum Secretary, said, “You might think that the number is less but looking at the performance globally this year, given the economic downturn and credit squeeze, we have done better than many other countries.”
Asked whether the apprehension on sanctity of PSC and the ongoing dispute could also be the reason, he said, “the fight is here (domestic) not at other places… As regards sanctity of PSC, there was some misinformation, we have clarified that there is no proposal to nationalise gas finds. Also, our PSC has remained broadly the same from the beginning of the NELP rounds; there was some touching up in NELP-VII, but no changes in NELP-VIII.”
“Evaluation of the bids received under NELP-VIII and CBM-IV will be undertaken by the Government and the blocks are expected to be awarded within three months. The entire process, including signing of contracts, is expected to be completed in four months,” Mr Pandey said.
The Director-General of Hydrocarbons, Mr V. K. Sibal, said, “This legal challenge, misinformation among investors and economic downturn have impacted the bids. We have one of the best production sharing contracts in the world.”
Asked why NELP-VIII saw aggressive bidding by the PSUs while private and global players were not very enthusiastic, Mr Sibal said, “PSUs had to defend their market. Besides, they would have got high acreage cheap.”



The Hindu Business Line : Lukewarm response to oil, gas blocks auction

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

2 Rajasthan n-power units may start by Jan​

New Delhi, Oct. 13 After being held up for well over two years due to fuel shortages, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) expects to get the two new units of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) up and running by January.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) clearance for the use of imported fuel in the reactors is expected this month, following which the fifth unit could be commissioned as early as November and the sixth by January, said the Government officials involved in the exercise.

Both the units will come under the IAEA’s India-specific safeguards that will allow them to qualify for running on imported uranium. Nuclear fuel received from Areva of France would be used in the two units, which are both Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 220 MWe capacity.

The original schedule for commencement of commercial operations was August 2007 for the fifth unit and February 2008 for the sixth. Fuel shortages had held-up the commissioning of both the units at RAPS, as well as a new unit at Kaiga (unit four) in Karnataka.

Following the decision of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to relax its guidelines last year, member-countries of the nuclear cartel were allowed to have trade with India. Subsequently, India signed agreements with Russia and France for importing nuclear power reactors and fuel and, earlier this year, received natural uranium in the form of pellets from Russia and as yellowcake from Areva of France for use in its safeguarded reactors.

India had also received clearance from the IAEA for the fabrication of this imported fuel into fuel rods and the process is currently under way at the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad. With the imported fuel coming in, NPCIL had, earlier last month, synchronised the second unit of the RAPS using the uranium supplies from France, making it the first reactor unit to be operated using the fuel consignments received after the NSG waiver. RAPS-2 was shut down in July 2007.

The reactor, which has a capacity of 200 MWe started generating power from the first week of September. Under the current fuel fabrication plans of the NFC, enough fuel is expected to be available for the two new units of RAPS — units 5 and 6 — so that they would start operating at full capacity by January, officials said.

Since RAPS-5 and 6 would come under the IAEA safeguards as per India’s Separation Plan, the two reactors would become eligible to receive imported fuel supplies. However, clearance from the IAEA needs to be obtained before the imported fuel can be fed into the two reactors. RAPS 1 and 2 were already under IAEA safeguards. NPCIL operates 17 atomic reactors with total generation capacity of 4,120 MW.

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[RPK]

fullstory

India's longest flyover to be thrown open by Diwali

Hyderabad, Oct 15 (PTI) The 11.6 kilometre elevated corridor, considered as the longest flyover in India connecting the state capital to the new airport, is expected to be thrown open for vehicular traffic by Diwali.

The Rs-600 crore expressway, which passes through various congested routes, would provide faster and hassle-free travel to new Shamshabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which is 27 kilometers away from the city.

"The four-lane divided carriage way with length of 11.6 kms is built with state-of-the-art innovative technology by adopting segmental type post tensioned construction of super structure," Minister for Municipal Administration, Anam Ramnarayan Reddy told reporters.

Trial runs are being carry out on the flyover before its inauguration by the Chief Minister K Rosaiah next week.

The flyover, which has been constructed by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, will be named after late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.