“Increase in gas imports only option to meet growing power sector need”

Ahmedabad, 5 December 2013

Availability, reliability, affordability of power is must if India wants to achieve its target of making electricity accessible to all and to facilitate this research & development activity should be promoted to the best extent possible. While expressing such views, all the scholars, who participated in the “ CII Energy Expo and India Energy Conclave”, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Ahmedabad, also emphasized on the need to tap renewable sources of energy extensively.

The India Energy conclave – theme of “Energy to the People: Challenges in Ensuring Reliable Access to Electricity”, was held concurrently with the 6th edition of CII Energy Expo 2013, which began today at University Convention Center, Ahmedabad. The three-day exhibition evoked overwhelming response on the very first day itself.

Mr. Craig Leonard, Minister, Department of Energy & Mines, Province of New Brunswick, Canada at his special address said, “Power sector scenario in Canada is similar to India and we have large capacities using both traditional as well as renewable energy resources. Use of smart grid system helps us in making electricity available to the end-users at a reasonable cost. Canada can help India in improving performance of power sector by use of such technology.”

Earlier, while setting tone for the discussion in the conclave, Dr. Rahool Panandiker, Partner & Director, Boston Consulting Group, said, “Peak shortage, grid failure caused by power shortages and insolvent state electricity boards are major concern, when it come to achieving the target of access to electricity to all. If we go by the projections, they indicate higher peaking load demand in future but our fuel plans are not aligned accordingly. We need to diversify fuel mix to ensure power availability at all times. Coal Imports have seen a significant increase in recent past as domestic supply couldn’t meet the demand. Going forward, the situation can be more severe as the demand-supply mismatch in coal is projected to be 326 million tons by 2030 from the level of 137 million tons in 2012. So we need to increase LNG imports by ten times in order to meet the power sector needs.”

In reply to a question, raised as a part of the panel discussion, Dr. T. Harinarayana, Director, Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI), said, “We should take lead from country like Germany for reliable and affordable energy. The total land mass of this country is just 10% of India, but the total installed capacity in solar power generation is as high as 31 GW, whereas in India, which is having an area of land ten times larger than Germany, the total solar generation capacity is just 1.3 GW. To use this resource of energy, we need to bring down the cost of solar energy and to serve this purpose, we should be more focused on research & development activities.”

“About seven year ago, the fixed cost attached with 1 MW solar power plant was about Rs. 15 crore, but we have brought down the cost to Rs. 7 crore today. GERMI’s R&D efforts have successfully brought down the cost further to Rs. 3.5 crore by using graphite and silicone in solar cells. The laboratory experiments are successful and now we are trying it for industrial scale,” added Dr. Harinarayana.

Taking part in the debate on “Energy for All – Challenges in Realizing the Vision”, Mr. N. Srivastava, IFS, Managing Director, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, said, “Transmission and distribution losses in some of the Indian states is very high – in some case even 30%, which makes it difficult to keep the electricity rate at a reasonable level. However, as implemented by Gujarat, all the states should come forward to put in place open access policy for large consumers, as this enables such consumers to source power with rate ranging from Rs. 3.50 per unit to Rs. 3.90.”

Mr. Harish Mehta, Co-chairman, CII Gujarat State Energy & Environment Panel and Director, Suzlon Ltd, stressed upon the need to promote small entrepreneurs to set up micro grid in remote areas so as to make available cheap, quality and reliable power, generated through renewable energy resources available locally. He also cited some examples of such initiatives. Mr. Tushar S. Bhatt, Managing Director, Essar Power Hazira Ltd and COO, Hazira Essar Power Ltd, raised his concern about spiraling cost of feedstock saying that private sector have made big investment in power generation and they are bound to make agreement for a long-term supply of electricity. However, tumbling rupee leads to higher cost of imported coal and this erodes profitability of the business. So the government should come out with some remedial measures to solve this problem.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. A. K. Jagatramka, Past Chairman, CII Gujarat State Council and CMD, Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd, said, “Just increasing capacity won’t be enough to ensure energy for all and we must address some critical issues such as fuel security and downstream reforms. I hope, the discussion held here will go long way in streamlining India’s power sector.”

In view of the importance of Sustainable Energy in Indian Energy mix, the 6th edition CII Energy Expo has a special focus on – Renewable Energy. Some of the confirmed participants and sponsors include names like GEDA, Kirloskar Integrated Technologies, Inox Wind, Pioneer Wincon, Vermeer / WorldWide Machinery, Vispra Powers, Konepaga Facor India Pvt Ltd., Elmeasure, Abad India, Agni Controls, Sobis Techsoft, Neety Euro Asia Solar Energy, Hermes Technologies, Opel Energy Systems, Photonics Watertech, Petrnonet LNG, Pioneer Security, Star Energy Systems, Suveg Electronic, Parmar Metals, Dynaweld Engg, Protek Enterprise, Om Energy Equipment / Delta Solar, Leedax Lighting Technologies, Sun Energy Systems, Nish Techno Projects, Prima Transformers, Enhanced Electronics, and more.