|
Energy Info
Photovoltaic facility from BHEL, BEL
Engineering major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is betting
big on solar energy and, in partnership with defence electronic
company Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), is planning to set up
an integrated photovoltaic facility entailing an investment
of around Rs 6,000 crore. The State-owned firms are likely
to rope in a private sector partner for the venture, for which
the process has been initiated. "We are tying up with
BEL and will scout for a private partner for setting up an
integrated facility… It could entail a capex of around
Rs 6,000 crore," the Chairman and Managing Director of
BHEL, K Ravi Kumar, said. He said the integrated facility
would include polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) ingots,
conversion into wafer, solar cells and then modules and solar
panel systems. A capacity of 200 to 250 mw is being envisaged
to achieve economies of scale, Kumar said, adding that the
location of the proposed facility was still to be decided.
He said that the project would be keen to tap incentives on
offer, including the Centre's solar incentive package scheme,
as capital costs were high and technology cycles extremely
short. An annual production of around 2,500 tonnes of polysilicon,
the key raw material used to manufacture solar panels, is
being envisaged. Over the past year there had been a huge
increase in the prices of polysilicon in the global market.
The prices have gone up from $ 25 a kg in 2000 to $ 515 a
kg in August 2008. The Centre, under its new scheme to promote
semiconductor fabs and other micro and nanotechnology units,
has offered incentives of 20 per cent capital expenditure
during the first 10 years for the units in SEZs and 25 per
cent of the capital expenditure in non-SEZ units. Reliance
Industries Ltd, Videocon Industries, Moser Baer PV Technologies,
KSK Energy Ventures and Signet Solar are among the private
players that have approached the Government with plans to
set up units under the scheme.
Green signal to Kakatiya projectThe Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) has sanctioned the opening up of Kakatiya
Longwall Project of Singareni Colli-eries Company in Andhra
Pradesh. After becoming fully operational, the Kakatiya mines
are likely to supply 2.747 million tpa of coal to meet the
demand of pithead power stations of AP Genco and other units.
The CCEA approval provides for a net capital requirement of
Rs 453.63 crore and a total capital outlay of Rs 620.03 crore
(excluding IDC of Rs 18.90 crore).CCEA also gave its approval
for flexibility in the implementation stage within the approved
cost estimates to respond to improvements in technology and
equipment.
PLG invests in solar projects
PLG Power, a flagship company of PLG Group is investing Rs
500 crore to set-up a solar power project at Sinnar near Nashik
to manufacture Solar Photovoltaic Modules. The plant will
be inaugurated on December 4, 2008. The project is being set
up in technical and turnkey partnership with Boston based
Spire Corporation. The power plant involves an installed capacity
of 25 mw in Phase I, which will be gradually ramped up to
150 mw by June 2010. The inauguration of the Sinnar Export
Oriented Unit will be followed by the laying of a foundation
stone for another 100 per cent EOU at SEZ, Indore by PLG Photovoltaic,
another group company, on Dec 8. The company is investing
Rs.400 crore to manufacture high efficiency solar cells and
modules at the site and will use technology from German company
Schmidt GmbH.
ONGC to acquire Imperial
ONGC Videsh (OVL) is likely to complete the acquisition of
Imperial Energy Corporation ahead of the deadline of June
2009. The Russian government has set no terms for the acquisition.
ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, through
which the exploration major is routing its bid for Imperial,
has fulfilled all pre-conditions for acquisition.
OVL has to make an offer to acquire the shares of Imperial
by 9 December 2008. ONGC is lending a substantial portion
of funds at 6 per cent interest rate to OVL for the acquisition,
the remaining is funded through bridge loan. OVL is already
going ahead with the process of making formal open offer and
it will not revise its offer price though the crude prices
are falling in the recent past. OVL has valued Imperial's
2P (proven and probable) oil and gas reserves at $ 2.4-$ 3
per barrel (approximately Rs 98-147). In August, OVL had made
a cash offer to buy Imperial for $ 2.58 billion (approx Rs
12,642 crore).
Maytas power to expand biz
Maytas Infra Power, the power division of Maytas Infra Ltd
is expanding its presence in the turnkey solutions business
both at the transmission and distribution network for utilities
and in offering solutions for power plants. The company's
power division now commands an order book of Rs 3,000 crore,
up from Rs 1,100 crore in 2007-2008. It includes about 65
per cent from the domestic market and the rest from its overseas
business, mainly West Asia, Africa and the Far East. The head
of Power Division, Maytas Infra, N Kannan, said Maytas' recent
wins include Ind Bharat at Karva, orders from Madhya Pradesh
and Karnataka utilities. The company's power division orders
cover 33 kV to 400 kV turnkey substations and transmission
lines and more specifically, opportunities in rural electrification.
Major central schemes are driving the growth of this sector
with huge financial commitments, he explained.
Areva for pressurised reactors
French nuclear conglomerate, Areva, is keen to supply European
Pressurised Reactors (EPR) to India. Utilities in Finland,
China and France are already building these 1,600 mw advance
reactors. EPRs are third-generation nuclear fission pressurised
water reactor. Mr Patrick Teyssier, Front End Manager, Areva
Group, talking to media persons on the sidelines of an India
Nuclear Society function, said that the company can offer
about six EPRs by 2020, he said. He said that Areva was keenly
looking at opportunities in the Indian nuclear sector for
which the India office has been recently setup. The company
is also talking to private sector companies like Reliance
Power and Tata group for equipment supply, Teyssier said.
AM Naik, Chairman and Managing Director of L&T Ltd, said
that the company was going ahead independently with its Rs
2,000 crore forging venture. The unit will come up in Hazira,
Gujarat, in 30 months. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Ltd (NPCIL) could become a joint venture partner in the future,
he said. The need for a separate unit for nuclear forging
was envisaged by NPCIL to address prolonged delays in delivery
of jobs by forging companies.
.
| |
