India Electricity Show 2009
Electrifying India's power sector
Thomex.com
There are two parameters on which response to a tradeshow is generally judged. One, on the basis of number of general visitors coming to the show and second the quality of visitors. If we go by the latter then India Electricity Show 2009 definitely had some reasons to cheer. In spite of incessant rains, the show was attended by a sizeable number of business visitors from the power sector. The show, which was held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from September 10-12, was organised by Ministry of Power, Govt of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).Some of the highlight of the show was it had more than 140 exhibitors including 35 participants from overseas. While Turkey participated for the first time in the show, China doubled its pavilion size for greater visibility. The exhibition which was inaugurated by Minister of State for Power, Bharatsinh Solanki, also held concurrent conference on 'Indian Power Sector: Strategies for continued Capacity addition in the challenging Global environment.’ The conference not only took stock of the impact of the global meltdown on Indian Power sector, but also discussed optimum utilisation of the three key inputs: men, material and money in improving the power infrastructure in the country.On Day I, the conference deliberated on power sector's targets and achievements in the Eleventh Five Year Plan period, the major fuel sources and some of the important thermal and hydro projects. The session also discussed issues related to power project financing. The Day II saw discussions veering around nuclear generation, power transmission, energy efficiency and project implementation. The Day III of the conference discussed issues related to regulatory mechanism, rural electrification, equipment manufacturing and power distribution. Apart from providing a showcase of the latest products, technologies and capabilities, the exhibition also held a buyer, seller meet for companies to conduct business transactions.The conference highlighted the fact that India's installed capacity (excluding captive plants) as of March 2009 was 147,965 MW. Thermal continued to have a dominant share at 63.34 per cent, followed by hydro, 24.92%, renewable 8.94% and nuclear 2.78%. Sector-wise, the state sector had a majority 51.44%, followed by Central 33.09% and private 15.46%.After the passage of Electricity Act 2003, the conference noted, the private sector contribution to the total installed capacity increased considerably. In March 2003 it was a meagre 8.66% and went up to 15.46 in March 2009. In view of the new initiative of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and private projects under various stages of development, the private sector's share is expected to rise further.After the signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal in October 2008 and a waiver from the NSG, new opportunities have opened up for India to engage in international civilian nuclear trade. India has already entered into similar agreement with countries like France, Russia, Canada and Kazakhstan. The Indian nuclear power market is estimated to be worth $100 billion. It is expected that 40,000 MW of nuclear capacity may come up by 2020.The conference highlighted that although the productivity of power plants has been improving, serious efforts are required to accelerate and sustain improvements in productivity. The Plant Load Factor (PLF) of thermal plants has improved from 72% in 2003 to 77% in 2008-09. But it was a matter of concern when PLF recorded a marginal decline in 2008-09 to 77.22% compared to 78.62% in 2007-08.While speaking on the inaugural day, Minister of state for Power, Bharatsinh Solanki, said that India was faced with the challenging task of adding around 27 GW annually to achieve an installed capacity of 315-350 GW by 2017. While assuring the participants that the global meltdown will not affect India's power sector, he laid greater emphasis on project implementation and emphasised the need for scaling up main plant and balance-of-plant equipment capacity in addition to streamlining the infrastructure. In order to meet the huge investment requirement of power sector, the minister said, exposing banks and financial institutions to opportunities in power sector would open new vista of growth in the country. The others who participated in the inaugural function of the show included Tom Cutler, Acting Director, Department of European and Asian Affairs, Department of Energy, USA; SR Ramanujan, CEO, CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solution Limited, Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary-General, FICCI and YK Modi, Chairman and CEO, Great Eastern Energy Corporation.Comparing India and the US in terms of mixed fuel consumption, Tom Cutler emphasised the need of energy security and climate challenge faced by both the countries. Ramanujan, on the other hand, emphasised on the investment opportunity in India's power sector. He said that India's power sector needed an investment of Rs 4 trillion in each plan period. He said that the demand for electricity was being fuelled by a growing economy and urbanisation in addition to the government's objective of Power for All.Talking about the achievements of power sector in the Eleventh Plan, Gireesh Pradhan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, said that it was only during the 1985-90 Five Year Plan that the power sector came close to meeting its generation capacity. For the last three plan periods, just about 50% of the capacity addition targets have been met. Nonetheless better performance could be expected in the ongoing Eleventh Plan period, as by March 2012, about 60% of the target could be met, translating into about 50,000 MW.Speaking on the occasion, J Wason, Executive Director (Marketing) said that India would be flushed with gas in the next couple of years. GAIL has a current pipeline capacity of 140 mmscdm, which will be increased, to 275 mmscdm by 2013. The conference also highlighted the emerging misbalance between gas availability and utilisation and divergence in domestic gas and LNG prices.Narrating his experiences in the running of thermal power plants, RS Sharma, chairman and MD, NTPC Limited, said that the NTPC has set a target of synchronising all its future 500 MW units in 30 weeks, based on a case study conducted by the company. He also shared some of the strategies adopted by NTPC to put the capacity addition programme on a fast track. This included IT initiative such as real-time web-based monitoring of projects and the adoption of other communication technologies.The response to the exhibition was mixed as heavy-rains kept the masses away from the show. However, a good number of business visitors were able to make it to the show, defying heavy rains and traffic snarls in various parts of the city. Talking to thomex.com, A Ramchandran of Chennai, an electrical equipment manufacturer, said he had been a regular visitor to the show to apprise himself of the latest development in the power sector.Mr Saka of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), a Govt of Japan's initiative in industrial R&D, said the show provided an excellent opportunity to interact with people from the power sector. Saka who was participating in the show for the first time, said they received no less than 200 visitors each day, which was quite encouraging. "India has a huge potential and we are promoting Japanese new technologies which could be of immense help to power sector in India," Saka said.Contradictory views were however, expressed by Mr Gautam of Crompton and Greaves who said that the response to the show was not as good as he had expected and there were no more than 50-60 visitors each day at his stall. He felt that the previous show was better organised and had more participation from the public. "The reason is - there are more and more shows being organised putting pressure on company's resources. Secondly, not all shows are adequately publicised so as to attract business visitors," Gautam said.
India Electricity Show 2009 Photogallery
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