India has filled a little over one-third of its phase 1 ‘strategic oil reserve’ at a cost of Rs 4,258 cr, about $640 mln. The country is in the process of building five underground reserve facilities for crude oil totaling 110 million barrels (15.3 million tons) of storage capacity. Out of these, two tanks — […]
The government of India said it cannot seek to slow down imports of solar power generation equipment from China as it has to watch out for the interests of Indian consumers as much as those of Indian industrialists. Responding to questions from the opposition in Lok Sabha on why India was not taking action to help the […]
The government’s ‘free LPG connection’ scheme, Ujjwala, has seen 60% higher demand than expected, and the objectives of the three-year scheme will be met within two years at the current pace of rollout.As of the end of February, the total number of beneficiaries under the scheme rose to 2 cr (20 mln) from 15 mln […]
After missing its targets by wide margins in the previous two five-year plans, India is all set to comfortably meet or exceed all its power sector targets for the 12th five-year plan that ends this month. Five-year plans, borrowed from the Soviet Union, are a legacy of Nehruvian policy of setting development targets every five […]
Production of electricity from solar power is all set to rise 75% this year, while that from wind is on track to rise 51%, according to the latest numbers available with the ministry of new and renewable resources, government of India. Despite this, the two will only account for less than 5% of the total […]
India is planning to increase its nuclear power generation capacity to 44,628 megawatt, about eight times the current capacity of 5,780 MW, the Prime Ministers’ Office said today. At present, India has seven nuclear power plants. However, given that most of these were set up decades ago, most of these facilities contain individual units of […]
The Indian government will continue its talks with Westinghouse Electric Company to set up a nuclear plant in Andhra Pradesh even as the company’s parent, Toshiba Corp, said it would consider selling the unit to Chinese or South Korean companies. “The government has taken note of media reports regarding Toshiba Corporation’s plans to withdraw from […]
Water levels of dams in central and south India are abnormally low this year, going by data of hydro-electricity production across India. According to data of electricity produced by dams in India from April 2016 to February 2017, both the south and central India are facing extreme shortage of water. The average production of hydro-electricity […]
The amount of money estimated to be saved by power companies in India due to the rearrangement of coal supplies has risen to Rs 2,503.50 cr per year, according to power ministry sources. The program of swapping coal sources, known as ‘coal linkage rationalization’, is in its third phase. The first phase, which was carried out […]
The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh has come out as a leader in India’s quest to take electricity to remote villages where grid-based power cannot be supplied due to economical reasons. The state accounts for 550 of the 852 ‘decentralized distributed generation’ schemes set up with central assistance so far, according to data sourced from […]
A large chunk of under-development coal-based power units have their construction stalled due to the paucity of funds, according to numbers obtained from the power ministry. In total, projects that have a design capacity of 18,420 megawatt, or 18.42 gigawatt, are classified as ‘stalled’ due to financial reasons, the ministry said. This is equivalent to […]
About a week ago, India witnessed an event that environmentalists in India, and perhaps many across the world, have been waiting for — the achievement of grid parity between solar and coal in India. India depends on coal for meeting about 75% of its power needs. The country accounts for about 7% of the world’s […]
After having met its solar power installation target for last financial year with relative ease, India could end up missing its target for the year ending March 2017. India had around 6 GW of installed solar power generation capacity at the end of March 2016, and by this year, it was supposed to rise to […]
Reliance Industries, which started giving a discount of Re 1 on every liter of diesel sold through its pumps in January, has now started advertising the offer in Kerala. The discount was first noticed in January in North and West Indian towns. The move was, at the time, not taken very seriously by players such as […]
A proposed merger of Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp will reduce inefficiencies across the sector and result in enormous savings, ratings agency Fitch said. It would also create an entity that is better placed to compete globally for resources, and less vulnerable to shifts in oil prices and give it […]
There has been an explosion at the oil refinery in Kochi, operated by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. The explosion happened at the electricity generation plant at the refinery. The power plant works on gas and was undergoing maintenance. The BPCL refinery is crucial to the supply of oil products such as petrol, diesel and LPG […]
Viviana Mall in Mumbai has installed one of the largest single-site solar plants in India. The mall, located in Thane, has constructed a 900,000 volt-ampere rooftop solar power plant, which the company said was the biggest in India. 900,000 volt-ampere refers to the peak capacity of the power plant. It implies that at full power […]
Praj Industries said it had entered into agreements with Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd to set up bio-ethanol plants that will convert agricultural waste into fuel. A total of three plants will be construct — two for IOCL and the remaining one for BPCL. The company said it signed a binding agreement […]
Following on the heels of its announcement to sell its transmission assets to Adani Group, Reliance Infrastructure today said it has signed a share purchase agreement with Adani Transmission for the sale of 100% of its Western Region System Strengthening Scheme Transmission Assets. “SPA for Parbati Koldam Transmission Company Limited (PKTCL) shall be executed upon […]
NTPC Ltd said the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has given directions to keep all its units in Badarpur Thermal Power Station closed till January 31, 2017. The reason for the committees direction has not been disclosed by NTPC. However, the reason is likely to be concerns around poor air quality in Delhi. The plant was […]
