New-generation solar panels far cheaper, more efficient - scientists

 A new generation of solar panels made from a mineral called perovskite has the potential to convert solar energy into household electricity more cheaply than ever before, according to a study from Briain's Exeter University.

Super-thin, custom-coloured panels attached to a building's windows may become a "holy grail" for India and African countries, Senthilarasu Sundaram, one of the authors of the study, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"In those countries these types of material will be like a holy grail: they can both shade windows ... and at the same time produce electricity," he said.

With a thickness measured in billionths of a metre, solar panels made of perovskite will be more than 40 percent cheaper and 50 percent more efficient than those commercially produced today, Sundaram said.

Unlike other solar panels, those made of perovskite can absorb most of the solar spectrum and work in various atmospheric conditions, rather than only in direct sunlight.

"This type of material for solar cells works in diffused conditions much, much better than the other types of solar cells," said Sundaram. "It won't be 100 percent, but it will be much more than what we have now."

Researchers have already tested the material in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Current commercial products used to generate solar power, such as silicon or thin-film based technologies, are expensive because they are processed using vacuum-based techniques, the Exeter study said.

The production process for perovskite panels is very straightforward, but researchers still have to test the material under different conditions to better understand its properties, before companies embark on industrial-scale production, it said.

The photovoltaic (PV) energy market has been growing because of government targets for renewable energy production and CO2 emission controls, and the International Energy Agency has said that solar energy could be the world's biggest source of electricity by 2050. [ID: nL6N0RU2DI]
Sundaram said perovskite could also be used to power mobile gadgets like laptops and tablets.

First found in 1839 in the Ural Mountains, perovskite is named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.

Govt to increase coal production to 1 billion tonne by 2020

With power demand rising across the country and the coal industry still in the doldrums, Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has his work cut out. And he is seen to be making the right noises as he promises to increase coal production to 1 billion tonne by the year 2020.

"We will be investing in setting up new rakes for evacuation of coal as well as in technology, equipment modernisation and efficiency measures. Already the production of Coal India has increased 15.8 per cent between June and November 2014 compared to same period in 2013," he said.

A week after scrapping the bidding process for two ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) in Tamil Nadu and Odisha, Goyal now aims to invite tenders for at least 4-5 UMPPs over the next one year. The government cancelled the bids for the two proposed 4,000 MW plants due to tepid private sector response and funding issues raised by bankers.

"The Odisha project was scrapped due to problem of the coal company and electricity company being two different entities which is not permitted in the current scheme of things, while the other one received only one bid from state-run NTPC. Since we believe that there should be competition to ensure that consumers get the benefit of lower tariffs, we scrapped both of them," Goyal informed.
He also said the ministry has set up a new expert committee that will take into consideration all the view points of all stakeholders and only then new biddings process would start. "We are reviewing the entire situation. We are consulting experts. We hope to invite bids for at least 4-5 UMPPs in the next one year."

Currently, only two UMPPs are operational -the 4000-mw Mundra UMPP of Tata Power in Gujarat and the 3,960-mw Sasan UMPP of Reliance Infrastructure in MP. Private companies, including Adani Power, CLP India, Jindal Steel & power, JSW Energy, Sterlite Energy and Tata Power, were in the fray for the Tamil Nadu plant. Of these, four bought the request for proposal document but decided not to go ahead further in the process.

The Odisha UMPP saw nine bidders, including Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Energy and Sterlite Energy. However, after private companies backed out, only NTPC and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) were left for bidding.

Govt to talk LNG imports during Barack Obama visit: Report

The government will use an upcoming visit by US President Barack Obama to press the United States to remove Indian oil companies from a list naming firms doing business in Iran, and to seek priority access to American LNG exports, sources in the Oil Ministry said.

The US President will arrive in New Delhi on January 25 and hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Washington in September. An official agenda has not been released.

 

 

 

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed three Indian companies as having commercial activity in Iran's energy sector in a report this week, potentially making it difficult for them to do business with other countries, mainly the United States.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp , Oil India Ltd and Indian Oil Corp, which have been on the list since 2010, cited interests in Iran's Farsi concession in their 2013-14 annual reports but told the GAO they had ceased activity in 2007, the GAO said.

"This (mention in the list) could hit Indian companies' plans to invest in other countries, particularly in America," said one of the sources.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran's energy sector to put pressure on the Islamic republic to halt its nuclear programme, which the West suspects may seek to develop atomic weapons. Companies doing business in the sector face exclusion from the US financial system.

Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

Separately, Oil Ministry sources said the government will seek preferential access to US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), even though India does not have a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.

"We want them to give us the freedom to lift LNG from any of their projects on a priority basis, including the ones that are meant for FTA nations," an official said.

State-owned gas firm GAIL (India) Ltd has an agreement to lift 6 million tonnes a year of LNG from two projects in the United States.

US oil and gas production has shot up in recent years as new technology has allowed the world's largest oil consumer to exploit reserves in shale formations.

But exports are tightly restricted and LNG shipments must be approved by Washington. Exports of crude oil are banned outright, a legacy of the recent past when the United States consumed far more oil than it produced.

Since taking office in May last year, PM Modi has pledged to improve the performance of India's power sector, which suffers from frequent blackouts, to fuel economic expansion.

Rs 1 lakh-crore orders soon for power, mining equipment: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: The power and coal sectors will shortly issue orders worth over Rs 1 lakh crore for various projects, including four new giant power projects, Piyush Goyal, Union minister of coal, power and renewable energy, has said. The orders will also include mining operations and energy efficiency equipment.

"There are lot of things that have gone through various processesand will now start," Goyal said at the Economic Times Power Focus Summit on Friday.

This will be a big boost for equipment suppliers and other companies that have been starved of orders due to the economic slowdown. "NTPC is going to double its generation capacity, little more than double. Energy Efficiency Service Ltd is going to buy at least Rs 10,000 crore of energy efficiency equipment, all made in India. (At) Coal India, we need equipment, to ramp up production. I need mining equipment. It's going to do a lot of ordering. I'm going to order wagons, probably worth Rs 5,000 crore. Then the stalled projects, hydel projects. Transmission is the biggest of them all, about Rs 40,000 crore," Goyal said.

He said bids for four ultra-mega power projects (UMPPs) would be invited in the next three to six months. "These four proposed UMPPs include two for which we have cancelled the bid and we will be inviting fresh bids, and two more have been identified — one in Bihar and another in Jharkhand," Goyal said.

Earlier, the government had abandoned the bidding process of two ultra-mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu and decided to set up a committee on the matter.

The private companies that had participated in the first round of bidding for both the projects withdrew their bids citing difficulties in securing finances for the projects.

For the Tamil Nadu UMPP, the private companies in the fray were Adani Power, CLP India, Jindal Steel & power, JSW Energy, Sterlite Energy and Tata Power. Of these, four bought the Request for Proposal documents, but decided not to go ahead further in the process. The projects attracted a lacklustre response from companies due to several concerns.

Goyal said the government had taken steps to increase coal production and power generation in the country, and these efforts were beginning to show results. Industry has complained that many companies do not have enough orders because so far there has hardly been any significant pick up in project execution. Goyal said that orders are expected very soon. "It will happen ASAP (as soon as possible)," he said. 

Coal India transporting extra coal to power plants

NEW DELHI: State-owned Coal India is transporting extra coal to the power plants to help them tide over the likely disruption of supplies following the proposed five-day strike by the unions beginning tomorrow.

"Coal India (CIL) is suppling extra volumes of coal to the power plants and the Railways is fully cooperating with the coal PSU," an official said.

The official further said that the CIL is making all efforts to ensure that the power plants do not face coal crunch in view of the strike call given by the trade unions.

The strike is likely to result in production loss of up to 1.5 million tonnes (MT) a day and may hit supplies to power plants which are already grappling with fuel shortages.

CIL trade unions have announced a five-day strike to press for their demands including roll-back of the "process of denationalising of coal sector" and stopping "disinvestment and restructuring" of Coal India.

Demonstrating unity, all five major trade unions of the coal PSU - BMS, INTUC, AITUC, CITU and HMS boycotted a meeting called by Coal Minister Piyush Goyal last week.

The strike by Coal India workers in November, last year was deferred after a meeting between Coal Ministry officials and trade union representatives.

Coal India, which is the world's largest dry-fuel miner, accounts for 80 per cent of the domestic production.

As per latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 20 thermal power plants have coal available for less than four days as on January 1. 

China's cheap solar panels cause dark spots in Indian market

NEW DELHI: In the narrow, crowded and serpentine lanes of Lajpat Rai Market in front of the Red Fort in Delhi, there are hundreds of vendors selling Chinese solar panels at less than half the price of Indian brands, much like vegetables, to buyers from power-starved villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana.

However, instead of helping realise the dream of transforming the lives of more than 300 million people who live without electricity in the country, these Chinese products are wrecking the market as they often stop working within months, industry insiders allege. They say only import regulations and quality standardisation can check this "e-waste dumping" by China.

A shopkeeper at Lajpat Rai Market said most buyers go for cheap Chinese solar panels despite traders' warnings.

"We tell them these have no service warranty, no performance guarantees but they think we're fooling them into buying costly products. Within months their solar systems stop working and they call up crying after having lost all investment," he said.

Several experiences with substandard products in rural India have started making people suspicious of solar technology, forcing some Indian brands to launch awareness campaigns to counter this.

Tata Power Solar, for example, started a 75-day campaign in 22 districts of Bihar in November to educate people to distinguish between fake and genuine products and about the value of warranties. "We decided to start the campaign when we offered to sell a contractor in Patna 40 solar lamps for his vending carts to replace expensive kerosene lamps. He refused to buy as he had invested a lot in Chinesemade lamps, all of which stopped working within 35 days," said Gagan Pal, vice-president, products and operations, at Tata Power Solar. According to him, substandard Chinese products dominate the Indian solar market with 60-70% share. Kunwer Sachdev, managing director at Su-Kam, another Indian solar products manufacturer, said a large quantity of panels imported from China are just electronic waste. "Often, we are given a panel of 50 watts instead of 100 watts and no one knows how long it'll last... two or three years? Its wattage is lower," he said. "When food products come, there's an audit out there. Why is it not the same for solar panel shipments? How can you allow China to sell us e-waste?" Sachdev said. Many Chinese products also use fake brand names to confuse consumers. This reporter saw 'So-Kam' solar panels being sold at Lajpat Rai market. Tata Power Solar officials said they have found 'Tata BP' or 'Tata' on panels of Chinese make. Government officials said they were aware of imports of rejected poorquality panels and are looking for solutions to curb them. "We have recently written to the Controller of Imports and Exports to check Chinese solar water heaters coming to India. We have to do something for panels next," said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary, solar, at the ministry of new and renewable energy.

NEW DELHI: In the narrow, crowded and serpentine lanes of Lajpat Rai Market in front of the Red Fort in Delhi, there are hundreds of vendors selling Chinese solar panels at less than half the price of Indian brands, much like vegetables, to buyers from power-starved villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana.

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