Energy Handbook 2011 - GBR

P o w e r S u m m i t - T h e E n e r g y H a n d b o o k 2 0 1 1
C o u n t r y P r o f i l e : I n d i a
Interview with Mr. Rakesh Mehta, Chief Secretary, Government
of N.C.T. Of Delhi, CMD of Delhi Transco and Chairman of
Pragati Power Corporation
Q – Please could you
start by giving us a
personal professional
background and an
overview of the power
sector in Delhi?
A – I belong to the
civil services and have
had a long relationship
with the power sector,
having been the power
commissioner in Goa
and having managed the electricity sector in the
local body. Later on I became the CMD of Delhi
Transco and Chairman of Genco.
In 2001 the power sector in Delhi was
restructured and the Delhi Electricity Board
was broken up into seven companies: three
distributions, two generation, one holding
transmission and a holding company.
Q – You were a panelist at the Copenhagen World
Summit on Climate Changes forum of the world’s
largest cities, what efforts is Delhi making to limit
its impact on the environment?
A – To promote energy conservation and to
conduct energy audits of all majors buildings in
the city. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy Management Centre was established.
We have started investing in renewable energy
sources, it has been made mandatory for
large buildings to implement energy efficiency
measures, distribution companies have been
successful in promoting CFL lamps, on solar
water heaters subsidy is given from 6,000 rupees
($130) to 60,000 rupees ($1,300).
We are also developing waste- to- gas plants and
have one operating in the canteen in my building,
which serves 5,000 people and have two plants
under development, One scheme will come into
operation in 2011 and will consume 1,500mt/ day
providing 16mw of capacity.
Q – The population of Delhi is projected to grow
substantially in the next decade, how is the
N.C.P. Government going to ensure that the
capital’s energy needs are met?
A – Two years ago we adopted a policy of load
growth generation keeping in mind that Delhi, a
city of 17 million people, is projected to grow to
24 million. We decided that 40- 50% of Delhi’s
supply should be generated within 40km of
the city. The power generation companies of
N.C.T Delhi have set up a 1,500mw plant 40km
near Delhi border in a joint venture with the
Government of Haryana and NTPC. The plant
can be upgraded by a further 1,000mw. Delhi
will receive 50% of the power. In Delhi we are
establishing a 1,500mw gas plant and a 750mw
gas plant, we are closing all three of our coal fired
Delhi plants which will have a huge impact on the
air quality of the capital.
Q – Delhi Transco has really lead the way in India
in terms of cutting transmission losses, how has
the company achieved this?
A – Transco has substantially cut transmission
losses, prior to privatisation they were 6% and
now they are below 1%. Delhi Transco has
completed 400kv ring around Delhi having a
capacity of 4000MW Load.
The new master plan 2021 has recently been
approved and it is projected that 700 sqkm of
territory on the outskirts of Delhi will be urbanised
over the next fifteen years. We are conducting a
major review to establish which areas are likely
to be developed in the next few years to identify
where to set up new substation infrastructure.
Delhi has had the reputation of being ‘power cut
city’, my vision is to make Delhi an inverter free
city.
Q – What would your message be to our
international readership about the Indian power
sector and investing here?
A – The Indian economy is growing at about
9% a year. Mega cities like Delhi, which depend
almost exclusively on power to meet their
economic needs, will have to find new and
innovative solutions to meet their requirements.
There is a great opportunity for people across the
world to become partners with us.
The Indian transmission network was
originally split into several regions. In
recent years PowerGrid Corp. has made
significant headway in interconnecting the
regions but there is still much work to be
done. “India is a vast and varied country.
Daily peak demand in the east will not
fall at the same time as in the south, and
peak supply during the rainy season in
the north, where many hydro facilities are
located, does not match peak demand
there,” says Jayant Deo, MD and CEO
of IEX, India’s new and fast-developing
power exchange. “As the energy market
was structured on a regional basis, supply
has traditionally been built to meet local
demands and thus there was often a
mismatch between demand and supply.”
India is developing a network of ultrahigh-voltage
transmission lines to improve
regional interconnection and to transmit
power efficiently from the country’s new
mega and ultra-mega generation plants.
Indian transmission engineering firms are
rushing to meet demand in the sector.
One challenge, common throughout many
sectors of Indian industry, is security of
supply for parts and equipment. With this
in mind, many of the larger transmission
engineering firms have invested in their
own fabrication plants.
Technical T&D losses have been kept
high by lack of investment and a system
that has held back the adoption of new
technologies. As the private sector
becomes more involved in T&D the hope
is that losses will fall further.
“Power transmission is a big area for
improvement, as the distribution losses
are very high – well above 30 percent in
India compared to 11–15 percent globally.
We are developing high-tech solutions
in order to cut the energy losses,” says
Rajesh Agarwal, Managing Director of BS
TransComm. Looking to the future, PPPs
will increasingly be the chosen method
of development. “The Government has
already budgeted $14bn via partnerships
with private companies, through the
Build-Operate-Transfer model. The private
players are just starting to enter the sector.
Within the next five to seven years there
Manufacturing
Like many of Asia’s other success
stories, India’s manufacturing industry is
dominated by three classes of company.
Large state-controlled enterprises, the
hangover of a three-decade dalliance with
socialism, have continued to prosper in
India’s increasingly free market. The private
sector is characterised by conglomerates
set on integration and diversification, while
young and aggressive firms are chasing
niche positions. India is a great incubator
of entrepreneurship – Bharat Forge’s
Baba Kalyani notes: “India’s growth is
largely dependent on the entrepreneurial
skills of our people” – and there is space
in the power market for smaller players.
However, this expanding market is likely to
be dominated by a handful of major Indian
and foreign corporations (often working in
partnership) with the smaller companies
operating at the lower end of the value
chain. As Kalyani observes: “Energy, like
any other big market, is regulated. The
Government gets involved somewhere.
Therefore, knowing the system, knowing
how it works and having the network
always helps.”
Manufacturing
unit; Photo
courtesy of Bharat
Forge.
We have created an air ambience fund which is
essentially a very small tax on diesel. This creates
about 700m rupees ($15m) which we use to
subsidies by one third the price of electric vehicles.
will be a shift in this sphere.”
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