India's Simhapuru targets S.African coal

CAPE TOWN: India's Simhapuri Energy , a unit of the Madhucon Group , wants to buy new or existing collieries in South Africa from where it aimed to export a minimum of 5 million tonnes within five years, an official said on Tuesday. 

Indian companies are buying coal assets in top five global exporter South Africa as it moves to secure resources for a growing economy and to feed coal into new power plants. 

"We want to invest in coal and are looking at some acquisitions. From South Africa we are targeting a minimum of five milion tonnes of coal for export within five years," Nama Krishnaiah, director of Simhapuri Energy, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference. 

Displacing Europe, India and China are emerging as the two main destinations for coal from South Africa, which last year shipped some 63 million tonnes of thermal coal. 

Maducon Group has interests in the construction, coal and sugar industries, with Madhucon Projects listed in Bombay. 

Krishnaiah said the company, which recently opened offices in Johannesburg, was in discussions with unnamed junior miners, as well as applying directly to the Department of Mineral Resources for mining licenses. 

"At this moment we are targeting some brownfield projects that have mining licenses, but we are looking at greenfield (developments) also," said Krishnaiah, adding that Zimbabwe's coal fields were also attractive. 

He said the company, which was developing a 1,920 megawatt power plant near India's Krishnapatnam port, was financially strong and had capital to purchase coals assets. 

The company already owns coal mines in Indonesia.

Source: India's Simhapuru targets S.African coal - The Economic Times

India’s Solar Power Market Is El Fuego

While Europe and the United States have attracted major investments in solar energy in recent years, a growing number of solar outfits – big and small – are placing their biggest bets on significant and sustained growth in India’s solar energy market.

The prodigious amounts of electricity needed to power India’s emerging economy – which is grappling with supply shortfalls in electricity – combined with concerns about curbing carbon emissions has resulted in a patchwork of government policies and programs across India promoting investment in solar energy. These include a national REC market, feed-in-tariffs, tax incentives and so on and so forth.

With over 15 percent of the world’s population, India’s demand for electricity is already significant. India is already Asia’s third largest energy consumer, and primary electricity consumption is expected to rise at 6.4% annually from 2005 to 2020. Solar power capacity is projected to grow by 27% annually in coming years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

U.S.-based companies like Astonfield Renewable Resources Limited and Sun Edison have bet heavily on strong growth in India’s solar energy sector. Astonfield, which plans to invest $2 billion in the green energysector in India over a period of five years, is building a 250 MW solar photovoltaic power plant in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. These bets have also taken the form of ambitious joint ventures and technology partnerships with local firms and organizations.

For example, U.S.-based SunPower Corporation and Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) have established a joint venture to build a $110 million manufacturing facility. SunPower and EBS also plan to construct a chain of solar power plants, including rooftop solar projects on government buildings, across the State of Punjab to generate nearly 1,000 MW of power over the next two years.

Roughly 400 million Indians remain without access to power. If India is to meet its projected GDP growth rate of 10%, with an average growth of 8% over the next 15 years, the country’s energy consumption must expand. The country faces a deficit of 11% in overall demand, and anywhere from 12-17% when demand peaks. Coal comprises over 71% of that generation, a share that is expected to decrease to 51% by 2035.

Source: India’s Solar Power Market Is El Fuego - William Pentland - Clean Beta - Forbes

PMO favours joint mining by NTPC, RPower in Jharkhand

THE prime minister’s office has recommended that NTPC and Reliance Power should jointly mine adjacent coal blocks in Jharkhand to help them extract about 200 million tonnes of additional coal that would have been lost if the mines were delineated and drilled independently, government and company officials said. The proposal also has the backing of Parliament’s standing committee on coal. 

NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury told ET that the company has found merit in the proposal. “It is a good proposal. But we have to examine it closely since we would start production much ahead of them. These evaluations would take some time,” he said. 

As per statutory norms, companies owning different blocks are required to maintain a “safety angle” between the blocks, reducing the amount of coal they can extract. 

A Reliance Power spokesperson confirmed the development and said: “This is the optimum way to mine coal for promoting coal conservation. We look forward to discussing with NTPC on how to co-ordinate mining operations.” 

Reliance Power had sought government’s approval for joint exploration of coal mines attached with Tilaiya ultra mega power project and NTPC’s Kerandari Aand Pakri Barwadih blocks. Tilaiya blocks – Kerandari B and Kerandari C – lie in between NTPC’s Kerandari A and Pakri Barwadih blocks. 

“The proposal has been recommended by PMO and the standing committee on coal. We have written to the power ministry seeking directions to NTPC for the same. The two companies should now be working toward a strategy to extract coal blocked in barriers and batters in their respective coalfields. They will have to get the strategy approved by the government,” a coal ministry official said.

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