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Power stocks fail to take cues from the (The Hindu Business Line 29th Feb 2008)Market on Thursday did not take a cue from the Economic Survey’s observation that the country’s electricity generation was less than the target of 710 billion KW hours during 2007-08. “In absolute terms, total energy deficit during the period was pegged at 45,601 million units,” it said. Is it a challenge or an opportunity for the listed power stocks in the months ahead? “Obviously, this is an opportunity for the power companies and not unknown to the market. But it did not react to the generalities and was waiting for specific cues from the Budget tomorrow,” said Mr Sudip Bandopadhyay, CEO of Reliance Money. “But the fact that the Survey has taken note of it is heartening. The PPP model has been working well for some time now. Reliance Power, which has obtained largest mandate even as a newcomer, is an example of things that may follow. The interesting trend is that the private players are seriously looking...

Traders eye captive units as govt allows sale of power in market (Live mint.com 4th Feb 2008) Aashir Valia, a commodity trader who has just set up his own namesake trading business, Valia Commodities Ltd, is planning to enter India’s nascent energy trade. Valia says he is talking to a slew of captive power generators in India who can be his customers, both as suppliers as well as buyers of power. Valia is one of many who are exploring the possibility of trading on power through the online power trading platform, the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), being set up by Financial Technologies Ltd under the aegis of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It is expected to begin trading in next fiscal year. “Many of them (captive generators) are not even utilizing the additional capacity they have because they are not in the business of trading power,” said Vaila. “Independent traders are negotiating with them to sell their additional power.” Until recently, captive units could sell powe...

Videocon, Jindal Photo, NBCC, Indo Rama plan power foray (The Hindu Business Line 1st Jan 2008)A bevy of new power sector aspirants, including consumer electronic manufacturer Videocon Industries, Jindal Photo Ltd., polyester maker Indo Rama Synthetics and state-owned National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC), are in the fray for entering the thermal power generation business. This is despite the fact that operating small captive units is the only experience some of these firms have so far had in the power generation space. Interest in the sector is being mainly spurred by a perceived improvement in the bankability of the sector. More

Energy sector needs Rs 480,000 crore: CII (Business Standard 27th Dec 2007) The country’s power and upstream energy sectors need investments of around Rs 480,000 crore to Rs 600,000 crore ($120-150 billion) in the next five years, according to a report jointly released by the CII and KPMG. More

PowerGrid plans foray into entertainment business (The Hindu Business line 19th Dec 2007) Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd – the nodal agency for wheeling power across the country – is planning a foray into the entertainment space and is in talks with Zee Network Ltd for a possible joint venture. Post-listing, the state-owned power transmission major aims to leverage its extensive fibre optic telecom network to stream entertainment content in order to secure higher returns on investments, more than the regulated returns of 14 per cent that it gets from its core business of power transmission. More

Lanco ends contract with BHEL for power project (The Hindu Business Line 11th Dec 2007) The Lanco group has terminated the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with the public-sector Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL) for the 1,015-MW coal-based Nagarjuna Power Project coming up in Mangalore. Instead, the EPC will now be done within the group, Lanco Infratech Ltd (LITL). LITL has placed the orders for equipment with Chinese company Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC). DEC is a fully-owned company of the People’s Republic of China. BHEL, when contacted, confirmed the termination of the EPC contract. BHEL had won the contract against bids from a China machine-building international group — China Non-Metal Enterprises Group consortium. The EPC contract was worth Rs 2,500 crore for BHEL. PowerGrid clean-up plan trips on logistics (Live mint.com 11th Dec 2007) If there are more power failures this winter, blame the shortage of helicopters in the country. The unavailabi...

States overdraw power, fail to make payments (Live mint.com 10th Dec 2007) Repeated overdrawing of power, and then not paying for it has run up Rs1,100 crore in dues, by just two states, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). What is more worrisome is that the tendency of states to draw extra power exposes the country’s electricity grid to a potential collapse. “In spite of being the worst offenders, they are yet to submit their dues. There are other states as well that make late payments but these two have the worst track record,” said a senior Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) official who did not wish to be identified.