Shaken by the adverse comments made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the government’s captive coal blocks allocation policy, the coal ministry is planning to conduct a fresh audit of

New Delhi At a time when power projects are facing problems of fuel linkage, financing and CAG scrutiny, Reliance Power, the flagship company of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is planning to incr

New Delhi In a deviation from the existing policy barring domestic coal linkage for power projects bid out on the basis of fully imported coal use, the government is set to clear domestic coal allocations for six such projects totalling a 4,650 MW capacity. Of these six projects belonging to the 11th Plan period, four have already been commissioned but are constrained not to utilise full capacity due to non-availability of indigenous coal.

However, for the 12th Plan projects, the power ministry will insist on the policy that imported fuel-based projects should not be given domestic coal linkage. The six projects include Mundra thermal power project of Adani Power,

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is planning to make public hearings mandatory for all mining licences coming up for renewal or where the mine is going in for expansion. The move is expected to add another layer of control over mining activities at a time when the Prime Minister’s Office is keen to ease regulations and speed up projects.

Public hearing is a mandatory step in the process of environmental clearance for addressing concerns of affected persons which is conducted by the state pollution control board (SPCB). It is supposed to be completed within 45 days from the date of receipt of the request letter from the applicant, but often, the time taken is much more. Normally, the process is adopted while giving a fresh mining lease.

New Delhi In a major step towards women empowerment, the Centre is planning a new legislation that will make the woman of the house the chief beneficiary of the compensation for land acquired for mining projects. According to officials in the mining ministry, the move will not only ensure the compensation amount is spent wisely but also give women a bigger role in financial decision-making.

The draft new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 — which is currently being vetted by a parliamentary standing committee — provides for sharing of 26% of profit by coal miners and an amount equivalent to royalty by others (in case of other minerals) with project-affected people. The money is to be distributed to beneficiaries through a District Mineral Development Fund.

New Delhi Falling KG-D6 output, costly imported LNG hem in power plants

India's gas-based power stations are facing an uncertain future. Depleting output from Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 block and non-availability of adequate infrastructure to handle liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are set to trigger suspension of about 7,000 MW of generating capacity, further widening the large gap between power demand and supply.

New Delhi Power plants using less-polluting washed coal— with ash content not exceeding 34% and gross calorific value not less than 4,000 Kcal/kg on a daily average basis — may get faster environment clearances from 2014.

The move, which will benefit power projects of more than 100 MW, comes in the wake of the recent nationwide power outages for which the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) was also blamed, given its failure to give timely green clearances for projects. Although the immediate reason for the recent collapse of power grids could be reckless overdrawal of power by states, what lies beneath the flouting of grid code is a widening demand-supply gap for power.

New Delhi Power companies, which are forced to import coal despite high costs due to delays/denial over environment and forest clearances of their captive coal mines, can breathe easy now.

The government is planning to allow incremental cost of fuel owing to such forced imports as a pass-through in tariff. Sources told FE that the provision would be included in the standard bidding document (SBD) of all forthcoming power projects. The changes would not only allow power companies to relinquish their commitments under the terms of power purchase agreement entered with state utilities but also get full compensation for increased fuel cost if coal is imported at a higher cost.

New Delhi The power ministry has stuck to it its original proposal to levy a total of 21% import duty on power equipment despite changes sought by a host of central ministries seeking higher duty protection for the domestic engineering firms such as Bhel and L&T.

In a recent draft Cabinet note, the power ministry has retained the proposal to levy 5% basic customs duty, 12% countervailing duty (after the excise hike announced in the Budget to 12%) and 4% special additional duty on power equipment for all categories of projects bearing non-mega, mega and ultra mega tags. Cumulatively, the duty works out close to 23%, which power ministry feels is adequate disincentive for power producers to go for imported equipment.

New Delhi Coal India (CIL) may barely manage to supply the mandatory 65% of annual coal requirement of power projects this fiscal but could flounder in the next two years and invite a R880-crore penalty, says an internal assessment by the coal ministry.

The analysis, factoring in CIL’s production augmentation plans, comes in the wake of mandatory fuel supply agreements (FSAs) being finalised between the monopoly coal producer and power companies at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office.