Today's Cancelled Trains
railway quarters
16:07
Showing posts with label electricity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electricity. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 January 2019
Saturday, 16 April 2016
Reliance ADA
06:54
Indian Railways gets set to cut Fuel Cost – introduce Vendor-managed Depots, review Electricity Contracts
Indian Railways gets set to cut Fuel Cost – introduce Vendor-managed Depots, review Electricity Contracts
New Delhi: To control fuel costs, the Railways plans to have vendor-managed fuelling depots for high-speed diesel and is also reviewing contracts with the electricity authorities to lower peak demand.
“We are going to have vendor-managed railway fuel depots. Till now, the depots were being manned by us, which added to our staff cost. We hold the inventory and pay in advance. Now, this is going to be changed. The pilot project is on in Jaipur and is being undertaken by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited,” Sanjoy Mookerjee, Financial Commissioner, Railway Board, told.
To save costs of high-speed diesel, the Railways is also improving the driving skills of its locomotive pilots to improve fuel consumption.
“To control storage capacity, we are now making ‘just in time’ kind of inventory so that the cost of storage reduces substantially,” added Mookerjee.
Electricity consumption
On electricity consumption, the Railways is reviewing its contracts with the electricity authorities to reduce the assured amount that it pays, keeping in mind the operations of each sector.
“Earlier, we used to pay for peak load, even if we were not using it. Otherwise, we had to pay a huge penalty. That is now going to be reviewed on a real-time basis, based on the loading of each section. That should give us a substantial reduction in peak load payments. Depending on the time table every year, we need to reorient the peak load and bring it down,” said Mookerjee, adding that this process will save funds.
For instance, if the peak load drawn by trains in certain sections was 100 MW, we found the average usage was 50-60 MW. The Railways also gets rebates of 1-2 per cent on making electronic payments, as some electricity authorities provide such rebates.
To save on electricity costs used for running trains, the Railways already has a deemed licence.
“We are getting rates which are almost half of what we were getting earlier. Reliance Power (ADAG) has given us a rate of ₹3-4/unit for North Central Railway, whereas we are paying more than ₹6/unit. The Ratnagiri power – a GAIL and NTPC joint venture — for which we have now contracted will help us save ₹300 crore this year.
Source:RailNews
Source:RailNews
Friday, 27 November 2015
Maharashtra
20:51
Cheaper Electricity for Railway Traction in Maharashtra
2015/11/18
26-11-2015
Cheaper Electricity for Railway Traction in Maharashtra
Central Railway Press Release
Indian Railways is purchasing electric power from State Electricity Boards for running the passenger and goods train on electric traction. Power is received at various Traction Sub-Stations (TSS) located along the railway tracks and is fed to the overhead traction conductors provided above the tracks.
Over the years, rate of electricity for traction has increased considerably putting lot of burden on Railway finances. Railways thereby started exploring feasibility of purchasing electricity from open market.Central Railway has signed a Power Purchase Agreement for availing up to 300 MW power from Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Ltd (RGPPL), which is a joint venture company promoted by MSEB/HCL, NTPC and GAIL.
Ministry of Power has given deemed distribution licensee status to Indian Railways and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has also endorsed this decision which has paved the way for availing electricity by Railways through Open Access mechanism. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with RGPPL has been accordingly signed by Central Railway for 47 traction sub-stations located in Maharashtra.
All the formalities required for open access viz. Connectivity Certificate, No Objection Certificate, deposition of required fees to MSETCL and State Load Dispatch Centre, etc. have been completed.Existing STU network through which these TSSs are connected will continue to feed the power supply being availed from RGPPL.Special Cell has been formed at Mumbai Office of Central Railway to monitor online scheduling of power in consultation with State Load Dispatch Centre and RGPPL Power Point.
Power from RGPPL has started flowing with effect from 26.11.2015. Energy cost saving is expected to be in range of Rs.2.50 to Rs.3.50 per unit, which will result into substantial saving to the tune of Rs.500-700 crore per annum to Indian Railways for the 47 traction substations located in Maharashtra (36 on CR, 6 on WR, 4 on SECR and one on SCR)
Sunday, 8 November 2015
suresh prabhu
15:07
Prabhu asks Railways to save Rs.5000 Crore on Energy Bill
Prabhu asks Railways to save Rs.5000 Crore on Energy Bill
New Delhi: Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on Friday said he has asked the railway board to ensure savings of at least Rs 5,000 crore by 2019 on railways’ energy bill of Rs 33,000 crore.
As part of its energy-saving initiative, the ministry said it has increased efforts to source cheaper electricity through auction-based procurement and invest Rs 1,000 crore in setting up captive power plant in Bihar.
“Our target, for which I keep pressing my board colleagues, is to try and save nothing less than Rs 5,000 crore in 5 years,” Prabhu told an audience comprising global rail sector companies and experts at the International Summit on Energy Efficient Technologies in Railways. He added that the target could be achieved by sourcing more power through competitive bidding route and setting up Indian Railways-owned Nabinagar power plant in Bihar.
Later, speaking at a separate media interaction in the same event, Railway Board’s Member-Electrical Naveen Tandon announced the ministry would soon select the successful bidder for its plan to source 585 Mw power through competitive bidding.
Indian Railways had last month signed an agreement with Adani Power for purchasing 50 Mw power at Rs 3.69 per unit under its new policy of competitive bidding-based procurement, dropping its earlier practice of sourcing electricity through distribution utilities.
Another rail ministry official who was present on the occasion said as many as 44 firms had responded to the ministry’s request for qualification for the supply of 585 Mw power.
Indian Railways spent Rs 13,000 crore on sourcing 17.5 billion units (BUs) of electricity – including 15 BUs for traction power — last fiscal in addition to Rs 20,000 crore expenditure on diesel for traction.
“The first 250 Megawatt unit of the Nabinagar power plant will be commissioned by the end of current fiscal.”
“We have already invested Rs 5,000 crore in setting up the project and the rest Rs 1,000 crore would be invested in the next one year,” Tandon said.
He added the project, when fully commissioned, would supply power to railways at economical rates. The rail ministry has also speeded up efforts to set up the second such captive plant at Adra in West Bengal. Separately, in a tweet on Friday, Prabhu announced he had a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the proposal to seek additional assistance for the railways’ safety fund.
“Met Arun Jaitley for extra support for safety fund which we launch soon.
As always, he’s fully supportive. Safety, Capacity add&decongestion,” Prabhu said in his tweet.
Speaking at the Energy Summit, Prabhu also called for bringing down energy demand and looking for “innovative financing models for funding energy efficiency initiatives”.
He said the ministry is working on comprehensive energy efficiency plan that will radically transform Indian Railways’ energy landscape.
He said the ministry is busy conducting energy audits of all the railway units and zones to set up baselines (benchmarks) for performance that will be compared with global energy efficiency standards.
Monday, 13 July 2015
Ratnagiri
09:48
Indian Railways may source power from Dabhol Power Plant
Indian Railways may source power from Dabhol Power Plant
The proposal is part of railways’ plan to slash its electricity purchase cost to less than Rs.5 per unit from the present average of around Rs.7 per unit
New Delhi: The Indian Railways plans to buy electricity from the Dabhol plant, offering a lifeline to the 1,967 megawatt (MW) power project now owned by Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt. Ltd. The national transporter will, in turn, benefit from lower tariffs.
The proposal to source 500MW from the Maharashtra-based project atRs.4.70 per unit is part of the railways’ plan to slash its electricity purchase cost to less than Rs.5 per unit from the present average of around Rs.7 per unit. “Railways is a remunerative customer for the utilities. It wants to contain its electricity costs. One of the plans being discussed is to supply 500MW from Dabhol at Rs.4.70 per unit,” said a government official, requesting anonymity.
Ratnagiri Gas has lurched from one crisis to another, including high debt and shortage of gas, since the power plant was commissioned in March 2010 after the government took over the assets of Dabhol Power Co., a unit of the now bankrupt US energy firm Enron Corp. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd’s refusal to buy power generated by Ratnagiri is one of the many setbacks faced by the firm. The railways power purchase proposal, if approved, is likely to help revive the firm, which is teetering on the brink of collapse. “The proposal makes sense. It is a win-win for both,” said Sambitosh Mohapatra, partner (power and utilities) at consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.
This comes at a time when Ratnagiri Gas has been selected for receiving a subsidy as part of the government’s revival package for stranded gas-based power projects and those getting low quantities of gas from domestic fields. Under the plan, the stranded projects and their lenders will be able to import liquefied natural gas and cash-strapped state power distribution companies will be financially supported to buy electricity from them.
The railways is leveraging its position as the largest consumer of power in the country to bring down its electricity costs. The national transporter needs about 12 billion units of electricity a year, with consumption growing an average 5% per year. Its power bill is estimated at Rs.11,000 crore for the current fiscal.
NTPC Ltd and GAIL (India) Ltd own 28.91% each in Ratnagiri Gas, the Maharashtra government has a 15.33% stake and the rest is owned by banks and financial institutions, including IDBI Bank Ltd, State Bank of India,ICICI Bank Ltd and Canara Bank.
An NTPC spokesperson confirmed the development. In an emailed response on Thursday, the spokesperson said, “PPA (power purchase agreement) with Railways is expected to be approved in a weeks’ time… waiver of State Transmission Charges (STU) and cross subsidy are being considered for resolution by Govt. of Maharashtra.”
Lenders are looking to revive the Dabhol project and ensure it doesn’t become a bad loan on their books. NTPC had earlier warned its parent, the power ministry, that its investment in Ratnagiri Gas might have to be written off—a significant loss of money and face.
Queries emailed to spokespersons for the power ministry and the Indian Railways remained unanswered till press time.
The railways plans to reduce electricity bills by nearly a third by seeking competitive bids from power producers, sourcing from electricity exchanges and reaching bilateral arrangements. This plan was articulated in this year’s railway budget.
“Although a bulk consumer, railways pays extremely high charges for traction power,” railway minister Suresh Prabhu said in his budget speech. “It is proposed to procure power through the bidding process at economical tariff from generating companies, power exchanges and bilateral arrangements. This initiative is likely to result in substantial savings of at least Rs.3,000 crore in next few years.”
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Indian Railways
15:58
How to cut Power Bill through Deemed Licensee - Indian Railway.
How to cut Power Bill through Deemed Licensee - Indian Railway.
New Delhi: Railways is moving to buy electricity from state utilities and central generation companies through open tender as well as through inter-state trading with the aim of paring its power bill by nearly a third, top government sources said.
But the saving, if and when the system is put to practice, would not result in cheaper fares and would be used to narrowing the yawning gap between the railways’ operational costs and earnings.
Another option simultaneously under consideration is to use its ‘deemed licensee’ status, received last year, to wheel cheaper power from any state or generation company through inter-state transmission network. A deemed licensee status allows a consumer to undertake inter-state trading in power.
The railway and power ministries have discussed the issue. Railways is perhaps one of the single-largest power consumers in the country and biggest client of state utilities. The move to buy power through bidding could pinch the state electricity boards. State utilities usually charge a higher tariff from the Railways to cross-subsidize domestic consumers.
Sources said the Railways at present pay Rs 6.5 per unit on an average, even though power is available from coal-fired stations in the range of Rs 3-5 a unit. Under the new plan, Railways, for example, can tie up cheaper hydel power from surplus states such as Himachal Pradesh.
“Even after paying 30-40 paisa as transmission fees, we expect to save up to Rs 2 per unit,” a Railway official said. In 2013-14, Railways paid a bill of around Rs 10,000 crore for consuming 15,170 million units. Against this, it paid Rs 22,000 crore for diesel.
About 24,800 km of tracks, or 38% of the rail network, is electrified at present. These tracks account for 67% of freight and 51% of passenger traffic. The new initiatives would open new opportunities for many generation companies, especially NTPC, which now supplies about 100 mw to railways.
