Ministry of Power - Year End Review

    1) Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)

        a) Government of India launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) scheme with total outlay of Rs.75893 Crore (DDUGJY: Rs.43033 crore and RE Component: Rs. 32860 crore).

        b) Projects with total cost of Rs.44416 Crore have been sanctioned in 33 States/UTs.

        c) Besides, additional amount of Rs.14270 crore has been sanctioned for creation of additional infrastructure to support 100% household electrification.

        d) Regarding Rural Electricity Infrastructure, as on 30.11.2020

            i) 1754 nos new sub-stations are commissioned

            ii) 2142 nos sub-stations are augmented

            iii) 5,75,115 nos distribution transformers are installed

            iv) 4,91,338 Kms of LT lines and 2,03,085 Kms of HT lines (11 KV and 33 KV) are erected and 1,22,049 Kms feeder separation completed

            v) Besides, metering of 1.48 crore consumers, 2,08,924 Distribution Transformers and 13,190Feeders have been completed.

    2) Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) (as on 13.11.2020)

        a) Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) was launched in the year 2014 with an Outlay of Rs. 32,612 crore for improving and augmenting the distribution and sub-transmission systems in Urban areas with a view to improve reliability.

        b) Under the scheme, system strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network has been completed in 448 circles cumulatively covering over 3000 towns. The major achievements are as follows:

        c) 927 new 33/11 kV Power Sub-Stations (PSS) commissioned; Capacity augmentation of more than 1500 exiting PSS completed

        d) Over 33,000 ckm of new overhead lines charged for better power reliability

        e) More than 75,000 ckm of Underground/Aerial Bunched cables laid to reduce losses

        f) About 56,000 new Distribution Transformers charged for improving power supply in towns

        g) Around 45 Mwp of Solar Panels installed on Govt buildings and Substations as contribution towards green energy

        h) More than 1.15 lac Smart Meters installed

        i) All Smaller Towns have been IT-enabled under IPDS in AP-East, Telangana & Uttarakhand for improved consumer services etc.

        j) Under the older projects subsumed under IPDS, all 1290 towns have been IT enabled, and SCADA systems have been completed in 57 towns. System strengthening works have been completed in 1197 towns.

        k) Though the progress of IPDS was affected by COVID-19 pandemic, the physical progress reached more than 90% for the system strengthening works in the current year.

    3) Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA)

        a) Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – Saubhagya launched in September, 2017 with the objective to achieve universal household electrification by providing electricity connections to all willing un-electrified households in rural and all poor households in urban areas across the country, by March, 2019.

        b) All States have declared electrification of all households on Saubhagya portal, except 18,734 households in LWE affected areas of Chhattisgarh as on 31.03.2019.

        c) As reported by the States, 280.89 lakh households have been electrified since 11.10.2019 up to 30.11.2020 under Saubhagya.

        d) As on 30.11.2020 an amount of Rs. 6,220.23 crore has been released as GoI grant for implementation of Saubhagya.

    4) Smart Metering

        a) In the current financial year, Ministry of Power has issued guidelines to all States to convert all existing consumer meters into Smart meters in prepaid mode.

        b) Operation of Smart meters in prepaid mode would allow consumers to pay as per their own financial convenience and electricity consumption requirements.

        c) More than 19 lakh smart meters have been installed in the country.

    5) Liquidity infusion scheme for Power Sector under Atma Nirbhar Bharat

        a) As a part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Govt. of India decided to infuse liquidity of Rs.90000 Cr in the power sector through PFC and REC Ltd. to enable the sector to maintain power supplies and keep the lights on, as cash flows had plummeted during lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

        b) Against the liquidity infusion package, Rs.118508 Cr worth of loans have been sanctioned and Rs.45083 Cr has already been disbursed/released.

    6) Hydro Power development

        a) Two out of four units (i.e. 300 MW out of 600 MW) of Kameng hydropower project of NEEPCO in Arunachal Pradesh commissioned in February 2020.

        b) Revival of Rangit Stage-IV (120 MW) project in Sikkim, which was stalled since October 2013, through takeover by NHPC Ltd. through NCLT bidding.

        c) Revival of Dugar (500 MW) HE Project in Himachal Pradesh through new allotment to M/s. NHPC by GoHP as earlier developer, M/s. DHPL, decided not to go ahead with the implementation of the project.

        d) Revival of Reoli Dugli (476 MW) HE Project in Himachal Pradesh through new allotment to M/s. SJVNL by GoHP as earlier developer, M/s. L&THHPL, decided not to go ahead with the implementation of the project.

        e) CCEA Approval of Rs. 1810.56 crores (May, 2020 PL) accorded for Luhri stage-I (210 MW) HE Project of M/s. SJVNL in Himachal Pradesh.

        f) Construction started at two projects namely Kutehr (240 MW) HE Project in Himachal Pradesh and Kiru (624 MW) HE Project in J&K.

        g) Guidelines being prepared for operationalising the following measures to promote hydropower sector approved by the Union Cabinet on 07.03.2019

        h) Declaring Large Hydropower Projects (>25 MW) as Renewable Energy

            i) Hydropower Purchase Obligation(HPO)

            ii) Tariff rationalisation measures

            iii) Budgetary support for flood moderation component &

            iv) Budgetary support for enabling infrastructure like bridges, roads etc.

    7) One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency

        a) During 2020 (upto October 2020), 11921 ckm of  transmission lines (220 kV and above) has been added.

        b) During the same period, Transformation capacity addition is 35,760MVA

        c) Inter-Regional Transfer capacity of addition during 2020 (upto October 2020) is of  3,000 MW (during 01.01.2020 to 31.10.2020)

    8) Setting up of Renewable Energy Management Centre (REMC)

    9) Coal Linkages accorded under SHAKTI Policy

        a) The power plants have also been advised by the CEA not to import coal for blending purposes and get their likely import of coal substituted with domestic coal.

        b) The expected availability of coal from various domestic sources during 2020-21 is about 644 MT (CIL: 526 MT, SCCL: 55 MT and Captive: 63 MT) against the coal requirement of about 645 MT for the plants designed on domestic coal. So, there is sufficient availability of coal.

    10) Waiver of ISTS Transmission Charges and Losses for Solar & Wind Power

    11) Reduced rate of Late Payment Surcharge

    12) Introduction of Real Time Market (RTM) and Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) through Power Exchange

    13) Deepening of Short Term Market: Short-term transactions of electricity in Day Ahead Market in Power Exchanges have seen increase in traded volume and decrease in prices of electricity.

    14) Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh

    15) The draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020

        a) To ensure sanctity of contracts, performance of contracts, Payment Security Mechanism, Subsidy management, RPO Compliance mechanism etc.

        b) In order to address those issues and increase sustainability of the sector, draft Amendments to Electricity Act 2003 was proposed. 

    16) Amendments in Tariff Policy

        a) Certain Amendments to the Tariff Policy 2016 have been proposed to ensure consumer protection, increase financial viability of the sector, attract investments and promote transparency in power sector.

        b) Amendments to Tariff Policy inter alia includes consumer protection like- performance standards of Discoms, adequacy of power, penalty for power cuts, inefficiencies of Discoms not to be pass through.

        c) Other issues of proposed amendments include payments to Gencos/ Transcos, Clarity on Change in Law provisions, promotion of renewable energy, Electricity tariffs to Electric vehicle charging stations, Direct Benefit Transfer, Smart metering, transparency in grant of Open Access, addressing concerns over Regulatory Assets, revision of formula for calculation of Cross Subsidy and Additional Surcharges etc.

    17) Impact of Energy Efficiency Schemes / Programmes

        a) Electrical energy savings of 136.37 Billion Units, worth INR 67,039 crores

        b) Thermal energy savings of 12.00 Million Tonnes of oil Equivalent, worth INR 22,083 crores

        c) Total energy savings of 23.73 Million Tonnes of oil Equivalent i.e. 2.69% of total primary energy supply of the country

        d) Total cost savings worth INR 89,122 crores approximately which is equivalent to reduction in CO2 emission of around 151.74 Million Tonnes

    18) Energy Efficiency in Industry Sector, Appliances, and Building sectors

        a) PAT cycle –II ended on 31st March 2019 wherein 621 Designated Consumers (DCs) from 11 sectors have achieved total energy savings of about 13.28 Million tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MTOE) translating into avoiding of about 61.34 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide. These savings exceeded the notified target of 8.869 MTOE by about 25 %.

        b) Voluntary star labelling program for Deep Freezers and Light Commercial Air Conditioner launched on March 8th, 2020.

        c) 14 States and 2 UTs have notified Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) for their states.

    19) Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA): Over 36.66 crore LED bulbs, 72.05 lakh LED tube lights and 23.38 lakh energy efficient fans distributed across the country resulting in estimated energy savings of 48.13 billion kWh per year.

    20) Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP): Over 1.10 crore energy efficient LED streetlights have been installed across the country resulting in estimated energy savings of 7.45 billion kWh per year.

    21) National E-Mobility Programme: Procurement process of 10,000 e-cars concluded. Till date,1514 e-cars deployed/under deployment for Government offices and 488 Captive Chargers (308 AC & 180 DC) commissioned in these offices.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)