ONGC to get 10 per cent RoI on Cairn blocks

In order to boost ONGC’s valuations ahead of followon public offer (FPO) which is scheduled early next year, central government has given in principal ok to the proposal which ensures  Cairn gets minmum 10 per cent return on investment (RoI) in Cairn India’s Rajasthan block.  The government’s in principal approval also paves the way for Cairn-Vedanta deal. 

 The state-run explorer has been losing money from these blocks, as it has to bear the  entire royalty burden, and has been using the deal to negotiate better terms for itself.  The petroleum ministry sources said, the government may transfer a part of its own share of profit from the blocks to help ONGC, but this would require the approval of the finance ministry as it means giving subsidy to the ONGC..

Officials in the finance ministry said, they were looking at ways to help ONGC while petroleum secretary S Sundareshan said his ministry wanted India’s second-largest company by market capitalisation to get a reasonable return.

“This will come as an upside for investors ahead of the FPO as the Rajasthan blocks will generate more revenues in the years to come. A positive return for ONGC would help the Cairn-Vedanta deal as well as ONGC’s concerns would be addressed without making any changes for Cairn India materially,” says Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Securities .

The ministry is considering ways to give ONGC a return of 10-15 per cent on its investment in the Rajasthan blocks and is consulting ONGC and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the quasi-regulator for the sector, the official said, requesting anonymity. One of those options is to amend the tripartite contract between Cairn India, ONGC and the central government for the Rajasthan blocks. The amendment would allow the Union government to directly compensate ONGC.

By altering a specific contract, as opposed to making a policy change that affects 70-odd royalty deals that are in the same situation as ONGC, the government will not need cabinet clearance, speeding up the deal. The government would like to resolve the royalty issue quickly, as it is looking to sell 5 per cent in ONGC through a public issue by March 2011; if the royalty issue is still pending, it might lower the valuations the government gets.

However, the Cairn-Vedanta deal, pending for about four months, might run into another hurdle. If the delay continues, Vedanta Resources might ask Cairn Energy, Cairn India’s Scottish parent, to lower the deal price, a person involved in the transaction said last Thursday.“The change in crude prices and scrip movements will be variables we will have to keep in mind as the deadline approaches,” he said. The deadline for the deal is April 15, which can be extended by one month.

Strong growth in power capacity and generation

Power capacity addition spurted by 2,085 mw during October, three times around the 716 average megawatt added in the previous two months and nearly 50 per cent more than that targeted for the month. In fact, this was the largest monthly capacity addition during the ongoing plan. The projects commissioned during the month included Rajiv Gandhi (Hissar) TPP U-2 and Sterlite (Jharsuguda) TPP U-1 (600 mw each); Indira Gandhi STPP U-1 (500 mw) of Aravli Power; Wardha Warora TPP U-2 (135 mw); and Pragati Stage- III (Bawana) CCPP GT-1 U-1 (250 mw). With this, the first seven months of 2010-11 have seen the commissioning of 7,020 mw of capacity, meeting 60 per cent of the targeted augmentation for the period. Fiscal 2009-10 had witnessed 51 per cent of target achievement, 2007-08 57 per cent, and 2008-09 only 31 per cent.

Cumulatively, the net capacity addition in public utilities till October in the ongoing 11th Plan amounted to 25,923 mw in public utilities, comprising 22,588 mw of thermal, 2,675 mw of hydro (renewable) and 660 mw of nuclear power. The renewable energy sources (grid connected) including small hydropower, biomass gas/power and wind energy etc., whose estimates are sourced from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, contributed 9,026 mw. The state governmentowned power plants accounted for 49 per cent of the total installed capacity of 167,278 mw in October, followed by 31 per cent in central government-owned plants, and 20 per cent in private sector plants. In RES, however, private sector accounted for 83 per cent of total capacity of 16,787 mw.

Even as the fructification of power capacity is running below target in the current plan, as in earlier five-year plans, addition to stock of public utilities till October has exceeded 21,151 mw added during the 10th Plan and 18,524 mw in the 9th Plan. Renewable energy, a star performer, has in fact already surpassed the climb in the earlier plan by 50 per cent. The total stock of installed generating capacity at the end of October worked out to 167,278 mw; of which 10 per cent (16,787 mw) comprised RES. Grid-connected captive generating capacity contributed another 19,509 mw.

The western region has 31 per cent of grid-connected power capacity (including RES) followed by northern and southern regions contributing around 27 per cent each. The eastern region has 13 per cent of installed generating capacity, with the northeastern region accounting for just around 1-2 per cent. The southern region dominated in RES with 51 per cent followed by 29 per cent in the western region and 16 per cent in the northern region.

Total power generation including that from the Bhutan joint venture shot up 8.4 per cent in October, reversing the slide that had pulled down the growth rate to around 1.3-1.4 per cent in August- September, from 3.9 per cent in June-July and 6.6 per cent in April-May. Cumulative increase in power generation over April- October worked out to a somewhat respectable 4.7 per cent, which though was below 6.5 per cent in the corresponding period of 2009-10. Plant load factor for thermal plants (coal and lignite) was assessed at 72.5 per cent during April-October 2010, which was markedly lower than 75.7 per cent in this period a year ago. PLF for nuclear power improved from 49.8 per cent to 56.2 per cent between these periods due to better availability of nuclear fuels.

The average deficit went down to about 9.2 per cent during April- October 2010, from 9.8 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago, and 10.5 per cent during this period two years back. Peak demand level deficit worked out to 10.1 per cent against 12.1 per cent in the same period last year and 13.5 per cent two years ago. Lower power shortage could be reflective of a slowing economy as growth in generation during the period was lower than that a year ago.

Among the regions, the western region, which accounts for 30-31 per cent of power availability as also demand, faced 13.7 per cent average deficit, much higher than the average for the country. The northern region faced 8.8 per cent deficit. The southern and eastern regions faced 6.3 per cent and 4.9 per cent deficit, respectively.

Among the states, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, faced 18 per cent power deficit during April-October; Uttar Pradesh faced 16 per cent; and Karnataka 10 per cent.

Power Sector Performance in 11th Five-Year Plan
	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11 (up to October)
Capacity addition (mw)	9,263	3,454	9,585	7,020
Generation ('000 GwH)	704	724	772	468
Power deficit (per cent)	9.8	11	10.1	9.2

 

Cancun Talks: China, India Brazil press for more US cuts

China, India, Brazil and South Africa said the US must pledge deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to help make progress in United Nations climate talks, sharpening divisions between rich and poor countries on how to combat global warming.

The four developing nations at the talks in Cancun, Mexico, also called on industrialized economies to provide more aid for countries seeking to clean up their energy industries, adding to demands that the US and European Union said may wreck the meeting.

“There is an agreement to be had,” US lead climate negotiator Todd Stern said yesterday in Cancun. “I’m not sure whether we will actually get it. I think that question hangs in the balance.”

With the two-week conference involving 193 nations entering its final four days, the EU said negotiating documents are too complex and too full of disputed items for this stage in the talks. The remarks add to the chances negotiations may follow last year’s gathering in Copenhagen in failing to produce an agreed package of measures to keep a lid on global temperatures.

“The texts are still much too long,” said Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner in charge of climate policy, referring to UN documents outlining possible goals at Cancun. “There are much too many options. They are still too complicated.”

Leaders gathering Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador are among the 35 leaders arriving for the final days of the conference. US president Barack Obama, who attended last year in Copenhagen, is not coming this time.

The delegates are looking for ways to curb fossil fuel emissions blamed for global warming once limits agreed in the 1997 Kyoto treaty expire in 2012. After failing to reach a legally-binding agreement last year, the UN scaled back ambitions for this meeting, focusing on agreeing regulations to protect forests, verify emissions cuts and channel up to $100 billion a year in climate aid to developing nations.

A UN text sketching out the options for Cancun says the nations of the world need to limit temperature increases since the 1700s to “below 2 degrees Celsius.” Carbon dioxide emissions have risen 40 per cent from 1990 to 2008, double the level that would produce a 3.5 degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

US position

The US, the only industrialized country not to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, has pledged to cut emissions about 17 per cent by 2020 based on 2005 levels. That amounts to a zero reduction from 1990, the baseline for Kyoto, according to the Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh.

“The US offer is disappointing to say the least,” he said yesterday. He joined the other developing nations in insisting that the industrial countries make a second round of commitments under Kyoto, an effort that the UN says is not possible at this meeting.

“We need to stick to the Kyoto Protocol because it’s the result of a long-term effort and the only legally binding document on emissions reductions,” ie Zhenhua, China’s top official on climate policy, said at a briefing yesterday in Cancun. “We need to continue the second commitment period.”

Copenhagen compromise

Both the US and EU are pressing for a new climate agreement to include reduction pledges made earlier this year under the Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding accord cobbled together in the Danish capital last year when treaty talks failed.

The US wants the Copenhagen pact to serve as the basis for a new treaty that includes cuts from fast-growing countries like China and India. Japan, Russia and Canada have refused to sign up for a second round of cuts under Kyoto without developing country participation. China wants to stick with the Kyoto approach, which requires actions from only industrial countries.

The EU, which has committed to cutting emissions 20 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, urged all countries to make compromises, noting there were limits to what it could achieve.

“We can’t leave Cancun empty-handed,” Hedegaard said in a news conference.

Forest snag

Bolivia yesterday stepped up its call for rich nations to make deeper cuts. Its negotiator, Pablo Solon, also is resisting the forest protection measures, saying the methods being considered to count the stocks of carbon sequestered in trees don’t do enough to protect “the rights of nature.”

The Latin American country’s concerns are important because under the UN rules, which require consensus, any party to the talks can hold up progress with an objection.

The rich-nation targets in the 1997 Kyoto negotiation text range from 15 per cent below 1990 levels in 2020 to 50 per cent below by 2017, according to a document on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The EU has said it will boost its reduction target to 30 per cent if other countries also strengthen their commitments.

“What we need is that others also move,” Hedegaard said.

Siemens to invest Rs 400 cr in renewable energy sector

Siemens Ltd will invest nearly Rs 400 crore in the development of wind turbines in the country in the next two years, company officials said here.

Siemens will design and manufacture the equipment and make the expanded Vadodara facility operational by 2013 in the next phase of development, said Dr Armin Bruck, Managing Director, and Mr A.K. Dixit, CEO, Energy Cluster, Siemens Ltd, on the sidelines of a function in which the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, inaugurated the second phase of steam turbine and compressor manufacturing facility at Vadodara.

This is part of the Rs 1,600-crore of investments in India over the next three years, announced in February 2010 by Mr Peter Loescher, President and CEO of Siemens AC, to set up six hubs of base level products in India.

Manufacturing facility for steam turbines larger than 45 MW, which was one of the six hubs, has now been established at Vadodara, and the other five hubs are under way. These products will cater to the mid- and low-end market segment constituting around 70 per cent of the total market in India. The company envisages production of some 60 products at Vadodara.

Of the Rs 1,600 crore, Siemens plans to invest around Rs 1,200 crore in Gujarat alone. On the two phases in Vadodara, it has invested Rs 575 crore so far, including Rs 300 crore in energy and healthcare sectors.

The expansion will double the capacity of the Vadodara facility to manufacture steam turbines from the existing 45 MW up to 150 MW, which in the next phases will be augmented up to 250-300 MW.

The smaller turbines up to 15 MW are sourced from this factory by Siemens AG to cater to Asia, Africa and Europe.

Mr Dixit said around 30 per cent of the installed generating capacity in India is currently from Siemens licensees. In the industrial sector as well, over 500 Siemens industrial steam turbines from Vadodara facility have been installed in the country.

“Now, with the ability to manufacture steam turbines up to 150 MW locally as well as with the compressor manufacturing and testing facilities commencing at this site, we will widen our portfolio in the oil and gas sector.”

Siemens Ltd, in which Siemens AG holds a 55.18 per cent stake, comprises 19 legal entities with 21 manufacturing plants in India, with a business volume of Rs 12,000 crore in 2009, expected to double in the next two years.

Responding to Mr Modi's claim that Siemens is “shifting” wind turbine manufacturing facility from China to Vadodara, the officials clarified that Siemens's China business is three times larger than in India. “We are now adopting a balanced growth approach and only the latest technology development in renewable energy will now be done at the Vadodara facility.”

They said Siemens Ltd's current contribution to the behemoth's global business is less than three per cent, as against China's eight per cent. Siemens India currently has an order book of Rs 12,400 crore, including Rs 7,700 crore from the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas sector account for about 15 per cent of the company's business.

Besides, Mr Dixit said, Siemens is making Gujarat a major service centre for turbines and compressors as a continuous business proposition. The company is, at present, providing technology via BHEL to power plants of up to 800 MW, based on super-critical technology.

It is also working on providing turnkey-basis solutions to the gas-based power plants to be set up at Dahej and Kutch in Gujarat.

APEPDCL registers lowest transmission loss in country

Three north-coastal districts has registered the lowest losses at 8.4 per cent, as against the country's average of 30 per cent.

The Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd (APEPDCL) — operating in the three north-coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam besides East Godavari — has registered the lowest power transmission and distribution losses in the country, at 8.4 per cent, as against the country's average of 30 per cent, according to Mr H.Y. Dora, Director, Operations.


Mr Dora was speaking at a seminar on energy efficiency organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency here on Friday.
He said the APEPDCL was taking steps to improve energy conservation and efficiency and to educate the general public.


It had distributed six lakh CFL lamps in Visakhapatnam district and had taken up a pilot project in East Godavari district to replace agricultural pump-sets and pipes to improve energy efficiency.
Stress on efficiency


He said there was a huge demand-supply gap in the power sector and adding capacity would only solve part of the problem as it could never match a rise in demand.
Therefore, energy conservation and efficiency should be stressed.


Mr Rajeev Kumar Yadav, the project economist of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, outlined the steps being taken to promote awareness about energy efficiency and to reduce the energy intensity of the Indian economy.
Small and Medium Enterprises


He urged the small and medium enterprises in particular to focus on the aspect.
The use of obsolete technologies and low energy productivity were the main problems of the SME sector in India.
The lack of common infrastructure and institutional finance were compounding the problem.
Energy efficient steps


He said the Bureau of Energy Efficiency had identified 30 clusters of SMEs in different sectors to promote energy efficiency in the country.


In Andhra Pradesh too the programme was being implemented in the two Godavari districts (refractory cluster), Bhimavaram in West Godavari (ice-making) and Warangal (rice milling).
The bureau was helping units in these clusters implement energy-efficient steps and arrange institutional finance for the purpose.


Capt. Sriram Ravichander, the Chairman of the Vizag zone of the CII, said the industry should focus on the vital aspect.
The Vice-Chairman, Mr R.V.S. Raju, also spoke.

Cost of solar power projects set to fall

The Indian solar energy market is expected to witness a major boost within the next five years with per megawatt cost of solar power projects estimated to fall by nearly 50 per cent. Until now, the initial high capital expenditure incurred while implementing solar energy projects has been one of the main deterrents for investors. 

"Currently, solar photovoltaic projects cost around 15 to 18 crore per megawatt. The manner in which solar PV technology is improving, the cost of solar PV projects per megawatt should come down to 8 to 10 crore per megawatt within the next five to 10 years," Deepak Gadhia, Principal & Chief Mentor, Green Force Enviro Pvt. Ltd, told Projectmonitor. 

On the other hand, solar thermal projects cost around 20 crore per megawatt but it would come down to around 8 crore in next five to 10 years, Gadhia said. However, solar thermal was expected to produce double the amount of energy compared with solar PV, he added. Gehrlicher Solar AG, the German solar energy giant, recently established a joint venture with Greenforce Enviro Pvt. Ltd to offer EPC and other services for solar power plants that are being planned across India. The proposed joint venture aims to take full benefit of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. 

When questioned if the proposed joint venture would bring down EPC cost in the solar sector, Gadhia stated that the proposed joint venture would offer megawatt services and also involve "robots" in the installation process, which would help lower the cost of labour. 

"The cost of panels is only around 40 per cent of expenditure in any solar PV project, so if other costs are reduced then the project cost per megawatt will be reduced further," Gadhia said. 

At present, India does not have local players in the solar EPC business. The few ones that exist in this business are actually subcontractors for other international partners. The Gehrlicher Solar- Greenforce Enviro JV is expected to change the scenario in the solar EPC business.

New Climate Finance Tool for developing countries launched in Cancun

To help developing countries make sense of the multitude of funds & instruments available for climate finance a landmark website,www.climatefinanceoptions.org, was launched at the United Nations Climate Conference in Cancun. The UN Climate Change Conference begins in Cancun on 6th December, 2010 and leaders of 194 countries are expected to attend to discuss their future commitments to reduce emissions and take action against climate change. Rich countries had earlier pledged $30 billion to fight the affects of climate change - of which about $4 billion has been earmarked for forestry. In 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted as the basis for a global response to the problem. With 194 parties, the convention enjoys near-universal membership. The objective of the Convention is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. The convention is complemented by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which has 192 parties. Under this treaty, 37 industrialised countries and the European Community have committed to reducing their emissions by an average of five percent by 2012 against 1990 levels. Climate finance issues are high on the agenda in Cancun.  The Climate Finance Options (CFO) web platform, envisioned as the go-to site for information on climate finance will help developing countries in their efforts to identify critical sources of funding to combat climate change. Within the framework of global negotiations on climate change, the World Bank Group and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly developed the web-based knowledge platform in close cooperation with the UNFCCC Secretariat. The Platform will generate a number of benefits: Improved access to information on climate finance as a basis for more informed planning and decision making by developing country governments; Greater equity in the ability of users from countries and communities with varying levels of capacity to access the system; Useful documentation in preparation of policies related to financing mitigation and adaptation; Greater efficiency in climate finance transactions; Faster deployment of mitigation & adaptation projects; Better coordination among the UN System, MDBs including the private sector, in financing for climate action in developing countries.

Primary energy demand to grow 36% by 2035

Amuch stronger action is needed to accelerate the transformation of the global energy system, says the IEA's latest World Energy Outlook. "The Copenhagen Accord and the agreement among G20 countries to phase out subsidies are important steps forward. But, these moves still fall a very long way short of what is required to set us on the path to a truly sustainable energy system," said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, at the launch of WEO-2010, which demonstrates that it is what governments do, and how that action affects technology, the price of energy services and end-user behaviour, that will shape the future of energy in the longer term.

Under the central scenario of the Outlook: the New Policies Scenario, world primary energy demand increases by 36 per cent between 2008 and 2035, or 1.2 per cent per year on average. The assumed policies make a tangible difference to energy trends: demand grew by 2 per cent per year over the previous 27-year period.

Non-OECD countries account for 93 per cent of the projected increase in world primary energy demand in the New Policies Scenario. China, which IEA preliminary data suggests overtook the United States in 2009 to become the world's largest energy user despite its low per capita energy use, contributes 36 per cent to the projected growth in global energy use.

"It is hard to overstate the growing importance of China in global energy. How the country responds to the threats to global energy security and climate posed by rising fossil-fuel use will have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world," Tanaka added.

China is at the forefront of efforts to increase the share of new low-carbon energy technologies, including alternative vehicles, which will help to drive down their costs through faster rates of technology learning and economies of scale, and boost their deployment worldwide.

Globally, fossil fuels remain dominant in the New Policies Scenario, though their share of the overall energy mix falls in favour of renewable energy sources and nuclear power. Oil nonetheless remains the leading fuel in the energy mix by 2035, followed by coal. Of the three fossil fuels, gas consumption grows most rapidly, its share of total energy use almost reaching that of coal.

The oil price is set to rise, reflecting the growing insensitivity of both demand and supply to price. In the New Policies Scenario, the average IEA crude oil price rises from just over $60 in 2009 to $113 per barrel (in year-2009 dollars) in 2035. Oil demand continues to grow steadily, reaching about 99 million barrels per day (mb/d) by 2035, 15 mb/d higher than in 2009. All of the net growth comes from non-OECD countries, almost half from China alone; demand in the OECD actually falls, by over 6 mb/d.

Crude oil output reaches an undulating plateau of just under 69 mb/d by 2020 while production of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and unconventional oil, notably Canadian oil sands, grows strongly.

"Renewable energy can play a central role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and diversifying energy supplies, but only if strong and sustained support is made available," Tanaka said.

In the New Policies Scenario, government intervention in support of renewables (electricity from renewables and biofuels) increases from $57 billion in 2009 to $205 billion (in 2009 dollars) by 2035. The share of modern renewable energy sources, including sustainable hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, modern biomass and marine energy, in global primary energy use triples between 2008 and 2035 and their combined share in total primary energy demand increases from 7 per cent to 14 per cent.

The energy trends envisioned in the New Policies Scenario imply that national commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, while expected to have some impact, are collectively inadequate to meet the Copenhagen Accord's overall goal of holding the global temperature increase to below 2°C. Rising demand for fossil fuels would continue to drive up energy-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions through to 2035, making it all but impossible to achieve the 2°C goal, as the required reductions in emissions after 2020 would be too steep.

In order to have a reasonable chance of achieving the goal, the concentration of greenhouse gases would probably need to be stabilised at a level no higher than 450 ppm CO2-eq. The 450 Scenario describes how the energy sector could evolve were this objective to be achieved.

The lack of ambition in the Copenhagen Accord pledges has increased the estimated cost of reaching the 2°C goal by $1 trillion and made it less likely that the goal will actually be achieved.

Generation requirements for universal electricity access, 2030 (TWh)
	On-grid	Mini-grid	Isolated off-grid	Total
Africa	196	187	80	463
Sub-Saharan Africa	195	187	80	462
Developing Asia	173	206	88	468
China	1	1	0	2
India	85	112	48	245
Other Asia	87	94	40	221
Latin America	6	3	1	10
Developing Countries*	379	399	171	949
World**	380	400	172	952
*Includes Middle East Countries; **includes OECD and transition economies

Counting carbon footprints in Cancun

Dec 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Adianto P. Simamora The Jakarta Post, Indonesia / Asia News Network

"We invite you to mitigate your 1.71 tons of emissions by purchasing carbon certificates."

That is the answer from an online emission calculator when IGG Maha Adi, an Indonesian delegate to the Cancun climate talks, counted his carbon footprint for his trip to Cancun, Mexico.

Delegates to the two-week talks can access an online or a manual carbon footprint calculator set up in conference venue to measure emissions associated with air and ground transportation, lodging and meals.

The Mexican government is offering options for participants to purchase conservation projects to offset their emissions.

For individuals, the government offered four low-carbon projects including a wind turbine project in which participants could share US$14.82, or indigenous forest projects at a cost of $12.65 each.

Ten thousand delegates from 194 countries, including government officials, activists, company representatives and reporters, are expected to attend the two-week conference, which officially kicked off Monday morning.

The climate conference is being held at the Moon Palace Hotel, while side events are housed 7km away at the Cancun Messe convention center.

All delegates pass through the Cancun Messe for security checks before being transported to the Moon Palace Hotel.

Indonesia's total greenhouse gas emission in 2005 was 2.3 billion tons, placing the country third on the list of biggest emitters after the US and China.

Delegates to the 16th climate conference will discuss long-standing issues of how to cut emissions to prevent a 2-degree Celsius increase in the planet's temperature.

Each year, there are at least four climate conferences held before the ministerial level climate talks held usually two weeks before year-end.

At previous climate conferences, developed countries refused to agree to legally binding emission reduction targets, while developing countries also refused binding cuts.

The carbon footprint calculator was developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The Mexican government said that for the conference, some power was supplied through a system of photovoltaic cells with an estimated output of 130 kilowatts.

The installation of a 1.5-megawatt wind power generator will contribute to Cancun's electricity production through renewable sources.

The delegates will be provided with hybrid vehicles for their transfers during the talks in order to neutralize their emissions.

The Mexican government has also implemented a special hotel assessment program in Cancun aimed at enhancing sustainable operations.

Through the Environmental Leadership for Competitiveness program implemented by SEMARNAT, hotels will run eco-efficiency projects to reduce the use of raw material, energy and water during the conference.

The projects were expected to reduce water consumption by 200,000 cubic meters and carbon dioxide by 4,000 tons.

The host country also planted 10,000 trees and bushes in Cancun.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said all nations would have the opportunity to make progress by adopting a broad and balanced set of decisions to reduce emissions.

IBM Research Teams With Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to Make Power Grids Smarter

IBM Corporation - 11.16.2010

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has signed a research collaboration agreement with IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur to develop systems that will help power grids become more efficient and resilient. The systems will analyze power grid data for predictive insights. They will also improve grids to enhance productivity and reduce inefficiencies in power consumption.

IBM Research – India will work with these two premiere institutes to develop open system designs that can boost the potential of Phasor Measurement Units (PMU), a new type of sensor on power grids. The IBM researchers and the students will develop network architectures to reliably collect data from PMUs as well as analytics tools that process the collected data to provide valuable information to the grid operators.

The knowledge and insights gained from this collaborative research work will be made publicly available, in order to allow governments and businesses around the world to take advantage of the PMU technology.

According to the International Energy Agency the global demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly during the period from 2006 to 2030--1.1% per year on average in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. In comparison, increases are 7.6% in China and about 6% in India per year.

This rising demand increases stress on grids, thereby growing the chances of power outages. To prevent such outages and their impact on productivity, it is important to make the grid more intelligent by adding sensing, control and communication components.

"With exploding world population and the increased demand for clean and cheap energy there is a pressing need for making the power grids efficient, intelligent, and secure. The collaboration among IBM Research – India, IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur aims at reducing inherent inefficiencies of power grid technologies and make them optimally productive," said Dr. Manish Gupta, Director, IBM Research – India and Chief Technologist, IBM India/South Asia. "By helping power grids become more efficient, the project will also contribute to the efforts of creating sustainable energy generation systems."

IIT Kharagpur will be primarily involved in developing the new power system applications and software systems for the project. While, IIT Madras will focus on the networking architecture to ensure that the data collected from different locations is appropriately transmitted to one location. A test bed will be developed to connect IBM Research labs and both the institutes to emulate a smart grid network. The test bed will be utilized to evaluate the network architecture and the open system designs in real-life scenarios.

"Existing power grids are facing technical challenges because of their outdated design and growing loads," said Prof. A.K. Sinha from IIT Kharagpur. "Through our knowledge in the power system application domain and IBM's expertise our students will work towards developing an innovative grid management application to make the power grid more reliable."

"One of the key elements of a Smart Grid is secure and high-speed communication networks," said Prof. Krishna Sivalingam from IIT Madras. "The association is not only a step towards addressing this pressing requirement but also a platform for our students to work with the research veterans from IBM and get a real-life problem solving and application development experience."

The project is part of IBM's Open Collaborative Research (OCR) program, an initiative to foster innovation through university-industry research collaboration.

This partnership with IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur is the fourth engagement of its kind. IBM recently announced its collaboration with IIT Bombay. Also this year, IBM announced an OCR project with the National Institute of Design (NID). It was preceded by an OCR engagement with the Indian School of Business (ISB).

Climate Change Conference Begins in Mexico

Dec 01, 2010 -- Voice of America News/ContentWorks

to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide as part of an effort to curb global warming. But participants are looking for advances on a handful of issues rather than an overall agreement that would legally bind nations to reduce emissions.

Delegates from more than 190 nations, and representatives of various non-governmental groups, are in Cancun for two weeks of discussion aimed at forging a comprehensive agreement not now, but at some future meeting.
But in his opening remarks, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the world may not be able to wait much longer for decisive action.He said climate change is already a reality for Mexico and the whole planet. He cited recent deadly floods in Mexico, Guatemala and Pakistan, as well as disasters in Russia and Africa as evidence that climate change is already disrupting life for many of the world's people.

The threat is especially keen for small island nations -- rising sea levels caused by global warming threaten their very existence.

The chair for the group representing 42 of those nations is Grenada's ambassador, Dessima Williams.
"Our environmental integrity is at risk," said Ambassador Williams. "Our peoples' livelihood remains at risk and the very credibility of the multilateral system to which we are pledged and to which, as small states, we depend -- all are at stake."

These nations want the world to commit to keeping global temperature no higher than 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels -- an ambitious goal given that world leaders struggled to commit to a two-degree limit at last year's Climate Summit in Copenhagen.

But while people attending this conference agree on the gravity of the problem, they are not all of one mind when it comes to what exactly needs to be done.

The European Union is urging China, the United States and other large emitters of greenhouse gases to put aside differences and commit to a legally binding agreement.

The head of the U.S. Climate Change delegation, Jonathan Pershing, says any agreement on cutting emissions worldwide must be verifiable by all nations involved.

"It is extremely important to have a clear sense of understanding about what countries are delivering, what they are doing," Pershing said. "How do you know? How do you create confidence in the process and for one country in the actions of the other countries."

Whether negotiators can move a little closer to an agreement based on such transparency is one of the questions that will be answered when this conference comes to a close on December 10.

ABB invests in wind technology company

ABB, the global power and automation technology group, announced today that it has made a strategic investment in Pentalum Technologies, an Israel-based company developing advanced wind sensing technology for control and optimization of wind turbines and wind farms.

Pentalum is developing an innovative LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology that remotely senses the wind vector in front of wind turbines in order to optimally align them to incoming wind flow. Pentalum’s system is also applicable to wind forecasting and site assessment, and is designed to significantly increase wind farm efficiency at a lower cost per site than existing measurement technologies.

The investment was made through ABB Technology Ventures, ABB’s venture capital arm, which invests in early and growth stage companies with technologies of strategic importance to the industry segments the company serves. Other participants in funding for Pentalum included Cedar Fund, which led the round; and Evergreen Venture Partners, both from Israel; and Draper Fischer Jurvetson from the US.

"Cost and complexity issues are hampering the widespread adoption of optimization systems for wind power,” said Girish Nadkarni, head of ABB Technology Ventures. "We have invested in Pentalum because we believe their technical approach will significantly improve profitability for developers and operators of this important renewable energy source.”

“Given ABB’s broad expertise and strong position with wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers and operators, they are a very strong partner for Pentalum,” said Sagie Tsadka, President and CEO of Pentalum. “Our wind sensing technology can significantly improve the performance of wind turbines and wind farms, and ABB can be instrumental in helping us deliver this benefit to the marketplace through their extensive customer base.”

ABB provides a wide range of products, integrated solutions and expertise that enable the efficient generation of wind power and its smooth integration into the grid. Customers include turbine manufacturers, engineering contractors, independent power producers and utilities.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people.

Asian Development Bank boosts support for clean energy development

MANILA -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday it would infuse 40 million dollars into two private equity funds that target promising green companies and projects in the region.

The Manila-based bank said its Board of Directors approved equity investments of 20 million dollars each in the Clean Resources Asia Growth Fund and the Renewable Energy Asia Fund.

The Clean Resources Asia Growth Fund, sponsored by Asian brokerage firm CLSA Capital Partners, aims to invest in companies engaged in clean energy-related operations.

The target fund size is 200 million dollars, mainly focused on China and India, the bank said.

The Renewable Energy Asia Fund, managed by Britain's Berkeley Energy, seeks out renewable energy projects in India, the Philippines and other South-East Asian countries.

The fund, which expects to make investments ranging from 5 million euros (6.6 million dollars) to 25 million euros, has a target size of 150 million euros, the bank said.

"ADB's participation in these funds will help them achieve their target fund size and provide confidence to private investors to come on board," said M Shin Kim, head of private equity in the bank's Private Sector Operations Department.

"It will also aid capital markets development by filling a financing gap and encourage support for other private equity funds interested in the sector," he added.

The bank noted that Asia's booming economies and surging demand for clean energy were making the region one of the most attractive destinations in the world for environmentally friendly investments. It cited China, India and the Philippines as among the most promising economies.

How important is the COP16 climate summit for the smart energy industry?

Nov 29, 2010 -- Datamonitor

        

The COP16 climate change summit in Cancun is unlikely to bring any festive cheer to smart energy technology vendors. However, the expected lack of outcome in terms of a binding international agreement will do little to affect the movements of individual governments in setting energy-efficiency policies that will drive the adoption of smart technology.

As the US lurches to the right politically, climate change will become virtually unmentionable in federal energy policy, but in a highly fragmented market, state regulators and governments will hold the key to the adoption of smart technology. It is here that policies will be set to drive the US toward a smarter world, irrespective of the 

Republican resistance to climate change-driven policies.

Cancun will not deliver a globally binding commitment to climate change

There is near-unanimous consensus that the Cancun summit will not deliver a globally binding agreement on a new, credible, and meaningful climate change framework. It will certainly offer nations the opportunity to discuss a replacement to Kyoto under a far less intense media spotlight than that shone upon world leaders in Copenhagen, but the best we can hope for is the laying of a more solid foundation for future summits. As delegates arrive in Mexico, it is timely to question whether COP16 matters to the smart energy technology industry and whether a failure to deliver any binding agreement on climate change will affect the future of the industry.

Divergent political will and obstinate politicians are of course the major stumbling block for any ground-breaking consensus in Cancun. However, a failure to meet agreement at the most basic level will have little impact on investments in smart energy technology. Governments the world over are adopting their own energy-efficiency policies, irrespective of the outcome of COP16 and any subsequent conferences. While the drivers for adoption of smart energy technologies might differ, the net result is positive and should give optimism to observers that are hoping for the success of the Cancun talks.

Central governments will continue to drive smart technology adoption in Western Europe and across Asia

The EU has led the global charge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but across Western Europe the attitude to renewable energy is by no means homogeneous. Residential smart metering penetration is mandated to reach 80% by 2020, and transmission and distribution companies across the continent are investing in upgrading networks using smart technology. In addition, a commitment to renewable energy, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula and in Denmark, has seen wind generation gain significant penetration.

In Asia, China, which is now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is also pressing forward with a renewable energy policy that will see heavy investment in solar power. China is also providing subsidies for cleantech companies. It is subsidizing manufacturers of solar film, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, and is offering subsidies to consumers to purchase electric cars. Other Asia Pacific countries are also forging ahead, with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan already having smart meter strategies in place.

As the US lurches to the right, smart energy technology adoption will be driven by individual states

The US is a hotbed of cleantech innovation, but US-based vendors are finding non-domestic markets far more accessible. California-based smart meter vendor Echelon has only a small proportion of its installed base in its home market, and its US competitors Itron and General Electric are also looking overseas for growth. Likewise, smart grid specialist Current has a couple of contracts in Colorado and Texas, but has many more in Europe.

While the US market has benefited from a healthy environment for cleantech equity investments, as well as government-sponsored American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding and company-specific subsidies, the federal government is fundamentally unable to pass any legislation to drive energy efficiency. With a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the country is politically lurching to the right, cementing an ingrained ideological opposition to renewable energy. The American right is increasingly outspoken about its skepticism of the notion that burning fossil fuel has had an impact on climate change, which does not bode well for any summit designed to tackle the issue.

In addition, the US suffers from a highly fragmented energy market, in which even the largest utilities are dwarfed by their European counterparts. Significant investment in smart technology is being earmarked by some US utilities, but many lack the balance sheets to fund these investments, and regulators and end users are becoming increasingly skeptical of the benefits of going "smart."

However, the aging infrastructure that underpins the US electricity grid is creaking under the pressure of modern-day energy demands, and requires new investment. A federal push for energy efficiency is unlikely anytime soon, which virtually kills off the prospect of success at any COP summit. The Republican right must first embrace smart energy technology as a way of solving long-term energy security, which will then allow it to dodge its skepticism about climate change.

However, individual states are far more receptive. California, traditionally governed by a Republican, is heading toward state-wide deployment of smart meters to combat capacity constraints. While the easy dollars will be earned in Europe and Asia Pacific, US investment in smart energy technology will happen regardless of federal government or what happens in Cancun. It will just be a little patchy.

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