From Ladakh with Love ( and Sun Shine )
------------------------------------------------
Business
Line ( 09 Aug ) carries following news :
The Centre is in the process
of coming out with a SINGLE BID for setting up a storage linked solar power project in Ladakh.
“Ladakh has the highest
potential, of about 35,000 MW, for solar power in India.
So we are talking about
coming out with one bid of 25,000 MW with storage,” said Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and
Renewable Energy, RK Singh.
He was speaking at a NITI
Aayog conference on government and business partnership on fast tracks for the
2030 agenda: Water, Energy and Green Industry and said:
the power generated from this
proposed project will be delivered at Nagpur.
Congratulations , Shri @RKSingh !
After
many months of somewhat depressing news about Solar Power projects , your
announcement comes as a “ ray of hope “ !
In
the past , nothing like what you are attempting , has ever been tried anywhere
in the entire World
I
doubt if such a project will ever get attempted in the future .
Naa
Bhooto , Naa Bhavishyati !
That
raises following questions :
· Assumptions
I suppose the total project will consist of
50 packets of 500 MW each , with their own 500 MW grid scale Battery Storage
each , to be compositely quoted by the bidders
Government will take care of
installing / commissioning , the required transmission and distribution
network , well before the first solar plant
comes up
Current problems of the States going back
on already signed PPA , will be sorted out
In this project , this is all the more
important since LADAKH power will flow through several
States and feed them all
Recently levied Safeguard
Duty ( 25 % ) will be waived for this mega-project , in order to make it
competitive for all the bidders ( foreign + domestic )
·
Funds
Required by the Bidders
For 25,000 MW of Solar Generation
Plant………………… $ 25 Billion ( Rs 175,000 Cr )
For 25,000 MW of Grid Battery
Storage…………………… $ 12.5 Billion ( Rs 90,000 Cr )
·
Who
will bid ?
There will be many foreign bidders . Among
these , companies from China / Japan / America , will dominate since these
countries are the main manufacturers of both , the Solar Panels and the Grid
Scale Battery Storage
America >
Buying from USA will make Trump very happy !
China >
Chinese will be the cheapest since
# they have over-capacity
#
recent huge drop in their local demand
#
find it difficult to export to USA due to Trump imposing 25 % duty
But
it is unlikely that Chinese companies will get any financial backing,
either from their bankers or from their government (both are stressed )
Japan >
Earlier, Japan( JICA ) has given us a loan of Rs 80,000 cr ($ 13 billion )
at 2 % interest and payable over 50 years with 10 year grace period
And Japan has an experience of 40 years in Solar Power
generation
I
think , we would be best placed to split the total project among bidders from
all the three countries , in order to make them compete with one another on
tariff / quality / delivery / funding / maintenance etc
I
also strongly suggest incorporation of following clauses in tender documents :
· Cost ( Rs / kwh ) de-escalation
whereby tariff will drop by 2 % each year
· Liquidated
Damages clause / Risk Purchase Clause
· Bonus – cum – Penalty clause for completion by
target dates ( earlier – later )
For
a few related issues , you may want to refer to my following earlier emails :
Way
back in July 2016
, I wrote :
Nearly 20 % of the World's
surface is receiving Solar Energy , at all times , including on vast tracts of
sea / desert / forests or other un-inhabited regions , where there is no local
demand / consumption of power
Installing Solar Power generating
panels in such regions can generate , a huge amount of power
And , without bothering to
" store " such power into storage batteries , it can be exported to
other regions of the World , which are facing night and have no capacity to
" store " whatever solar power it may have produced during its own
day-time
MNRE is
examining a proposal submitted by the Power Grid Corporation of India , to
generate Solar and Wind power in the deserts of Rajasthan / Kutchh / Lahul and Spiti / Ladakh
These deserts have , between
them , the potential to generate 315.7 GW of
Solar plus Wind power !
Then
in March 2017 , I
wrote :
Please expedite your approval
of the proposal submitted by the Power Grid Corporation of India , to
generate 315.7 GW of Solar power in the deserts of Rajasthan / Kutchh / Lahul and Spiti / Ladakh
Make a
beginning with 10 GW
That will enable you to
provide power to homes / offices and factories all over India at Rs 1.0 per Kwh !
Then challenge Elon
Musk , to set up 100 BATTERY STORAGE
SYSTEMS ( of 100 MW each ) all over India , using his POWERPACK batteries
, the way he plans to do in Australia
In
Oct 2017 , I
wrote :
Of course , there would be
additional investment in GRID SIZE power storage batteries ( the kind TESLA is
currently installing in Australia ) , to supply power to a process plant ,
around the clock
I hope the new Minister for
Renewable Energy , Shri R K Singhji ,
would give a push to the proposal submitted by the Power Grid Corporation of
India
In
November 2017 , I
wrote :
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy – MNRE - is examining a
proposal submitted by the Power Grid Corporation of India , to
generate Solar and Wind power in the deserts of Rajasthan / Kutchh / Lahul and Spiti / Ladakh
These deserts have , between them , the potential to generate 315.7 GW of Solar plus Wind power,
compared with our present installed capacity of 331 GW
But ,
how to “ Store “ all that huge
amount of Solar generated electricity and use it round the clock when Sun is
not shining ?
This ( storage of solar
generated power ) was not possible till yesterday
But it just became possible !
Only yesterday , Elon Musk (
TESLA ) completed installation of a 100 MW / 129
MWh , Lithium-ion Battery Storage facility
in Australia , for a cost of $
50 million
All within 100 days –
ensuring no more “ black outs “ in South Australia !
To
store that 316 GW ( 316,000 MW
) of solar power generated in our deserts , we
will
need 3160 Storage Batteries of the size ( 100 MW ) installed in Australia
That would
cost , $ 158 Billion ( Rs
11.15 lakh*crore )
In all ,
we need to raise :
For 316 GW solar power
projects in our deserts…………$ 316 Billion
For 3160 Mega Storage Batteries………………………………..$ 158 Billion
A Total of
…………………………………………………………………………… $ 474
Billion
Where
/ how can we raise such funds ?
A small country like
Indonesia managed to raise nearly $ 330
Billion of stashed away Black Money ( out of an estimated $ 851
Billion ) within 6 months under a tax amnesty scheme ( just pay 2 % tax / no penalty ! ) – all for investing in infrastructure
Finally , in Feb 2018 , I wrote :
Speaking at an industry event, Minister of State (Independent
Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy RK Singh said,
“ We need a viable commercial plan for storing
renewable energy and we will be able to significantly cut down import of fossil
fuels once the storage of renewable energy is commercially viable.”
10 Aug 2018
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
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