Spot power prices have declined to about Rs 2.90 per unit from a high of Rs 5 per unit in early September as near-adequate availability of coal led to higher electricity generation. Analysts said prices may fall further and stabilise at about Rs 2.5 per unit.

Improved coal supplies and reduced power demand in winter boosted inventory levels of the fuel at power plants. Coal stocks at plants are close to 13 million tonnes, enough to last for nine days now compared with six days in September-October.

With higher electricity generation by plants, demand for short-term power on the exchanges in November and December declined from the previous months. Short-term power prices fell to Rs 3.55 per unit in November and further to Rs 2.9 per unit on Thursday.

The difference between total buy and sell bids at the Indian Energy Exchange turned negative in November and for most of December, indicating a drop in demand for short-term power. On most days in December, half the power on offer remained unsold either due to lack of demand or constraints in the power grids, pulling down prices to below Rs 3.

Power generators offered almost 6.4 million units for sale over the past 30 days, of which only about 3.9 million units were sold.

“Power generation in November, excluding renewable resources, increased 1.7% yearon-year to 95 billion units,” said Nitin Bansal, an analyst at India Ratings and Research. “However, demand in November dipped 8.2% against October due to seasonal variation and drop in temperature across northern India. These factors are likely to pull down power prices at exchanges further over the next three months. We believe it would stabilise at around Rs 2.5 per unit and Rs 2.6 per unit during the next three months.”

During this time, Coal India increased production 2.6% year-on-year. Production has been rising year-onyear since August. Coal inventory levels have improved over the past few weeks on account of increased production and lower requirements due to easing power demand in November.

Source:  https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/coal-supply-surge-pulls-down-spot-power-prices/articleshow/62291034.cms?utm_source=APPusers&utm_medium=twittershare&utm_campaign=socialsharebutton

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

28-December-2017 13:06 IST

Minister of Railways directs to re-categorize railway stations taking into account earnings, passenger footfall, strategic importance

Ministry of Railways has comprehensively revised categories of various Railway Stations
In new scheme of station categorization, even the small stations, because of footfall criteria, to get the higher level of passenger amenities leading to better passenger satisfaction.

In a major policy decision, Ministry of Railways has comprehensively revised categories of various Railway Stations with a view to make it more practical and rational. This comes after the Minister of Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal directed to re-categorize railway stations taking into account earnings, passenger footfall, strategic importance with a view to plan various passenger services and passenger amenities at stations in a more effective and focused manner. It will also help the passenger to have a better experience in relation to travel amenities at stations.

The earlier criteria for station categorisation was based on the annual passenger earnings only.  Stations were categorised into 7 categories which A-1, A, B, C, D, E and F.  The criteria for categorisation of stations have now been revised to include footfalls at the station.  The stations have been further segregated based on the type and clubbed into 3 groups i.e. non-suburban (NS), suburban (S) and Halt (H).  Further these groups have been put in grades ranging from NSG1-6, SG1-3 and HG1-3 respectively.

In the old criteria the number of stations with high passenger footfalls (handling high number of commuter and MST pass holders etc.) could not be covered into the higher category of station which led to these stations being eligible for lower level of amenities.  As per the new criteria the number of footfalls has also been given equal weightage and is taken into account as criteria for categorisation of stations.  Therefore, many stations like Kalyan, Panvel, Tambaram, Thane have qualified into the higher category and become eligible for higher level of passenger amenities.

Under this new scheme of categorization of railway stations, the stations have been clubbed into 3 groups namely Non-Suburban, Suburban and Halt. Further, these groups have been put in different grades ranging from 1-6. Accordingly following categories have been  formed.

Presently, there are 5976 Non-Suburban Railway Station, 484 Suburban Railway Stations and 2153 Halts, which makes total number of stations as 8613. This categorization of stations has been done for the period 2017-18 to 2022-23.

 General Managers shall have powers to categorize a station as NSG-4 category if it is a place of Tourist importance and/or is an important junction station.

In addition, Ministry of Railways has given GMs full powers to sanction out of turn safety related works without any limit. The following amenities will be provided at all the stations irrespective of their category for safe performance of journey by passengers:

• Foot over bridge
• High level platform
• Trolley path for movement of wheel chair

For improving stations and passenger interfaces: More amenities has been provided to lower category of stations like:

• Waiting halls
• Platform shelters
• Lifts
• Escalators
• Digital charts display
• Illumination
• The train/coach indication board

In view of the new criteria even the small station will get the higher level of amenities which will lead to better passenger satisfaction.

***

Indian power plants now have average coal inventory of about nine days, comfortably breaching the critical stock threshold that forced several generating companies to recently shut down units amid a crisis in supplies of the primary solid fuel.

“Supplies have improved considerably and a large number of our units at power stations have been brought back up,” a senior executive at top state-run generating company NTPCBSE 0.90 % said. “These units were either operating at very low capacity levels or idling due to the lack of coal. We have been receiving additional rakes since the last few days, helping scale up generation.” Another executive at an independent power producing company said: “Supplies have regularised and are increasing at a slow and steady pace. We are now being able to plan better since we know how much coal we are to receive on a daily basis.”

According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), stocks are considered critical if they fall below five days for pit-head plants. For non-pit-head plants, the threshold is less than a week.

According to the Central Electricity Authority , there are no pit-head plants with critical stocks while in the non-pit head category, there are just about 10-odd plants against 27 two months ago.

All these plants, however, are receiving supplies on a regular basis and a senior Coal IndiaBSE -0.47 % executive said it will take some time before these plants start to build up stock as the fresh supply of coal is almost entirely being used up for generating power.

“Coal India has been loading anything between 275 and 280 rakes a day, including loading from private washeries and goods sheds. Direct loading from pit heads has been hovering around 250 rakes a day and we are aiming to increase that to about 270,” said a Coal India executive.

Factors that helped improve stocks at power plants include the onset of winter, which led to reduced demand in certain pockets, and increased production. However, land acquisition issues at the Rajmahal mine area under Eastern Coalfields in West Bengal are still affecting coal production. Law and order issues at collieries under Central Coalfields have also considerably affected loading. The closure of a 34-kilometre railroad stretch between Dhanbad and Chandrapura in Jharkhand is also affecting supplies.

The alternate route being used involves moving coal via trucks to another loading area. Coal from this region is sent to power plants in West Bengal, Odisha, and north India, including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The region also supplies coal to plants of the Damodar Valley Corporation.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/power-plants-rebound-as-coal-supplies-steady/articleshow/62234968.cms