Energy Sector - 2

[Capt M Kumar]

Many villages in Bihar has literally lifted out of darkness with an uninterrupted, self-sufficient power supply, thanks to Gyanesh Pandey, the promoter of Husk Power Systems that transforms piles of discarded rice husk to light up the villages, reports Manu A B from Rediff Business. Now, around 50,000 villagers in 120 villages across Bihar and 3 villages in Uttar Pradesh have been benefited by these 'green' power plants.



After resigning his job in U.S., Gyanesh returned to his native home state in 2007 and he teamed up with his friends Ratnesh Yadav, Manoj Sinha and Charles W Ransler to set up Husk Power Systems. http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/In_...Newsletter

[Naresh]

.



[url="http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=255375"]Iran drops LNG project under energy policy review [/url]



TEHRAN: Iran is abandoning a project to produce liquefied natural gas as part of a policy review that will see Tehran focusing more on exporting gas through pipelines, a top oil official has said.



“The oil ministry is currently focusing on gas exports by pipelines,” Ahmad Ghalebani, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, told the oil ministry’s news agency Shana on Friday.



The announcement comes as several top global energy majors have either quit or are considering an exit from Iran, which holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves but which world powers slapped with new UN sanctions in June over its controversial nuclear programme.



As part of the shift towards piped gas exports, Iran is abandoning Persian LNG, a project which was previously to be executed by Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy major which had been awarded a gas block in the giant South Pars field.



Shell quit the project ahead of the fourth round of UN sanctions agreed to in June.



The Persian LNG project had faced several roadblocks even before the latest sanctions, along with another project, Pars LNG, led by French firm Total, which is also in the process of withdrawing from Iran.



A third LNG project, led by the National Gas Company using German technology, is a little more advanced with Iran having already invested over one billion dollars.



Ghalebani said the LNG policy review does not abandon LNG projects totally as they could become “economical” in the long term.



“Considering the long borders and good relations we have with our neighbours and the vast pipeline network in the country, there is an advantage to exporting gas (through pipelines) than (producing and exporting) LNG,” he said.



“(Piped) gas exports are cheaper and can be done faster, while exports of LNG not only require huge investments and complicated technology but are also time consuming.”



He said Iran will need to undertake further studies in the LNG sector.



“We must also study additional investment needs and return of capital in this area,” Ghalebani added.



“That does not mean we will put aside the LNG projects. But we will review them.”



Following the latest round of UN sanctions, the United States and the European Union have put further pressure on Iran by imposing unilateral sanctions specifically targeting the country’s vital energy sector.



The development of South Pars, which holds about eight percent of world gas reserves, has lagged due to a lack of technology and investment, even as Iranian officials claim that local companies have replaced international firms.



Shared with the small state of Qatar, the South Pars field holds around 14 trillion cubic metres (500 trillion cubic feet) of gas.



But despite its vast reserves, OPEC’s second largest oil exporter still faces severe gas needs of its own.



Cheers

[Capt M Kumar]

It’s almost a truism now that if we want more electricity and build more cities and infrastructure, India needs to shop overseas for good quality coal. Coal is the cheapest fuel for power plants and steel factories and also their single biggest recurring cost. Demand is growing by 10% each year. So companies are rapidly tying up affordable long-term coal supply. Mines in Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia are the obvious choice. http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.co...n-the-east

[Capt M Kumar]

CAMBRIDGE (MASSACHUSETTS ): It stinks and it's a hazard to walkers everywhere, but it turns out dog poop has a bright side.



Dog poop is lighting a lantern at a Cambridge dog park as part of a monthslong project that its creator, artist Matthew Mazzotta, hopes will get people thinking about not wasting waste.



The "Park Spark" poop converter is actually two steel, 500-gallon oil tanks painted a golden yellow , connected by diagonal black piping and attached to an old gaslight-style street lantern at the Pacific Street Park.





Read more: Bright side: Dog poop powers park lamp - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...z10N4n0Foz With so many stray dogs, it will be a good idea TO EMULATE FOR INDIA.

[Capt M Kumar]

The Sun-Son concept suggested by Modi talked of collaboration by all the countries having plenty of sunlight to create a R&D fund to exploit solar energy and starting of a capital subsidy scheme for generation of solar energy.



Meanwhile, Modi announced that the state government was in the process of drafting a new policy for geo-thermal, a non-conventional energy yet to be tapped from deep down the earth in a big way so far. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/...es/729880/

[Capt M Kumar]

The 'Resomation' process breaks down a corpse using alkaline hydrolysis instead of extremely high heat, says the ACS.



The alkaline hydrolysis method "has a much lower carbon footprint than cremation" because the tissue is not burned and the process also uses an eighth of the energy required for cremation. Any dental amalgam that remains is easily separated from the bone ash and sent for recycling.



According to the ACS, Sweden and Germany will soon begin clinical tests of the Resomation process with humans who have volunteered for the procedure. Other tests will begin later this year in South Korea. http://green.in.msn.com/cleantechnologie...id=4750078

[Naresh]

.



Here's to the Pakistani Port of Gwadar!



[URL="http://www.chinasignpost.com/2010/12/still-a-pipedream-a-pakistan-to-china-rail-corridor-is-not-a-substitute-for-maritime-transport/"]Still a Pipedream : A Pakistan-to-China rail corridor is not a substitute for maritime transport[/URL]



The recent flurry of trade deals and MOUs (worth US$35 billion) signed during Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent visit to Pakistan have brought the possibility of a more robust Pakistan-to-China transport corridor back into the spotlight. The trade deals stand to drive increased economic activity by Chinese companies in Pakistan in coming years.



However, our assessment is that while the trade and investment agreements may help cement an “all weather” alliance between Beijing and Islamabad, they do not mean that an all weather transport corridor becomes viable. An expanded road and rail network linking Pakistan to China faces three key challenges. The bottom line is that maritime shipping routes will remain a cheaper, simpler, and more secure option for moving crude oil and other goods into China.



1) Security. The proposed transport corridor would go through areas that are subject to flooding and insurgent activity, as well as avalanches, landslides, and seismic activity in the Karakoram Range. If any of these disruptive events materializes, rail and road traffic cannot re-route around the trouble point the way that ships at sea can.



2) Capacity. A modern one-track rail line in the United States can currently handle around 16 trains per day, according to Cambridge Systematics. A Pakistan-to China rail corridor would likely be built with one track each way, but with reduced throughput of around 12 trains per day. U.S. freight trains carried an average of 2,800 tonnes of cargo in 2004, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Trains transiting the Khunjerab Pass would likely carry smaller loads, perhaps 2,000 tonnes, due to the large vertical gradient. With these train frequency and load parameters, the corridor would be able to handle 8.75 million tonnes of cargo per year, or approximately 175,000 barrels of oil per day if all the trains carried oil.



To move the volumes that would be necessary to make this route able to handle enough cargo to reduce sea transport reliance measurably, there would need to be a rail setup with 3 or 4 lines. Furthermore, bringing that much cargo into Western China’s rail network and then having to move it into industrial areas in the central and eastern regions would likely necessitate additional capacity expansions of the national rail system. These investments would likely be cost-prohibitive.



3) High construction and transport costs. The tariffs needed to pay off the finance costs of the route and move freight over a 15,000 foot vertical relief would likely make the cost highly uncompetitive with sea routes. The roughly 2,000 km-long Qingzang railway to Lhasa, Tibet cost roughly US$4 billion to build (US$1.85 million per km). [COLOR="Red"]The cost per km to build a rail line connecting Islamabad and Kashgar could be several times more expensive to build given the tough geologic and political circumstances along the route.[/COLOR]



In terms of transport costs, we estimate that moving a barrel of oil by sea to Shanghai at a ship rate of US$75,000 per day at 23 km per hour with a 2 million barrel cargo costs around US$0.90 per barrel, while moving it by barge upriver to the rapidly-growing inland demand center of Chongqing would cost an additional US$1.23 per barrel, for a total transport cost of US$2.22 per barrel (Exhibit 1). [COLOR="Red"]In contrast, moving oil from Ras al-Tanura to Gwadar and then by rail into the heartland of China would likely cost closer to US$8.00 to US$12.40 per barrel, making that route economically uncompetitive, as well as limited in capacity.[1]The disparity would be slightly greater for major cities on China’s east coast.[/COLOR]



Exhibit 1: Estimated costs of moving oil to Chongqing, China from the Persian Gulf by sea and via Pakistan



U.S. Dollars per barrel



[CENTER][/CENTER]



Source: BNSF Railway, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, NBS, ND Petroleum Council, China SignPostâ„¢



In short, there are compelling reasons why sea transport has been dominant for so long. To even build a Pakistan-to-China rail corridor would require massive upfront investments, would be economically uncompetitive relative to sea routes, and due to the many physical and political risks along the route, commercial shippers would likely be highly reluctant to use it.



Andrew Erickson and Gabriel Collins,[URL="http://http://www.chinasignpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/China-Signpost_1__Chinas-Oil-Supply-Future-is-Maritime_2010-05-26.pdf"]“Oversea Trumps Overland: The Strategic Trajectory of China’s Oil Imports,” [/URL]



China SignPostâ„¢, No. 1 (May 26, 2010).



[URL="http://www.andrewerickson.com/2010/03/china%E2%80%99s-oil-security-pipe-dream-the-reality-and-strategic-consequences-of-seaborne-imports/."]“China’s Oil Security Pipe Dream: The Reality, and Strategic Consequences, of Seaborne Imports,”[/URL] Naval War College Review, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Spring 2010), pp. 88-111



Cheers

[Capt M Kumar]

AMRITSAR: Indians are now looking for investment opportunities in the cultivation of Giant King Grass (GKG), a non-food dedicated energy crop that can be grown on marginal lands which are not used for growing food crops. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...521525.cms



Crops like maize, sugarcane etc were used for producing green energy but due to worldwide protests against a possible food scarcity following use of food crops for producing energy people were now looking for investment opportunities in growing GKG especially in the countries with highly tropical conditions said chief agriculture officer, General Biofuel Inc. Amrik Singh while talking to TOI on Friday.

[Capt M Kumar]

The CPI(M) on Friday came down heavily on the UPA Government for the “unholy nexus” with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries in inflating the capital expenditure on KG Basin and gas pricing to “loot” natural resources.



Describing the CAG exposé of the scam as another example of the lobbying of corporates in the UPA Government, the CPI(M) demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It raised the issue that despite the Left party writing several letters to the PM in the last four years, the Government allowed the loot to continue.



Producing the letters written by Left MPs to the Prime Minister cautioning him against the “scam in the offing”, and exposing Petroleum and Finance Ministries’ nexus with Reliance Industries, the CPI(M) accused the Prime Minister of being a “mute spectator” as he has been during the 2G spectrum scam. http://www.dailypioneer.com/346812/PM-mu...L-CPM.html

[sumishi]

[size="3"][url="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article2526843.ece"]Post-Fukushima, France breaks silence on nuclear safety[/url] : The Hindu, October 11, 2011



[/size][indent][quote name="Vaiju Naravane"][size="3"][size="4"]Doubts have been raised about the benefits of the EPR reactor, of which India plans to buy six[/size].

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For a country as given to debate and argument as France, there has been a deafening silence surrounding the choice of nuclear as the prime source of energy. With a population of 62 million, France boasts 59 nuclear reactors — the highest per capita in the world, with over 75 per cent of its electricity coming from the power of the atom.[/size]



[size="3"]In the post-Fukushima period, however, that tacit silence is being broken with increasing frequency not just by anti-nuclear associations or candidates hoping to win elections but by French courts and the Nuclear Safety Authority.[/size]



[size="3"]Both these institutions are showing greater boldness in convicting nuclear operators guilty of negligence or issuing reprimands and demanding immediate corrective measures from giants like EDF or Areva, currently engaged in the design and construction of France's first mega reactor (the EPR) capable of producing 1,650 MWe of electricity. India is slated to buy six of these massive reactors from Areva. To be located at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, they carry a price tag upwards of €40 billion.[/size]



[size="3"]On September 30, Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, was found guilty of contaminating underground water tables in a 2008 leak of toxic liquid uranium at the Tricastin nuclear facility in southern France. The appeals court in the French city of Nimes, which handed down the sentence, fined the company €300,000 for pollution and gross negligence. It was also asked to pay damages to anti-nuclear associations and local residents. More seriously, the company was reprimanded for delays in communicating the leaks to the Nuclear Safety Authority.[/size]



[size="3"]The appellate court said Socatri/Areva was guilty of “introducing toxic substances into underground water, bringing about a significant modification of normal underground water flows.” Significantly, Socatri/Areva had been let off with a €40,000 fine in a trial held in October 2010. The Fukushima events have evidently led the country to take the risks involved in nuclear power more seriously.[/size]



[size="3"]“The trial in Nimes once again placed the spotlight on the degree of negligence which caused the accident in 2008. The judge rightly summed up the totality of acts of omission such as abandoning ageing facilities until they become decrepit to the point of rusting and, of course, the actions that followed the accident. They waited over 24 hours before signalling the leak,” said Etienne Ambroselli, spokesperson of the association Sortir du Nucleaire (Quit Nuclear).[/size]



[size="3"]“Thirty cubic metres of effluents containing uranium contaminated river waters, cutting off local drinking water supplies and preventing locals from bathing. According to a report prepared by CRIRAD [the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity] the pollution was 27 times higher than the authorised limit for radioactive emissions,” the association said in a communiqué. For its part, the Anti-nuclear Collective is asking the population and the workers at Tricastin to call for shutting down the four reactors located at the facility.[/size]



[size="3"]France has always come down hard on any anti-nuclear protests and there has been very little debate on the decision taken in the 1950s or under the post-oil-crisis Messmer Plan of 1974, to wholeheartedly embrace nuclear energy. An appeals court in the northern city of Caen on September 27, upped the fines slapped on Greenpeace France for occupying the nuclear site at Flamanville (Normandy) where France's first EPR reactor is under construction.[/size]



[size="3"]Greenpeace France will now have to pay €2,500 instead of the initial €1,500 and individual protesters will have to cough up fines of €200 each. The French electricity giant EDF, which is the constructor and future operator of the reactor, had called for damages and interest amounting to €155,000.[/size]



[size="3"]Construction of the Flamanville EPR reactor which began in 2007 is experiencing significant delays with a large number of accidents including two fatalities. The EPR reactor, of which India plans to buy six, will now not be completed before 2016 at the earliest and its price tag has climbed to an estimated €7 billion per reactor of 1,650MWe capacity. Not a single EPR is as yet operational.[/size]



[size="3"]Of the four currently under construction, (one each in France and Finland, two in China) the Finnish reactor (construction began in August1985) is now slated to go on stream in 2013 but costs have risen from €3 billion to over €7 billion and the Finnish utility TVO is locked in costly arbitration (€2.7 billion) with Areva. Indian nuclear scientists promoting the purchase of the EPR say the country will profit from the experience gained and lessons learnt from the two Chinese EPRs — Taishan 1 and Taishan 2 — which are reportedly on schedule. But there are serious doubts as to whether the Chinese will want to share knowledge with India on nuclear issues.[/size]



[size="3"]The problem is that after a hiatus of over 20 years when no reactor was built, the institutional memory, the know-how and the manpower which allowed companies like EDF to build strong and reliable nuclear power plants have been lost.[/size]



[size="3"]A 20-page report by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), has highlighted a series of “gaps and weaknesses” in work being carried out at the Flamanville site on the new European Pressurised Reactor (EPR).[/size]



[size="3"]A letter sent to EDF by ASN has pointed out a number of differences from construction requirements affecting 13 essential parts of the reactor, including the steam generators, water injection filters and batteries used for the cooling system.[/size]



[size="3"]Recently, the ASN asked EDF to re-do already completed concrete work on the cooling pools meant to accommodate spent fuel rods. Several fabrication defects were detected on the concrete pillars supporting the structure. Concrete walls were found to be fissured and ASN has asked EDF to change the method used to pour the concrete.[/size]



[size="3"]The ASN has also severely criticised the amount of outsourcing practised by EDF at the Flamanville plant. Unions say up to 80 per cent of the work is done by companies which have little or no experience of nuclear construction and that EDF picks the cheapest offer without verifying whether that service provider has previous experience of similar work or the requisite skills and competencies. EDF says it outsources 60 per cent of the work and in the post-Fukushima audit the company carried out of its own practices, it has promised to reduce the number of outside sources to three.[/size]



[size="3"]Socialist Euro-MPs who visited the Flamanville site recently decried what they called a system of “social dumping” practised by EDF — whereby under-qualified but cheap labour is brought in from the former Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe such as Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary or the Czech Republic.[/size]



[size="3"]Euro-MP Estelle Grelier following a visit to Flamanville told reporters: “I went there to verify if working conditions were as poor as denounced by several unions and confirmed by the ASN. On site, our doubts were reinforced by the working practices of one of the subcontractors, Atlanco, which does work for construction giant Bouygues. The wages of Polish workers employed by Atlanco [a Cypriot subsidiary of an Irish temping agency whose services are employed by Bouygues], were taxed at source. All traces of these taxes taken off the workers' wages have disappeared. I myself was contacted by a Polish worker who has not been paid for several months and who lives in appalling conditions without any social protection whatsoever. I was taken aback by the lack of supervision, of checks.”[/size]



[size="3"]With accusing fingers increasingly pointing towards the nuclear industry, a hesitant debate is beginning to open up in France. Socialist leader Segolene Royal who was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in France's last presidential poll but hopes once again to be her party's candidate, said she would close down the EPR under construction at Flamanville and completely abandon the EPR technology being pushed by Areva.[/size]



[size="3"]During the 2007 campaign, she had taken a firm stand against undertaking the construction of Flamanville, which she described as being dangerous besides the fact that it was, financially speaking, a bottomless well that would cost the exchequer very dear.[/size][/quote][/indent]

[sumishi]

[size="3"][url="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2538999.ece"]PIL filed against nuclear liability Act[/url] : The Hindu, [/size][size="3"]October 15, 2011



[/size][indent][size="3"]

[size="4"]Petitioners seek safety reassessment and cost-benefit analysis of all nuclear facilities[/size][/size]

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[size="3"]A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, that indemnifies nuclear manufacturers/suppliers and caps the financial liability of operators.[/size]



[size="3"]The petitioners — Common Cause; Centre for Public Interest Litigation; former bureaucrats; the former Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswami, and university professors — have filed the petition seeking a safety reassessment and a comprehensive long-term cost-benefit analysis of all nuclear facilities in India.[/size]



[size="3"]The petition also sought a stay on all proposed nuclear plants till the safety and cost-benefit analysis were carried out.[/size]



[size="3"]It highlights how under the pressure of foreign countries and the multi-billion dollar nuclear industry, the government had been pushing forward an expensive, unviable and dangerous nuclear power programme without proper safety assessment or thorough comparative cost-benefit analysis vis-à-vis other sources of energy, especially renewable sources.[/size]



[size="3"]The petition said: “Most of the nuclear reactor and equipment imports, for which orders are being made, are of extremely dubious quality and do not meet safety standards.[/size]



[size="3"]The recent Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has turned out far graver than originally feared. The reactors and overheated spent-fuel pools have spewed out radioactivity that has now spread over hundreds of square kilometres.”[/size]



[size="3"]The petitioners want costs and risks factors to be thoroughly factored in and the highest level of safety to be ensured before a plant is cleared for commissioning. They pointed out that four 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, two at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan and two at Kakrapar in Gujarat, were under construction. “Two reactors in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and two reactors in Haripur district of West Bengal are under construction based on Russian design” and the nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu had met stiff opposition from people in the area.[/size]



[size="3"]Asking the court to declare the Act unconstitutional and void, the petition said, “The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 by capping the financial liability of operators and by making suppliers not liable, violates the ‘polluter pays' principle and the ‘absolute liability' principle, which have become recognised as part of the law of the land under Article 21 of the Constitution, and puts to grave and imminent risk the right to safety, health, clean environment and life of the people of India, guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution.”[/size]



[size="3"]Plea for panel[/size]



[size="3"]It sought an order to the authorities to constitute an experts body “which is independent of the government and the nuclear establishment to conduct a thorough safety reassessment of all existing and proposed nuclear facilities in the country and of all the mining facilities of uranium and other nuclear fuel in the country; to conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis of all proposed nuclear facilities and a thorough comparative cost-benefit analysis vis-à-vis other sources of energy and to direct the Union of India to set up an expert nuclear regulator, independent of the government.”

[/size]

[/indent]

[Guest]

[url="http://janamejayaneconomics.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/narendra-modi-inaugurates-asias-biggest-solar-power-plant-in-kankrej-gujarat/"][size="4"]NARENDRA MODI INAUGURATES ASIA’S BIGGEST SOLAR POWER PLANT IN KANKREJ, GUJARAT[/size][/url]

[priyarawat229]

It's very important project for India. If it's approved problems related to power, petrol and gas will be solved. Indian government need to give full attention on it.