Hindustan Times ( 10 March
2017 ) carries following news report :
“ NTPC likely to enter electric vehicle
sector “
Enthused by India’s electric vehicle ( EV ) market potential, state-owned
energy company NTPC Ltd is exploring a new business around it
To start with, India’s largest power
generation utility is looking at setting up charging stations to help create
the demand for electricity generated by its plants and keep pace with the fast
changing power sector
Said a government official :
“ The interests of a lot of companies in
the Public Sector is aligned with the possibilities offered by India’s electric
vehicle market . A case in point being NTPC Ltd, which has surplus power and is
now looking at this market to set up charging stations . This offers a very
strong complementary area for NTPC “
Said a NTPC spokesman :
“ Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure is set
to be explored as an emerging requirement . The State owned utility is working
on a plan to bring down the cost of setting up these charging stations by half
to around Rs ONE LAKH each “
While congratulating NTPC
strategy-planners on this initiative , I request them to remember what
marketing Guru , Ted
Levitt said , some 40 years ago , in his famous essay , “ Marketing Myopia “
He said :
If you don’t make yourself obsolete ,
then someone else will
Continuously ask yourself : What business are we in ?
American Railroads thought they were in
the “ Railroad Business “
They did not realize that they were ,
really in the business of “ transporting people “ !
But hundreds of Car Manufacturers did not think that they were in the
business of “ Manufacture of Cars “
They said : We are in the business of “ transporting people “
So they made the American Railroads ,
obsolete !
It is high time NTPC asks itself :
Are we in the business of “ Coal Power Plants “ ? or
, are we in the business of “ Generating Electricity “ ?
Why
is asking this question so critical for NTPC ?
Shri Pratim
Ranjan Bose explains this in his article ( Dark Side of the shift
to Renewables ) which appeared in Business Line ( 13 Feb 2017 ) . He writes :
·
The CEA’s ( Central Electricity Authority ) exhaustive plan
document pointed out that average PLF ( Plant Load Factor or availability ) of
coal-fired plants declined from 78 per cent to 62 per cent
between 2009-10 and 2015-16
·
In November 2016, the PLF had
gone down further to 61
per cent
·
This is against the declared goal of of the Electricity
Policy 2005 , to increase PLF to 85 per cent
·
The PLF of the private sector – which took a lead role in
capacity addition – is dangerously close to the techno-economic viability
threshold
·
With 50 GW “ under
construction coal fired plants “ expected to come on stream in next 5 years,
the CEA did a range of sensitivity analyses ….. a mere 15 % RE share in
generation can bring down
the PLF of coal-fired plants to 53 per cent in 2022 . Higher RE capacity
addition can reduce the PLF to as low as 48 per cent !
·
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now relate this to what Debjoy
Sengupta writes in a report in Economic Times ( 10 March 2017 ) , as
follows :
·
Solar power costs had hit a
low of Rs 3.3 per unit last month , which is equal to average generation
tariffs of NTPC , which produces bulk of its power from coal
·
NTPC’s lowest cost of generation from one of its old plant
is around Rs 1.8 per unit { My Note : The latest Solar Plant installed a few
weeks back in MASDAR city – UAE – supplies power at Rs 1.8 per unit ! }
·
In February , solar tariffs
in the country touched a low of Rs 2.97 per unit for the first year of
generation and an average tariff of Rs 3.3
per unit
Then , in Economic Times ( 15 Feb ) Debjoy writes ( Clean Energy Cess Collections Rise ,
but spending Low ) :
·
The government’s collection
from the clean environment cess imposed on coal ( Rs 400 per ton ), lignite and
peat ( in 2010 ) , are likely to touch Rs 54,336 crore by March
·
However only Rs 9021 crore ( or about 17 % ) , has been
spent through the National Clean Energy Fund
·
The spending falls short of the estimated Rs 34,822 crore
needed to subsidize some 55 renewable energy projects
·
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An editorial ( Getting the
Solar Power Goal on Track ) in Economic Times ( 15 Feb ) , reads :
·
The proposal to feed about 7,000 railway stations with
Solar Power could go a long way in meeting if not exceeding, the national goal
to have 100 GW of functional solar generation capacity by 2022
·
If the Railways can gainfully leverage land and building
space for, say, 20 MW of Solar capacity in each of the 7,000 stations, it would
greatly increase green, renewable power nationally ( - 140 GW as against 2022
target of 100 GW ! )
·
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose NTPC strategy planners have read the
following in MINT ( 06 March 2017 ) :
“ How the World’s largest Solar Park is shaping up in
Karnataka “
·
The aim is to generate around
2,700 MW from the Pavagada solar park by the end of 2018 , spread over an area
of 13,000 acres
·
The first phase capacity of
500 MW has been bid out and generation is expected to start in the next 4
months
·
Bundled tariff range from Rs 3.5 and Rs 4.5 per unit
To make matters worse (
for NTPC ) , M Ramesh explains to us in Business
Line ( 11 Feb 2017 ) – “ How Solar Power was made cheap “ :
·
Experts calculate that a
tariff of Rs 2.97 would be based on an assumption of that modules could be purchased for 25 US cents.
To day, the cheapest modules are quoted around 30 cents
·
The REWA tender was superbly structured. For instance, if
the commissioning of the project gets delayed because of delays in approvals,
the developer gets paid for “ deemed
generation “
·
The tender also promises that
the grid will not be shut for over 50 hours in a year, or the developer gets
paid again for “ deemed generation “
·
The tariff escalation for 15
years and explicit state guarantee for payments sweetened the tender
·
And now to complete the perspective , DNA ( 11 March
2017 ) carries a news report which reads :
“
100 days nahi toh free , Musk ka vaada “
South Australia has been going through a power crisis that has
resulted in load shedding in several parts of the region.
Australia has been phasing out COAL POWER PLANTS to reduce POLLUTION LEVELS.
The power cuts have however, not gone down well with
most Australians
Elon Musk , the billionaire founder of electric car giant TESLA has
thrown a challenge to the Australian Federal Government , saying he can solve
the State’s energy woes within 100 DAYS – or he will deliver the 100 MW BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM for free !
·
WHAT DOES
FUTURE HOLD ?
·
With continuously dropping
prices of solar PV modules from China , per unit cost of solar power could well
touch Rs 1.5 in 2018 and Rs 1.0 in 2022
With Chinese
exports falling dramatically , expect PV module prices to drop to 20 US cents
by 2018 !
·
Transmission costs , by
themselves are more than this !
·
With large consumers switching over to Solar power , demand
for NTPC’s coal generated power will continue to fall – leading to PLF of 48 %
by 2020 !
·
Should NTPC continue to operate its plants at such a low
PLF , it will incur huge losses !
·
Government does not want to “
subsidize “ coal based plants . If anything , it wants to “ penalize “ such
plants
·
NTPC will not be able to supply to “ Electric Vehicle
Charging Stations “ , power from its “ Coal based power plants “ , which can
compete with power from Solar power plants ! Hence , this strategy to expand
its customer base is hopeless !
HOW SHOULD
NTPC RE-INVENT ITSELF
?
·
Convert its coal based power
plants into Solar Power Parks ( plenty of space )
·
Set up a joint venture with TESLA to manufacture in India , Powerwall and
Powerpack storage batteries – the missing links in our Solar Chain Strategy
This will
enable NTPC to operate all of its coal based power plants ( till these get
permanently shut down ) , at 80
per cent PLF ( half the plants during daytime and half during the night
) . Powerpack Battery
Storage installations in different parts of the country will even out the
peak and the lean demand cycles
These very same Powerpack
Storage Installations will also cater to those 34 + 50 Solar Parks being
set up – and also provide Solar Power to those Charging Stations
For details , read :
Welcome ,Elon Musk ! ( 11 Feb 2017 )
·
Change its name from NTPC to
NCEC ( National Clean Energy Corporation ) – in order to accurately reflect : “
What business
are we in ? “
·
Adopt for itself , following CORPORATE MISSION :
“ To save the lives of 600,000 Indians who die
prematurely , every year , due to emission of green house gases and particulate
matter , produced by coal fired power plants “
11 March 2017
www.hemenparekh.in /
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