JBM to invest Rs 1,600 crore on solar power vertical

JBM group's ambitious 1,600 crore foray into solar power will be funded by a mixture of equity and debt.

The solar diversification, to be called JBM Solar, will conduct ground-mounted and roof top power projects. This is the second big diversification by the auto component manufacturer after its bus making facility.

"Our 1,600 crore investment in the solar business will comprise 25% equity and 75% debt," said Nishant Arya, executive director, JBM Group. "The equity element will, initially at least, come from internal accruals." The 1,600 crore investment is intended to cover 3 years and generation of 300 MW. Positioned as an independent power producer, the company is also looking at diversifying into wind energy and biomass in future. The solar business is expected to contribute 15% of total revenue at group level to JBM. Solar apart, the company is also lining up a capex of around 200 crore for capacity expansion for group company JBM Auto.

"We will be enhancing capacity in different locations in FY15-16 and this includes the 100 crore we have earmarked for capacity expansion at our Chennai plants." The company has four plants in Chennai - 2 at Maraimalainagar and one each in Oragadam and Sriperumbudur. As for the bus division, JBM Auto expects 15% of its revenue to come from this business, said Arya. "We are adding to the topline in FY16," he said.

JBM Auto, which saw a 15% drop in net profit for the fourth quarter, took a hit on its bottomline due to tooling sales. "Tooling is a seasonable business and our profits would have dipped more if not for the improved efficiency and value addition in the components business which contributed a lot more to the bottomline," said Arya.

In FY16, JBM Auto will "benefit from new model development. We are working in a big way on new model development and with double digit model launches in passenger vehicles, we expect a lot of action," said Arya. The passenger vehicle industry should roll out 9-10 new models in FY16 in the passenger vehicles segment alone, he said.

Adani plans 1,000-Mw solar park in Tamil Nadu

After announcing solar parks in Gujarat and Rajasthan, Adani Power has firmed up plans to set up a 1,000-megawatt (Mw) one in Tamil Nadu. The proposed energy park is likely to attract around Rs 7,000-crore investment.

Although an Adani spokesperson declined to comment, a state government official and sources in the company confirmed the development.

Delhi University students devise way to tap power from Metro

Harnessing renewable energy is the need of the hour in today's fuel-driven world. In what could be a novel way of generating non-conventional energy, a group of Delhi University students have proposed an innovative way to tap the potential of wind churned out by Metros.

The project, which has been undertaken by students of Kalindi College, has also garnered the support of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

A 10-student team of the physics and computer science department, have proposed to set up a turbine at an underground metro station to check if it can be successful in harnessing energy from the wind generated by the Metros.

DMRC officials found the project viable and gave consent for setting up the turbine at the Chandni Chowk metro station. "One day, while standing at a metro station, the students realised that the wind generated in the tunnel by these trains is being wasted. They then decided to come up with an idea to harness the energy," principal investigator of the project Dr Punita Verma told MAIL TODAY.

It was decided to install the turbine alone the underground tracks at the mouth of the tunnel, where the maximum wind velocity is 6.5 m/s, without obstructing the operation and safety of Metros.

"We installed a three-blade turbine and a five-blade light rotor turbine with a cut-in speed of less than 1.5 m/s as part of the first phase. We connected it to a battery and measured the amount of power it generates. We also discovered that as stations have varied constructions, the same turbines cannot be used at all Metro stations," Punita said.

The project, which kicked-off in 2013 by a different group of students, has received a grant of Rs 15 lakh from the university. While the first phase involved research work, DMRC engineers were roped in to test the project's feasibility.

"We are working on different designs of the turbine. We will customise them according to the wind velocity and frequency of trains at different stations. Once design is approved by DMRC, firms will make the turbines," Punita said.

India to become world's 3rd largest automobile manufacturer by 2020, says Ford MD David Dubensky

COIMBATORE: India's automotive industry is expected to reach 7 million vehicles milestone by 2020, making the country the third-largest auto manufacturer in the world, behind the US and China, a top official at Ford Motor has said.

The automotive sector has a direct bearing on the economy with a near 7 per cent contribution to the GDP, playing an important role in the development of other crucial sectors as well, David Dubensky, President and Managing Director, Ford Motor Private Ltd, said here today.

Addressing the students at the graduation function of the Kumaraguru College of Technology, Dubensky said India is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world and as the country moves towards this milestone, the opportunities to build a career in the automotive sector are tremendous.

He said by working together as one global team over the last 110 years, Ford been able to fully leverage the resources around the world.

"We are building great products, creating strong business, and contributing to a better world", he added.

Advising students to be open, flexible and willing to learn, even if the lesson is a hard one, Dubensky said, "Bring people together, and work together, for something bigger than yourself." 

Budget 2015: 5 new mega power plants of 4,000 MW to be set up

India will set up five more ultra mega power projects, entailing investments of around Rs 1 lakh crore, the government said on Saturday.

"Five more ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), under the plug and play model will be set up with total investments of Rs one lakh crore," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his first full-year Budget for 2015-16.

UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that has 4,000 MW generation capacity.

The minister, however, did not announce the states where these projects are proposed to be set up.

Under the "plug and play" system coal blocks will be auctioned after they are granted various clearances to speed up and simplify mining and get better valuation, Jaitley said.

One such project is likely to be set up in power starved state of Bihar. The proposed plant in Bihar may be fed from a mine either in Jharkhand or Odisha.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said in November that sufficient number of coal blocks will be allotted for the purpose.

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is the nodal agency for UMPPs in the country.

So far, 4 UMPPs have been awarded, of which Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

India: World's largest solar plant that will generate 750 MW of power commissioned

The world's largest solar power plant that will generate 750 MW of electricity once completed was commissioned recently in India.

The solar power plant in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India will overtake America's 550-megawatt solar project in California.

The 1,500 hectares of land on which the £417m (Rs 40bn) plant will come up is barren. It is hoped to be completed by August 2016.

The joint venture agreement between state-run PSU Urja Vikas Nigam and Solar Energy Corporation of India will invite tenders from developers by April.

In a bid to move to clean energy, India plans several ultra mega solar power projects in its states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The renewable energy ministry has proposed a gross budgetary support of £422m (Rs 41bn) for setting up 25 solar parks of 500 MW each and ultra mega solar power projects to add 20,000 MW green generation capacity in the next five years.

The country plans to install 100 GW capacity of solar power by 2022, a five-time increase from a previous target.

In comparison, China aims to achieve 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2020.

Solar parks with installations of multiple solar photovoltaic modules by various firms are expected to reduce costs owing to economy of scale. Smaller parks are also considered where tracts of contiguous land is difficult to acquire.

Problems of transmission in the country with losses of almost 24% and constraints in taking electricity to remote areas have seen solar power getting a boost.

India's renewable energy sector is looking at attracting $200bn in investments from several domestic and international firms.

While the country's plans to expand solar energy 30-fold to 100,000 MW in seven years could create many new jobs, the demand for huge chunks of land cumulatively larger than some of its metros has seen experts advocate a mix of large, medium and rooftop solar plants.

The global installed capacity of solar electricity has increased by six times between 2010 and 2013 to 135 GW from 23 GW.

New-generation solar panels far cheaper, more efficient - scientists

 A new generation of solar panels made from a mineral called perovskite has the potential to convert solar energy into household electricity more cheaply than ever before, according to a study from Briain's Exeter University.

Super-thin, custom-coloured panels attached to a building's windows may become a "holy grail" for India and African countries, Senthilarasu Sundaram, one of the authors of the study, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"In those countries these types of material will be like a holy grail: they can both shade windows ... and at the same time produce electricity," he said.

With a thickness measured in billionths of a metre, solar panels made of perovskite will be more than 40 percent cheaper and 50 percent more efficient than those commercially produced today, Sundaram said.

Unlike other solar panels, those made of perovskite can absorb most of the solar spectrum and work in various atmospheric conditions, rather than only in direct sunlight.

"This type of material for solar cells works in diffused conditions much, much better than the other types of solar cells," said Sundaram. "It won't be 100 percent, but it will be much more than what we have now."

Researchers have already tested the material in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Current commercial products used to generate solar power, such as silicon or thin-film based technologies, are expensive because they are processed using vacuum-based techniques, the Exeter study said.

The production process for perovskite panels is very straightforward, but researchers still have to test the material under different conditions to better understand its properties, before companies embark on industrial-scale production, it said.

The photovoltaic (PV) energy market has been growing because of government targets for renewable energy production and CO2 emission controls, and the International Energy Agency has said that solar energy could be the world's biggest source of electricity by 2050. [ID: nL6N0RU2DI]
Sundaram said perovskite could also be used to power mobile gadgets like laptops and tablets.

First found in 1839 in the Ural Mountains, perovskite is named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.