Electricity India 2007

I had an interesting two days at the India Electricity 2007 organized by FICCI. What really struck me at the event was the fact that we did have a good set of people, who atleast understood the sector and has the capability to make right and appropriate decisions regarding the needs of this Industry. Whether these two factors are the prime drivers for real actions, i am not sure. None-the less, it is very re-assuring.

The first Indian Electricity Exchange has been granted a license and should be operational soon with an initial offering / support for day ahead trading. This together with the ABT and UI mechanisms provide for multiple options for the Industry for trading. Even though most generation companies enter into long term PPA's and the power available for trading mostly will be less than 3-5%, this still will be a 1000 crore market. There is a possibility that one or two more power exchanges will come up in India with one in advanced stages. These exchanges slowly but steadily shall drive the move towards a more mature power trading market in India. As we move from day ahead markets to real-time markets and other instruments for power trading, there is a very real and critical requirement for our Load Dispatch Centers, Large bulk power producers and even the various distribution companies to have automated mechanisms to make optimum use of the markets. It is therefore important that the technology investments in future also consider support for integrating online with markets and the capability to dispatch based on market linked commitments.

"Aam Admi" slogan may be politicking. However, some of the successes of the Rural Electrification Schemes as well as the successes in Gujarat and the resulting reduced rural migration, higher employment generation and better education levels, as was presented by many at the conference was really heartening to hear. The more we have higher productivity and lower migration from our rural areas, the more is the scope for larger spread in our economic growth and the resulting social and economic impact. Growth in rural economy augurs well for the entire industry.

The references to the poor hamlets in cities and their machinations for power theft, i felt was slightly derogatory. People in government, industry and the academia or the new social class of "haves" in this country should look at how we can use what ever is available at our disposal to reduce theft, improve efficiency and deliver quality power. Taking names or finger pointing only makes matters complicated.

It is heartening to see the efforts at delivering quality power even in rural areas so that the people are willing and happy to pay. Market is a great leveler and you see this in a host of public sector controlled businesses now and our rural efforts need more of this than the urban areas going forward. More investment in service levels might go a long way in improving the chances of making rural electrification work for all.

Request Volunteers to Manage this blog

These days tools are free and advanced, it is easy for anyone to create just another blog. So there is competition and market dynamics even in free and candid expressions that could be captured through a given medium and through and given blog.

Having set up this blog and invited many to the same, i think it would be appropriate if some from the academia or the research bodies manage this blog. Would like to know if some of you are interested in managing this blog.

Welcome to Availability Based Tariff Blog

Hi All,

ABT or Availability Based Tariff in India has brought about a lot of sanity and discipline into the grid. Indian economy growing at 8-9% year on year requires large investments in generation, transmission and distribution and also greater developments in mechanisms like robust energy market and better planning and control of the grid.

How the ABT regime will live upto the changing requirements of the Indian Power Industry has to be seen. ABT has tremendous promise and from being a regulatory framework aimed at bringing discipline into an energy market mechanism in some sense of the term, ABT has come a long way. However what is the role that ABT will play in the next 10-15 years and what are the requirements of the Indian energy and power market that will drive these are interesting and thought provoking or even sensitive issues.

I hope this blog will act as an unique forum for people to share their views. This blog has been configured to be available for all to post with no moderation and i expect all will use their discretion in contributing high quality comments / thoughts / issues in the days and years to come.

Prasanth Gopalakrishnan
www.kalkitech.com