February, 2012: when the foundation was laid! Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) has bagged a contract worth Rs 2,854 crore for supply of the Steam Generator Package for three coal-fired thermal units of 660 MW each with supercritical parameters. The order has been placed on Bhel by Nabinagar Power Generation  Company (NPGCL), a joint venture of NTPC and Bihar State Electricity Board, for the upcoming 1,980 MW Nabinagar Supercritical Thermal Power Project (STPP) in Bihar. Significantly, this is the second supercritical thermal power project being executed by Bhel in Bihar, the first being the 2×660... 

  Power situation: looking up? Patna:  Bihar’s power supply situation is set for major improvement beginning the coming fiscal. The State is currently offered a mere 900 MW by the central sector to meet an estimated daily domestic demand of 2,000 MW. The result: Large parts of the State — outside the capital Patna (which needs 400 MW) — run on diesel generators. But, according to a senior State official, Bihar is expecting average grid supplies to improve by approximately 600-700 MW in 2013. The bulk of the additional supply will come from the upcoming 2 X 660 MW Barh-II thermal power... 

Finally, a 4000-MW power project for Bihar: a centre-Bihar give and take!   Give & Take: power! Patna/New Delhi: according to a number of recent reports, Bihar will now manage to get out of its dark tunnel. Soon after granting two central universities to Bihar and a 20 per cent hike in Plan allocation, the Manmohan Singh-led Government has now doled out one more largesse to the JD (U) strongman. This is being seen as a positive fallout of Nitish’s support of Pranab Mukherjee as the presidential candidate. The centre, in a friendly gesture of give and take has decided to supply coal on... 

Bihar’s power calendar: updates for power production till 2015   Patna: according to a recent press report, impatient with inadequate supplies from the Central sector for long, Bihar is now taking quick steps to have adequate power-generation capacity. In recent times, around 23 companies including Tata Power, Videocon, Reliance Power, Essar have shown interest in setting up three supercritical power stations of 2 X 660 MW (1,320 MW) each in Bihar through tariff-based competitive bidding. A number of companies participated in a pre-bid conference held at the end of September and the... 

Gyanesh Pandey of Bihar’s Husk Power receives the ‘Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy’ London: latest reports from UK and India mention that two companies from India – Abellon Clean Energy Ltd. and Husk Power Systems have been declared winners of this year’s ‘Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy’ at an Awards ceremony in London addressed by Greg Barker, UK Government Minister for Climate Change. The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Ashden Awards, recently congratulated the international winners in a meeting and said “The Ashden Awards show what it is possible... 

Government and ADB sign $132 million agreement : an end to Bihar’s power problems by 2015? New Delhi: according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, the Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday signed a $132 million loan agreement for strengthening Bihar’s power sector. The project is expected to be completed by 31st December 2015. It will provide/transmit additional 472,579 megawatt-hours (MWh) to consumers annually by the end of 2015 and reduce system losses by 3% by 2016 in the seven districts of Bihar. The major portion of the ADB loan ($130.3 million)... 

Construction work for Nabinagar power plant begins: a big dilemma resolved! Editorial introduction: for several months, Nabinagar posed in front of the thinking Bihari a problem and a dilemma faced in numerous places all over the country. We all know how crucial electricity production is for Bihar. But should that be done by sacrificing the interests of the landowner in Nabinagar? We took different sides on the matter but the truth is Nabinagar should be seen as a precedent – by overlooking the interests of local people once, we set a terrible precedent that can snowball into a horrible social... 

‘You can’t give more power but at least give more ‘fairness’: the case of Muzaffarpur! Patna/Muzaffarpur: when power goes off on a hot summer afternoon, nothing consoles, including bad jokes, supposedly cooling drinks, a cucumber snack or the summer fashion, fabric and colours suggested by the smart tabloids. According to the latest reports in the press, even 1, Anne Marg is not exempt from the problem – recently when the fans came to a standstill at the janta durbar, the crowd of visitors sat staring at the static fans in disbelief but also with satisfaction. Some reacted by... 

Centre’s double stranglehold on Bihar: no power to you, and then no coal to make power either! Patna: news is that Nitish Kumar has had enough! Enough of apathy from the centre on several issues including the vital issue of power without which Bihar cannot budge even an inch! Even as Nitish in a public speech at Biharsharif declared that the state had decided to take care of its own power problems, the question asked was – how exactly! Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told the press ‘We have decided to soon float tenders which will be competitive tariff-based for raising new power... 

Indonesia offers to supply coal to Bihar: can it contribute to solving Bihar’s power crisis? Patna: the latest press reports emanating from Patna inform that Indonesia recently offered to supply coal to Bihar for thermal power plants. This offer was made by Indonesian Ambassador to India Lt Gen (Retd) Andi M Ghalib when he met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday afternoon. After the meeting, the CM said the Indonesian envoy made the offer “and we will explore the possibilities and take up the matter with the Centre as to whether the coal from that country be made available to...