Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 07 2021

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COAL commercial coal mining policy saw aggressive Japan’s electricity industry and also their
bidding by domestic and home-grown firms, overseas consulting experience to establish a
Indian puts 11 more coal with the highest premium received was 66.8% GC that will enable players in Laos’s power
industry, such as the Ministry of Energy
while the average premium quoted was 29%.
mines out up for auction and Mining, and Électricité du Laos (EDL),
to suitably plan and operate power grids,
With the new additions, as many as 75 mines while also contributing to the realisation of
with reserves of about 38,000mn tonnes GRID an autonomous and stable wide-area linkage
(MT) of the fuel, will tentatively be offered system in Laos.
for commercial mining without any end-use TEPCO lead Japanese grid Through the JICA “The Study on Power
restrictions. Out of the 340mn tonnes of total Network System Master Plan in Lao People’s
coal reserve in the country, state-run Coal project in SE Asia Democratic Republic” (2017~2020), the
India owns blocks with combined reserves of consortium has already made domestic
60mn tonnes. TEPCO Power Grid and Nippon Koei have power demand predictions for Laos and
This would also be the second set of coal formed a consortium and concluded an created a power development plan in addition
assets to be auctioned off through the new agreement with the Japan International to creating rules and a roadmap for the
market-determined revenue share model Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the operation of power grids through creating
that replaced the fixed fee/tonne regime that “Project for Power Quality Improvement new power grid development plans and
had earlier turned off private investors.This through Upgrading Grid Code (GC) and examining existing GC in light of the power
would also be the second set of coal assets to Strengthening its Enforcement System”. development plans of neighboring countries.
be auctioned off through the new market- Hydroelectricity is the main source of TPECO
determined revenue share model that replaced power production in Lao People’s Democratic
the fixed fee/tonne regime that had earlier Republic, and the country exports power
turned off private investors. to adjacent nations (Thailand, Vietnam, WIND
The Union coal ministry has added 11 Cambodia), but export volume is limited due
new blocks to the list of mines planned to to the substandard planning and operation Tekmar Energy to protect
be offered for the second tranche of the of power grids thereby making it difficult to
commercial coal auctions. With the new further increase power exports in conjunction cables at two offshore wind
additions, as many as 75 mines with reserves with supply and demand conditions both in
of about 38,000mn tonnes (MT) of the fuel, Laos and neighbouring countries. farms in China
will tentatively be offered for commercial This project was started in response to a
mining without any end-use restrictions. Out request made to the Japanese government by Tekmar Energy has said it has won contracts
of the 3.4 lakh MT of total coal reserve in the the government of Laos to establish a wide- to provide cable protection systems for two
country, state-run Coal India owns blocks area linkage system that can link the power offshore wind farm projects located in the
with combined reserves of 60,000 MT. grids of Laos to those of adjacent countries, coastal province of Guangdong in southeast
After the modest response from the and also train engineers upon establishing China.
investors in the first round of auction under technological standards that will allow Under the contracts with unnamed clients,
the new commercial coal mining policy in optimal operation of domestic power grids in Tekmar Energy will supply its TekLink
November last year, the government has Laos. mechanical latch CPS technology to protect
excluded mines falling in wildlife reserves The four members of the consortium subsea cables as they transition from the
and blocks in areas where there is more than will leverage technologies for grid planning seabed through the dynamic zone at over 110
40% green cover to allay the fears regarding and operation that they have cultivated in offshore turbine locations.
environmental norms. This would also be the
second set of coal assets to be auctioned off
through the new market-determined revenue
share model that replaced the fixed fee/tonne
regime that had earlier turned off private
investors.
The mines offered in the upcoming
auction are located in Chhattisgarh, Odisha,
Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Madhya
Pradesh. Mines currently under litigation or
overlapping with active coal-bed methane
blocks have also not been included in the
latest list. The government had identified
41 blocks for the first round of commercial
coal auctions, but after objections from
Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,
only 38 mines were put on auction.
Even though financial bids were received
for 19 mines in the first round, the success
rate was better than the previous ten auctions
under the earlier regime, where bids were
received for only 35 mines out of the 116
offered. The maiden auction under the

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