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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2014
India Insight
Smelter shutdown
India’s refined copper producer Sesa Sterlite Ltd shut down
its smelter for 22 days of maintenance work, starting 26th
April, cutting supplies for the period. Sesa Sterlite produces
30,000 tonnes of refined copper per month and exports half
of that to China.
The shutdown could help support the falling global copper
prices, and might also lead to metal from China being
shipped to India. Several large Chinese copper smelters are
said to be planning to boost shipments in the coming
months to cope with low domestic prices.
P Ramnath, head of Sesa Sterlite’s copper business,
declined to comment on the planned shutdown, but said
that falling prices were not an issue for the company. Sesa
Sterlite’s smelter closure last year, in response to questions
over emissions, created a shortage for Indian cable makers,
including Finolex Cables Ltd and Precision Wires India Ltd,
and increased imports. An environmental court later allowed
the plant to be restarted.
Sesa Sterlite Ltd – India
Website:
More hydro power
According to India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) over
14,000MW of hydro power capacity will be commissioned
over the next four years. CEA data shows 40 projects in
various stages of implementation in the country, all
expected to be commissioned by 2018. The projects are
under development by central and state governments as
well as the private sector.
NHPC’s projects include the 330MW Kishanganga, 800MW
Parbati II and 520MW Parbati III (Himachal Pradesh) and the
2,000MW Subansiri (Arunachal Pradesh).
Another state-owned firm, NTPCBSE, which is primarily
engaged in thermal power generation, has diversified into
hydro power generation and has three projects, as does
NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd).
Over 2,000MW hydro power capacity is being added by the
state power generation companies, with Himachal Pradesh
contributing 956MW. Six hydro electricity plants in the state
are in various stages of construction and will be
commissioned by 2018.
Private sector projects will contribute over 4,500MW
capacity from hydro power projects in the next four years,
with up to 18 plants under construction by private
enterprises such as GMR, GVK and Lanco. At present,
hydro power contributes over 17 per cent (39,788MW) to
the country’s total installed capacity of 228,722MW.
Central Electricity Authority – India
Website:
HT wire causes deaths
The Press Trust of India reported that, on 18th April, five
people including three children, were killed after the bus in
which they were travelling came into contact with a high
tension wire. Police said the bus, carrying a marriage party,
caught fire.
The incident took place on the Ater-Porsa Road, in Madhya
Pradesh.
“We have received reports that five persons – two men and
three children – were killed when a bus carrying [a] marriage
party caught fire after high tension wire fell on it,” said the
deputy inspector general (Chambal Range), D K Arya.
The death toll may increase as the bus was carrying nearly
50 people and was gutted in the incident. The marriage
party was on its way to Arjaria from Baroa village in the
district when the accident happened.
Elephant stumbles into
electric wire
In a further fatal incident relating to electricity cabling in
India, a wild adult elephant has died after stumbling into an
electric wire in an Indian forest. The animal was electrocuted
as it came into contact with the 11,000-volt wire dangling
eight feet above the ground.
Sources said the wire was hanging from a bent pole in a
forest range in Assam, north eastern India. The local
authorities are understood to have taken the elephant’s
carcass for post-mortem examinations to be carried out.
Locals are understood to have made repeated pleas about
the bent pole and this is the fourth incident of its kind in
recent months.
Three elephants have died in the same area and a young
boy has been electrocuted after coming into contact with
loosely hanging wire.
❍ April’s shutdown could have helped support global copper
prices