WCA September 2012

India

capacity during the time when the electricity consumption is the maximum – touched 10,876MW in April, according to the official data. The significant deficit implies non-availability of enough electricity to meet the needs of consumers. Many states, especially in south India, are already challenged with load shedding and power cuts. Consumers in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and union territory of Puducherry were the worst affected by electricity shortage. Data compiled by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showed that total power generation capacity was just 1,17,124MW in June, whereas the demand reached 1,28,000MW. THE Hindu Business line has reported that as much as 24,353MW of thermal power capacity is unused, because the plants are under repairs. Of this, 13,204MW of capacity has been under ‘forced outage’ for over 15 days, according to the Daily Outage Report provided by the Central Electricity Authority. Including plant shutdown due to “planned maintenance and other reasons”, the total thermal capacity remaining unused on 22 nd May was 32,438 MW – 18 per cent of the thermal capacity of 176,836MW monitored by CEA. (The total installed thermal capacity in the country is 199,627MW.) As much as 12,330MW was categorised under ‘major outage’. The Mahatma Gandhi Thermal Power Station in Haryana (600MW), the Mundra TPS unit 6 (660MW) and the Bhusawal unit 5 in Maharashtra (500MW) are examples of projects shut down due to ‘major problems’ in boiler, turbine or coal handling plants. It is unclear as to how the CEA classifies outages into ‘major’ and ‘minor’. The shutdown of four units of 210MW each of the Mettur Thermal Power Station after fire damaged the coal handling plant is listed under ‘minor’. The plant will be out of operation for at least 20 days. Central Electricty Authority – India Website : www.cea.nic.in Aradhya Steel rating reduced FITCH Ratings has downgraded India-based Aradhya Steel Private limited’s (Aradhya) national long-term rating to ‘Fitch D(ind)’ from ‘Fitch BB(ind)’/Stable. Central Electricity Authority – India Website : www.cea.nic.in Lost capacity

ArcelorMittal suspends expansion lACK of demand has moved ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steelmakers, to suspend a $1.5 billion Brazilian expansion plan, Benjamin Baptista, president of the company’s Brazil unit has said in a Valor Economico newspaper report. Demand for steel is not expanding fast enough in Brazil and the outlook for global demand in the face of Greece and Europe’s debt problems is weak, Baptista told Valor . luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, controlled by Indian billionaire lakshmi Mittal, had planned to build a $1.2 billion wire rod plant at its mill in Monlevade, Brazil, and a speciality steel production line at its mill in Vega do Sul, Brazil. The Monlevade wire rod plant has much of its foundation work completed and all the equipment has been bought, the paper said. R&M, a supplier of passive cabling solutions, has installed broadcast cabling at the Narodowy National Stadium in Warsaw. A release from the company said that the backbone of the national stadium is based on 72-fibre single mode optic cables, category OS2, while the risk of failure is minimised through redundant cabling, led through separate routes. Speaking about the installation, Mr Gaurav Ahuwalia, managing director of R&M, said, “We understand the importance of secure data transfer at a high speed in order to broadcast the game [in] real time.” R&M – India Website : www.rdm.com India’s peak power deficit nearly 11,000MW in April AMID signs of a worsening power supply situation for Indian consumers, the shortfall in electricity generation during peak hours stood at nearly 11,000MW in April as fuel scarcity hit thermal plants. ArcelorMittal – Luxembourg Website : www.arcelormittal.com National stadium cabling

The downgrade reflects Aradhya’s continued delays in meeting its debt obligations since FY12 (year end March).

The country’s peak power deficit – the shortfall in generation

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2012