Energy Ensemble - October 2013

In this issue

In the late sixties and early and mid-seventies there were many young kids in India, who used to get thrilled and excited to leaf through the glossy, colourful pages of the Russian magazines which were circulated free of cost. In our childhood, we used to freak out on Russian Circus. We used to draw up bright imageries of Moscow City, St Petersburg and grew up with some kind of conviction, God forbids, if something goes wrong, the well- built Russians with their red hat on, would stand beside us rocksolidly (well, it’s a different story altogether that we don’t get to see as much excitement and hype over Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Russian President Putin signing strategic agreement or over Russians building nuclear plants in India, despite Russia being a time-tested ally!).

Civil nuclear cooperation is an important area of our bilateral partnership with Russia. Mind you when many nuclear powers had shunned nuclear commerce with India, Russian assistance has all along been there in development of nuclear energy in India.

Prime Minister Dr Singh made it clear that India remains interested in expanding nuclear power production in cooperation with Russia, and is committed to the full implementation of the Roadmap signed during the visit of President Putin to India in March 2010.

Significantly, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 achieved criticality in July this year and subsequently on Oct 22, the 1,000 MW capacity KNPP unit was synchronised for the first time with the power grid at 2.45 am, and generated 75 MW of power. The power generation was subsequently increased to 160 MW and nearly two hours later, the unit tripped. The unit was again reconnected to the grid and generated around 160 MW. On October 27, for the second day in succession, the first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) generated 188 MW power and increased its average out put as compared to the previous day. The power generated by KNPP now is termed as infirm power and will be supplied to the home state, Tamil Nadu. Only when the unit is declared as commercially operational then the power generated will be shared with other southern states. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd has plans to connect the first unit to the grid, generating 400 MW power shortly.

Kudankulam Unit 2 is in an advanced stage of construction. Indian and Russian companies have been holding negotiations on finalizing arrangements for Kudankulam units 3 and 4 and it is expected that these contracts would be finalized shortly.
If one has to go by what the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh told the Russian media at his Annual Summit (2013) with President Putin, the cooperation in nuclear energy production between the two countries will continue to deepen, going forward.
Let there be more warmth and friendship.

Energy Ensemble Magazine Description:

“Energy Ensemble” from Dateline Media Private Ltd, and an associate publication of Steel and Metallurgy, a complete steel magazine, which has turned 15 this year, promises to be a truly international and comprehensive B2B magazine focused on the global energy sector. The journal aims at providing its readers with a unique industry insight through a perfect blend of news, reviews, comments, analysis, regional reports, case studies, technical articles and more. A dedicated and always on-the-job team of scribes working with “Energy Ensemble” would cover all forms of energy (non-renewable and renewable), forms of supply (centralised or decentralised), ownership patterns (public or private, cooperative, joint, or any other), market structures (formal, informal, integrated, disintegrated, national, international, local, etc.) and degrees of commoditisation (e.g. internationally traded, regionally traded, non-traded etc.)

The key focus of these research and research-based write-ups would be on :

1. Economic analysis of sector management issues (pricing, competition, access, reform, restructuring, regulation).
2. Analysis of sector strategies (strategies by governments, industries, consumers, civil society, international bodies).
3. Analysis of financial issues (investments, revenue management, viability).
4. Project management (appraisal, risk management).
5. Organisational and behavioural analysis of sector participants (firms, consumers, others).
6. Knowledge management and innovation in the sector.
7. Issues relating to environment, development and sustainability of the sector. The other USP of the magazine would be that we would have large number industry leaders from energy sector writing for us.

Target Readership: Managers, academics, policy makers, planners, consultants, and others who have interest in the efficient management of the energy sector. We are confident that the magazine would be read by the people who need to know what they are thinking.

Distribution: The magazine will be distributed by mail to its large subscriber base and available at major books and periodicals’ stands. One would be able to book one’s copy online on our site. We would also mail directly to members of major global energy conferences, many trade associations and selected individuals within the global energy investment community. Other recipients would include members of the largest utility associations, professional associations and local, state and national government.