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					</table><p>Here are some noteworthy developments from around the world</p>
<p><strong>JSW Renew Energy Five, a special-purpose vehicle of JSW Energy, </strong><a href="https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/68134b8d-8d57-4979-b83b-1daa48c0d885.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>received</strong></a><strong> a letter of award for a 500 MW standalone battery storage system from SECI</strong>. The company <a href="https://mercomindia.com/jsw-renew-energy-wins-seci-tender-1gwh-bess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won</a> the auction for the project in August last year by quoting ₹1.08 million (~$13,275)/MW per month for twelve years. SECI’s obligation would be limited to 60% of the project capacity, and the remaining 40% is to be managed by JSWEL.</p>
<p><strong>The </strong><a href="https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/ethiopia/government" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Ethiopian government</strong></a><strong> signed a joint development agreement with </strong><a href="https://masdar.ae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Masdar</strong></a><strong>, the UAE-government-owned renewable energy company, to develop 500 MW solar </strong>power projects in the country. In a social media post, the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, said that Ethiopia has a vast resource of renewable energy and the agreement provides a great opportunity to use the country’s renewable resources to make reliable, clean, and affordable energy accessible to Ethiopia and others</p>
<p><strong>The </strong><strong>Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has </strong><a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1892190" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>advised</strong></a><strong> Coal India (CIL) and the state governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to ensure coal is not allotted to suppliers of CIL operating in NCR. </strong>The Commission issued statutory directions regarding permissible fuels for industrial, domestic, and miscellaneous applications in the NCR, according to which the use of coal now stands completely banned (except in thermal power plants) and is not considered a permissible fuel within NCR. In compliance, 84 industrial units across NCR areas of Haryana, and Rajasthan, which were not using approved fuels, closed their operations temporarily/ permanently. Beyond January 1, 2023, only two units were found using such heavily polluting fuels, indicating satisfactory compliance.</p>
<p><strong>Hertz and Uber have </strong><a href="https://newsroom.hertz.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hertz-and-uber-expand-partnership-bring-25000-electric-vehicles" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>announced</strong></a><strong> a European expansion of their present North American partnership to bring up to 25,000 electric vehicles (EVs) to European capitals. </strong>The partnership will begin in Hertz Europe’s London base in January 2023. It will offer a wide range of EVs, including Tesla and Polestar, to Uber drivers in Europe&#8217;s capital cities by 2050. This will be a crucial element of Hertz’s strategy to build a rental EV fleet and Uber’s commitment to becoming a zero emissions platform in Europe and North America by 2030.</p>
<p><strong>Clean energy company Masdar has </strong><a href="https://news.masdar.ae/en/News/2023/01/13/15/48/Masdar-Signs-Agreement-to-Explore-Exporting-Green-Hydrogen" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>signed</strong></a><strong> a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the development of a green hydrogen supply chain</strong> <strong>between Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam. </strong>The MoU was signed with four Dutch companies: Port of Amsterdam, SkyNRG, Evos Amsterdam, and Zenith Energy. Under the MoU, the parties will join their efforts to develop a green hydrogen supply chain, focusing on production in Abu Dhabi and export to the Netherlands through the port of Amsterdam. The exported green hydrogen will be delivered to critical European sectors – sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), steelmaking, and bunkering for shipping – and will also be supplied to new, emerging European off-takers via pipeline, truck, and barge.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Daily News Wrap-Up: JSW Receives LoA for 500 MW Battery Storage Project

<p>A total of 40 flying squads have been set up by the Enforcement Task Force (ETF) of the  Commission on Air Quality Management (<a href="https://caqm.nic.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CAQM</a>) in the national capital region, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. The squads will check compliance with various directions issued by CAQM towards reducing air pollution, particularly for measures to be taken for the critical winter months.</p>
<p>While general compliance levels are satisfactory, serious violations are still reported across sectors. There have been 38, 48, 104, and 38 serious violations reported from Delhi and NCR Districts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, respectively. The violations majorly occur in industrial units, construction, and demolition project sites. They also relate to the use of diesel generator (DG) sets in industrial installations, commercial complexes, and residences.</p>
<p>After screening the cases of non-compliances, the ETF decides on immediate closure of such units to prevent any further deterioration of air quality.</p>
<p>Out of 1,215 inspections carried out until December 7, 2021, gross violations of norms have been reported from 228 units or sites across various sectors. Of these, closures have been identified for 128 industries, 58 construction or demolition project sites, and 42 commercial or residential complexes operating on diesel generators.</p>
<p>In all, 111 units have been closed down until further orders.</p>
<p>CAQM has also developed a framework and action plan for preventing and controlling stubble burning, a significant contributor to pollution in Delhi and adjoining regions. It plans to procure crop residue management machines and promote high yield and short-duration paddy varieties. It is also planning to use bio-decomposers to reduce crop residue.</p>
<p>The framework also suggests using paddy straw in biomass power projects and co-firing in thermal power plants. Paddy straws can also be used as feedstock for 2G ethanol plants and compressed biogas plants.</p>
<p>In March this year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways <a href="https://mercomindia.com/government-approves-ethanol-gasoline-automotive-fuel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greenlighted</a> the use of E20 – a blend of 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline – as an automotive fuel. Financial assistance was announced set up distilleries to produce 1st Generation (1G) ethanol from feedstocks such as cereals (rice, wheat, barley, corn, and sorghum), sugarcane, and sugar beet. Assistance will also be provided to convert molasses-based distilleries to dual feedstock.</p>
<p>To support the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi, a central sector program on &#8216;Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and NCT of Delhi&#8217; is being implemented.</p>
<p>From 2018-19 to 2021-22, ₹24.4 billion (~$322.26 million) has been released for these states. The program has also supplied more than 195,000 CRM machines to these CHCs and farmers of these four states.</p>
<p>Delhi had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/delhis-air-quality-worsens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recorded</a> PM2.5 levels of 162 and PM10 levels of 297 on November 24. The levels of particulate matter in the air were &#8216;very unhealthy.&#8217;</p>
<p>In 2019, India <a href="https://mercomindia.com/india-launches-national-clean-air-program-to-fight-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a program to battle the increasing level of pollutants in the air. The National Clean Air Program (NCAP) is a time-bound national-level strategy for pan-India implementation to tackle the rising air pollution problem across the country. City-specific action plans are formulated for 102 non-attainment cities identified for implementing mitigation actions under the new program.</p>
<p>Image credit: by CIAT, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NP_India_burning_48_(6315309342).jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wikimedia Commons</a></p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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40 Flying Squads to Monitor Pollution Control Compliance in Delhi and Adjoining States

<p>Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (<a href="https://moef.gov.in/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MoEFCC</a>) has stipulated that all coal-fired power generating units need to reduce harmful sulfurous gas emissions by retrofitting necessary pollution control equipment. The deadline for thermal power plants to install Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) units that cut sulfur dioxide emissions has been moved three times.</p>
<p>The Central Electricity Authority of India (<a href="https://cea.nic.in/">CEA</a>) has recently released the installation status of FGD units in the thermal power plants across the country.</p>
<p>According to the CEA, bids for FGD installations at 69.26 GW of thermal power units have been awarded by the Ministry of Power (<a href="https://powermin.gov.in/">MoP</a>) so far since 2019 against a planned capacity of 169.26 GW.</p>
<p>The progress has been slow, with only four central government projects of 840 MW and two private enterprise projects of 1.32 GW commissioned to date with FGD systems. State governments have not commissioned any FGD installations to date.</p>
<p>FGD is a process to remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power projects and the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes such as incineration of waste materials. It substantially reduces the sulfur dioxide emissions released in the flue gases by thermal power projects and is a critical step towards environmental sustainability.</p>
<p><strong>Mitigating the cost of FGD installations</strong></p>
<p>The MoP had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/700-million-plan-for-ev-infrastructure-revamp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> a ₹835 billion (~$11.70 billion) plan to meet the cost of FGD installation to improve air quality. The Prime Minister’s office also <a href="https://mercomindia.com/prime-minister-office-carbon-tax-coal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> waiving the cess on coal (clean energy cess) to help the thermal power projects install FGD to curb pollution. Since 2010 as of the financial year 2019-20, over ₹1.15 trillion (~$15.6 billion) has been collected in clean energy cess. The <a href="http://www.forumofregulators.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forum of Regulators</a> has <a href="https://mercomindia.com/electricity-regulators-measures-reduce-retail-tariff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommended</a> that the clean energy cess proceeds should be brought back to the electricity sector to mitigate the incremental cost of FGD installations.</p>
<p><strong>Deadline for compliance</strong></p>
<p>Initially, a 2017 deadline was set for thermal power plants to comply with emissions standards by installing FGD infrastructure to cut toxic sulfur dioxide emissions. Subsequently, separate timelines were set for different regions, with the deadline ending in 2022. Another <a href="https://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GSR243.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> dated March 31, 2021, from the Environment Ministry says thermal plants close to heavily populated areas and New Delhi will have to comply by 2022, while plants closer to critically polluted areas have up to 2025 to comply or retire the units.</p>
<p><strong>Status of bids</strong></p>
<p>Plans are to install 442 FGD units at thermal power plants with a combined 169.26 GW capacity. This includes 54.8 GW of plants owned by the central government, 53.22 GW by the states, and 61.23 GW by private players. Of these, bids have been awarded for FGD installations in 69.26 GW of thermal power plants.</p>
<p>The government has awarded bids to install FGD units in 47.74 GW of thermal projects and state governments for 4.32 GW. Private companies have awarded bids for 17.2 GW of projects.</p>
<p>Notices inviting tenders (NIT) have been issued for FGD units in 132.30 GW of thermal projects. The Union government has issued NITs for 54.8 GW capacity, while state governments and private companies have issued NITs for 32.21 GW and 45.29 GW respectively.</p>
<p>Across the country, the central government has awarded bids to installed FGD units at 55 projects with a capacity of 28.32 GW located in critically polluted areas. State governments and private companies have awarded bids for four projects with 2.6 GW and eight projects with 4.97 GW, respectively.</p>
<p>In the National Capital Region, the central government has awarded 3.32 GW in bids for FGD installation at thermal projects and private companies for 4.7 GW.</p>
<p>In 2020, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission recommended in a staff paper that thermal power projects retrofitting pollution control systems on commissioned units should be <a href="https://mercomindia.com/thermal-units-pollution-control-retrofit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allowed</a> to recover their costs in part from buyers during the tenure of power purchase agreements.</p>
<p>Mercom had earlier <a href="https://mercomindia.com/ntpc-signs-482-million-loan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that NTPC Limited entered into a foreign currency loan agreement with the Japanese Government’s financial institution, the Japan Bank for International Co-operation, for funding its FGD and renewable energy projects.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Status of Retrofitting Pollution Control Systems in Thermal Plants

<p>The Indian Oil Corporation (<a href="https://iocl.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IOC</a>) has floated a tender for 15 hydrogen polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell electric buses to be supplied at its research and development center in Faridabad, Haryana.</p>
<p>The electric buses must be delivered in 144 weeks. IOC did not specify an earnest money deposit (EMD) requirement for the tender. The deadline for bid submission is January 25, 2020.</p>
<p>Successful bidders must supply 15 homologated buses, of which ten must be nine-meter-long buses, and five must be 12 meters long. The buses must be designed keeping the climatic and operational conditions prevalent in the Delhi-National Capital Region. Successful bidders must test the buses in collaboration with the IOC to ensure a mileage of 20,000 km and provide service and maintenance operations.</p>
<p>To be eligible to participate in the competitive bidding process, bidders must have supplied at least two electric buses as a direct sale order or ten buses on a gross contract basis in the country in the last five years. Applicants must have the facility to develop, manufacture, assemble, or fabricate PEM fuel cell stacks and systems in the country.</p>
<p>They are also expected to have met testing and certification requirements under the Central Motor Vehicle Rule, 1989 (CMVR) for at least one electric bus. Prospective bidders must also have had an annual turnover of ₹303.1 million (~$4.14 million) in the last three financial years.</p>
<p>Bidders are also expected to buy back the buses and submit a normalized buy-back cost for one unit at the time of bid submission, IOC said. It added that it would retain at least four buses for captive usage after completing the project.</p>
<p>In November 2020, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation had invited bids to select a service provider to procure 300 electric buses on a gross cost contract model. The contract included operation and maintenance services.</p>
<p>A little earlier, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation <a href="https://mercomindia.com/kerala-to-hire-electric-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">invited</a> bids for hiring 50 electric buses on wet lease for the Thiruvananthapuram zone under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) Electric Vehicles-II (FAME II) program.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/nithin-thomas-prasad/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Nithin Thomas</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Nithin-2-1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Nithin Thomas,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/author/nithin-thomas-prasad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Nithin Thomas.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Nithin-2-1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/author/nithin-thomas-prasad/" rel="noopener">Nithin Thomas</a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Reuters News, he has covered oil, metals and agricultural commodity markets across global markets. He has also covered refinery and pipeline explosions, oil and gas leaks, Atlantic region hurricane developments, and other natural disasters. Nithin holds a Masters Degree in Applied Economics from Christ University, Bangalore and a Bachelor&#8217;s Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.<a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/author/nithin-thomas-prasad/" rel="noopener">More articles from Nithin Thomas Prasad</a></div>
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