Discoms to fly the coop of debt cycle with UDAY

Priyanka Mohan, Director at Kor Energy India Pvt Ltd.

Government initiatives will impact after few more years
Energy is one of the key enablers for the country’s economic development. The Power Ministry has taken initiative to provide 24X7 affordable and environment friendly ‘Power for All’ by 2019, which includes preparation of state specific action plans, and implementation of Green Energy Corridor for transmission of renewable energy, among other measures. To end the monopoly of state-run firms in coal mining, Indian government plans to auction coal blocks for commercial mining by the end of December 2017. This will help in achieving the country’s target of producing 1 billion tonne of coal by 2020. Also, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the enhancement of capacity of the scheme for development of solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW, which will ensure setting up of at least 50 solar parks each with a capacity of 500 MW and above in various parts of the country. CCEA has also approved a new coal linkage policy which aims at providing necessary supply of fuel to power plants through reverse auction. All these measures announced by the government will have a long term impact on the power sector in India and will take few more years to start delivering, states Priyanka Mohan, Director at Kor Energy India Pvt Ltd.

UDAY to improve financial conditions of discoms
Priyanka believes Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme can be one of the major game changer in improving the financial conditions of distribution companies (discoms) in India, which is very much required for power sector industry. It is a financial restructuring scheme which will help discoms to fly the coop of debt cycle and improve their operational efficiency. UDAY will bring down the cost in the entire eco-system of power, coal, and renewable energy by about Rs 1.8 trillion every year by 2019. UDAY not only resolves the past few things in the sector, but also sets a very strong check against discoms slipping back to losses in the future.

Making more solar projects operational
Describing on the major changes taken to improve the industry’s health Priyanka says, “During the past one year, the government has started focusing on delivering renewable energy and we have seen large utility scale solar projects becoming operational in last one year. In rooftop segment also Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has awarded tender of 500 MWp rooftop solar projects to be installed under RESCO and CAPEX model in all government buildings and similar tender was awarded for non-government sector also.”

She adds, “Last one year has been excellent for our company. We have executed project for schools, temples, industries and cold storages. We were also awarded capacity for subsidy under Delhi Government Capital Subsidy Scheme through IPGCL.”

Kor focuses on operational efficiencies
As the industry is all set for a massive rebound Priyanka shares her company’s innovative strategies to remain competitive. She says, “Industry is growing at a faster pace and to remain competitive, we are focusing on our operational efficiencies, procurement, logistics and sound human resource practice. Our plan is to be a listed company by the financial year 2018-19.”