Academic literature on the topic 'Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission'
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Journal articles on the topic "Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission"
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du Puy-Montbrun, Guillaume, and Boris Martor. "French Electricity and Gas Regulatory Commission." Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 19, no. 2 (May 2001): 176–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2001.11433226.
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Rusche, Tim Maxian. "The Production of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources as a Public Service Obligation." Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law 3, no. 6 (2006): 486–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187601006x00146.
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AbstractThe article analyses whether electricity production from renewable energy sources can be the object of a public service obligation. This question is of particular importance for the State aid assessment of payments to producers of electricity from renewable energy sources. Such payments typically occur under so-called feed-in tariffs, which are a regulatory mechanism used in most Member States to promote the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. The author argues that there are compelling reasons for considering that Member States can introduce public service obligations with respect to the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, and that compensation payments granted are exempted from the notification obligation under Article 88(3) EC treaty, if the beneficiary undertaking receives not more then 30 million EUR per year as compensation, and if its turnover does not exceed 100 million EUR. Should these thresholds be exceeded, the compensation payments need to be notified to the Commission. The Commission will then assess them under the Community framework for public service compensations, which has been adopted in November 2005.
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Aggarwal-Gupta, Meenakshi, and Shailaja Karve. "Capability Building in a Government Regulatory Firm (A)." Asian Journal of Management Cases 15, no. 1 (February 13, 2018): 23–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0972820117744684.
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Western State Electricity Regulatory Commission (WSERC) was a Government Regulatory Firm in India and worked in the areas of electricity and power. Its scope of work had significantly expanded after a decade of existence and the organization needed to keep pace with the changing requirements. There was a need for agile functioning in a market driven power economy in the areas of power generation, transmission and distribution. The firm needed to transition from being a regulator to being a change agent to support the reforms in the power sector. The firm was operating with a skeletal support staff and key areas of expertise had been outsourced. The case presents the challenges of operating with an outsourced model and the need to move towards self–sufficiency. The firm wanted to now rely on internal expertise instead of depending on external consultants. The change of hiring practice would also need to be supplemented by change in the style of functioning. The case ends with the chairman pondering on how best to enable this change.
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Farmer, David J., and Layne N. Thiessen. "Recent Regulatory and Legislative Developments of Interest to Energy Lawyers." Alberta Law Review 51, no. 2 (December 1, 2013): 427. http://dx.doi.org/10.29173/alr73.
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This article highlights important legislative and regulatory developments of relevance to energy lawyers, including those involving electricity matters and related jurisprudence that arose between May 2012 and May 2013. The authors have reviewed a wide variety of subject areas, including examining decisions of key regulatory agencies such as the National Energy Board, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board, the Alberta Utilities Commission, the Alberta Surface Rights Board, the Ontario Energy Board, the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal, and the World Trade Organization. Additionally, federal and provincial legislation and regulations of significance introduced during this period are canvassed.
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Turner, Richard, Xiaogu Zheng, Neil Gordon, Michael Uddstrom, Greg Pearson, Rilke de Vos, and Stuart Moore. "Creating Synthetic Wind Speed Time Series for 15 New Zealand Wind Farms." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 50, no. 12 (December 2011): 2394–409. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2011jamc2668.1.
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AbstractWind data at time scales from 10 min to 1 h are an important input for modeling the performance of wind farms and their impact on many countries’ national electricity systems. Planners need long-term realistic (i.e., meteorologically spatially and temporally consistent) wind-farm data for projects studying how best to integrate wind power into the national electricity grid. In New Zealand, wind data recorded at wind farms are confidential for commercial reasons, however, and publicly available wind data records are for sites that are often not representative of or are distant from wind farms. In general, too, the public sites are at much lower terrain elevations than hilltop wind farms and have anemometers located at 10 m above the ground, which is much lower than turbine hub height. In addition, when available, the mast records from wind-farm sites are only for a short period. In this paper, the authors describe a novel and practical method to create a multiyear 10-min synthetic wind speed time series for 15 wind-farm sites throughout the country for the New Zealand Electricity Commission. The Electricity Commission (known as the Electricity Authority since 1 October 2010) is the agency that has regulatory oversight of the electricity industry and that provides advice to central government. The dataset was constructed in such a way as to preserve meteorological realism both spatially and temporally and also to respect the commercial secrecy of the wind data provided by power-generation companies.
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Ohajianya, Anthony Chibuike. "Estimated billing system is the bane of grid electric power supply and development in Nigeria: An empirical analysis." Journal of Advances in Science and Engineering 5, no. 1 (July 31, 2021): 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.37121/jase.v5i1.157.
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The estimated billing system for electricity was introduced in Nigeria by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in 2012 for billing customers without meters or with faulty or inaccessible meters. But instead of following the guidelines and formula provided by NERC for the estimation, the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) resorted to billing these customers arbitrarily and frustrated efforts by NERC to ensure the proper metering of electricity consumers. This research evaluates the incentive, which makes the DisCos in Nigeria prefer the estimating billing system to a much more efficient smart prepaid metering system. To carry out the research, four Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) customers were selected. The estimated bills of these customers, which they received before they got smart prepaid meters, were compared with their prepaid meter bills for an equal period. EEDC was found to be over-billing these customers under the estimated billing system by a yearly average per customer of 64,901.67 Nigerian Naira (170.79 USD).
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Bhaskar, V. "Challenges Faced by Independent Regulatory Agencies in India." Indian Journal of Public Administration 64, no. 3 (August 13, 2018): 404–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0019556118785429.
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This article examines the challenges faced by independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) in India today. It scrutinises the working of some trust-based self-regulating institutions, which the Government of India (GoI) is in the process of converting into a non-trust-based IRA framework. The article then reviews the functioning of the non-trust-based regulatory institutions through the lens of the electricity sector. It does this by examining the performance of these institutions against a ‘4CA’ framework: Capture, Capacity, Commitment, Communication and Accountability. It then attempts to draw generic lessons for regulators across all sectors. The article further examines additional challenges sectoral regulators will face arising from three areas: first, data privacy concerns and the requirements the proposed data regulator may impose; second, the interface with cross-sectoral regulators like the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which have jurisdiction across sectors; and third, interaction between sectoral regulators themselves.
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Dahunsi, F. M., O. R. Olakunle, and A. O. Melodi. "Evolution of Electricity Metering Technologies in Nigeria." Nigerian Journal of Technological Development 18, no. 2 (August 13, 2021): 152–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njtd.v18i2.10.
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Advancement in technology has continuously driven the evolution of metering devices and infrastructure in the world and has resulted in more accurate and user-friendly devices equipped with customer interaction interfaces. The evolution of metering technology in Nigeria arose with the unbundling of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) but have not progressed smoothly and successfully despite the implementation of various reforms and policies in the Nigerian electricity industry. The persisting problems in the electricity distribution system such as energy theft, vandalism, energy wastage, high line losses can be overcome by the deployment of appropriate metering infrastructure. In the second quarter of 2020, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission revealed that the total registered customers and total metered customers are 10,516,090 and 4,234,759 respectively leaving a metering gap of 59.73%; after 124 years of commercial electricity availability in Nigeria. This paper discusses Nigeria's metering history and the challenges encountered in the transition of policies, technologies and government reforms. The paper also proposes the way forward to a successful transitioning into a smart distribution grid.
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Tsai, Chung-min. "Regulating China's Power Sector: Creating an Independent Regulator without Autonomy." China Quarterly 218 (May 14, 2014): 452–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0305741014000381.
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AbstractThroughout its period of economic transition, the Chinese state has readjusted its relationship with industry and developed new regulatory schemes. China's first industry-specific independent regulatory agency, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), was created in 2003. Its operation does not follow Western practice which adopts the best institutional arrangement for autonomous regulators. This article will examine the failings and regulatory capture of SERC. I argue that because the process of creating a new regulator involves resource reallocation and power redistribution, SERC has suffered both endogenous and exogenous disadvantages since its inception. The compromised institutional design, along with insufficient resources and fragmented authority, has considerably weakened SERC's regulatory capacity. Moreover, SERC was not designed as part of the reform schedule, but rather emerged later as a response to institutional necessities, which also contributes to its vulnerability. As a result, the state has exposed SERC to potential capture by both government entities and regulated enterprises.
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Panfil, Michael, and Rama Zakaria. "Uncovering Wholesale Electricity Market Principles." Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law, no. 9.1 (2020): 145. http://dx.doi.org/10.36640/mjeal.9.1.uncovering.
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This paper examines, enunciates, and makes explicit a set of market principles historically relied upon by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to regulate wholesale electricity markets as required under the Federal Power Act (FPA). These identified competitive market principles are supported by policy and legal foundations that run through a myriad of FERC orders and court decisions. This paper seeks to make that history and those implicit market principles explicit by distilling and organizing Commission Orders and court decisions. It concludes that five market principles, each with multiple subprinciples, can be identified as elemental to how FERC understands and implements its statutory authority. Clear articulation of these foundational principles should help guide engaged entities as wholesale power markets continue to evolve. Market Principle 1 states that wholesale market revenues should predominantly flow from well-designed energy and ancillary services markets. Market structures generally are found to be preferable to non-market structures. Moreover, energy and ancillary services markets, in relationship to wholesale capacity markets, are better able to efficiently promote a least-cost resource. Market Principle 2 states that when altering market design, FERC and Independent System Operators (ISOs) should focus on only those services that are clearly needed, and ensure that any market design change does not unduly discriminate between resources. Market design changes focused on technology-neutral and well-defined granular services will help ensure that the design change does not lead to undue discrimination or preference that effectively favors certain resources. When such an impact still occurs, strong evidence showing that the rules are not unreasonable and arbitrary and that no non-unduly discriminatory and preferential alternative exists must support the change. Market Principle 3 states that interventions that distort transparent and accurate pricing should be minimized. Out-of-market interventions, in particular, have the potential to distort price signals and undermine competition. Market Principle 4 states that FERC’s just and reasonable standard strongly favors rate decreasing outcomes. Markets are premised on the economic presumption that competition reduces prices, in furtherance of the just and reasonable standard. Market Principle 5 states that FERC and ISOs should facilitate and not undermine state public policy preferences. FERC and ISOs are not well-situated to serve as decision-makers in determining which state public policy preferences should be given effect. State public policy preferences that do not run afoul of FERC’s authority under the FPA should thus be given full effect.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission"
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DeLor, Michael J. "The Regulatory Response to Crisis: Crisis, Congress, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64172.
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This study is designed to examine how much of an impact crisis or the perception of a crisis might have on Congressional policy making for private electric utilities and how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reacts to Congressional action or inaction in such cases. Also, where appropriate the influence and impact of other actors in the different crises are mentioned. The first set of findings came from the era running from 1977 to 1986 as FERC was created by Congress in 1977 to address in part the stagflationary crisis of the 1970s of which electric utilities played an important role. Next, the Congressional response to the Gulf War and FERC's reaction to it is analyzed as in that case legislators were reacting to the perception that another energy driven economic crisis in the U.S. might occur as happened after the OPEC oil embargo of 1973. Finally, the study examines the Congressional response and FERC's reaction to the Midwest price spike, the California electricity crisis, the Northeast blackout of 2003, and the financial decline of electric utilities nationally due to the failures of wholesale electricity market restructuring.
Modern technology driven societies like the U.S. need access to vast supplies of cheap reliable electricity to run everything from computer systems to public sanitation systems. Most of that electricity in the U.S. is provided by private electric utilities. As a result, this study focuses primarily on federal public policies, created by Congress and implemented by FERC, related to private utilities. Yet, despite the importance of electricity to contemporary societies, public affairs scholarship has generally not addressed this issue.
In order to probe the impact of Congress and FERC, I examine interconnected events and actions that take place at different points in time to determine what influence, if any, these organizations have had. Crisis seems to be the primary causal mechanism pushing Congress to act in this area of public policy. Indicators of Congressional action include hearings, proposed federal legislation, and statutes, while indicators of a response from FERC include the issuance of orders, opinions, and formal docketed decisions.Ph. D.
Books on the topic "Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission"
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Yemi, Oke. Nigerian electricity law and regulation. Abuja, FCT: LawLords Publications, 2013.
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Office, General Accounting. Electricity markets: FERC's role in protecting consumers. Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003.
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India. L.P.'s hand book on electricity laws: A compilation of Electricity Act, 2003 (Act No. 36 of 2003) alongwith Indian Electricity Act, 1910, Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, Indian Electricity Rules, 1956, Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 as amended by the Electricity Regulatory Commissions (Amendement) Act, 2001 and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Preparation, Submission of Budget and Maintenance of Accounts) Rules, 2000 ... the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procedure, Terms and Conditions for Grant of Transmission Licence and other Related Matters) Regulations, 2001 with notifications. Allahabad: Law Publishers (India), 2003.
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Commission, Illinois Commerce. Regulation of electricity sales-for-resale and transmission service: Comments of the Illinois Commerce Commission before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Springfield, Ill: Illinois Commerce Commission, 1985.
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United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Midwest electricity price spikes: Hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, second session ... September 24, 1998. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1999.
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Wholesale electricity prices in California and the western United States: Hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session on FERC's April 26, 2001, order addressing wholesale electricity prices in California and the western United States, May 3, 2001. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2001.
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Power, United States Congress House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and. FERC: Electricity demand-side bidding : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, March 31, 1988. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1988.
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United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Energy and Power. FERC: Electricity demand-side bidding : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, March 31, 1988. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1988.
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Power, United States Congress House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and. FERC: Electricity demand-side bidding : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, March 31, 1988. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1988.
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United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Energy and Power. FERC: Electricity demand-side bidding : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, March 31, 1988. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1988.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission"
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Siddiqui, Md Zakaria. "Disempowerment of Incumbent Elite and Governance." In Mapping Power, 50–71. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199487820.003.0003.
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Bihar’s electricity sector was in a low level equilibrium for many years, with limited rural electrification. Under Lalu Yadav in the 1990s, although Bihar’s power sector deteriorated, newly empowered lower castes demanded public service improvements, including in electricity. When Nitish Kumar became chief minister in 2005, and even more so in his second term, he was able to capitalise on this demand and benefit politically by providing increasingly reliable and universal electricity. Conditions for reform were favourable: initially, low political pressure and stress on the regulatory process because of low access, high political support for enhanced access, central funds for grid-extension, and the availability of low-cost market purchases enabled Bihar to take advantage of surplus power in other states. Consequently, Bihar was able to shift from a low level equilibrium to a virtuous cycle. To sustain this cycle, however, Bihar will have to avoid future subsidy traps and potential future supply constraints.
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Sareen, Siddharth. "Gujarat’s Success in Efficient Electricity Distribution." In Mapping Power, 93–113. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199487820.003.0005.
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Gujarat’s power sector in the 1990s followed a path similar to other relatively prosperous states. A high share of industrial consumption helped buy the sector’s finances, enabling populist measures to agriculturists, notably flat rate tariffs and diminished accountability. This pattern shifted when a decade of competitive elections came to an end in 1998, replaced by a long period of BJP rule. Under conditions of electoral, that state undertook a gradual set of reforms that included establishing a regulator and unbundling, but also feeder separation to introduce transparency and a political deal with farmers to curtail, rationalize, and improve the quality of agricultural supply. Several conjunctural factors also helped: an unusually high state capacity, an effective regulatory commission that was able to challenge the reported AT&C loss figures, and the state’s broader economic success enabled both continued cross-subsidies and direct fiscal support. Gujarat also became a leader in RE capacity, although that first-mover position has loaded the state with expensive RE contracts in a period of rapidly declining RE costs. The overarching story, however, is of Gujarat using its breathing space and favourable economic conditions to carve out a gradual reform process that provided political rewards for power sector improvements.
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Tiemo, Pereware Aghwotu. "Telecommunications Regulation in Nigeria." In Handbook of Research on Information Communication Technology Policy, 700–710. IGI Global, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-847-0.ch044.
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This chapter presents the historical development of telecommunication in Nigeria, ranging from the colonial era to the present democratic dispensation and the position of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the telecommunication regulatory body, are highlighted. It goes further to x-ray the current trends and benefits of deregulation of telecommunication in the county. Despite the effort being made to ensure access to telecommunication system in the country, there are still some problems that militate against it effectiveness such as poor quality of services, inadequate telecommunication infrastructure and irregular electricity supply. It also looks at the future trends of telecommunication and among the recommendations are constant supplies of electricity, conducive environment and friendly policy that will sustain the growth of telecommunication in Nigeria.
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Ramakrishnan, Hema. "Tamil Nadu Power Sector." In Mapping Power, 255–73. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199487820.003.0013.
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Tamil Nadu, one of the wealthiest states in India, has achieved almost universal electrification, and also has the highest renewable energy capacity—both wind and solar—in the country. Over the last three decades, two regional parties—DMK and AIADMK—have alternatively governed the state and are locked into a pattern of competitive populism in which electricity subsidies play a big role. Early on, subsidies were well targeted and were also financially covered through cross-subsidies from other consumers and direct support from the government. By the 1980s, concern for financial discipline of the utility was abandoned, power for irrigation was made free, flat-rate meters were introduced, and growing theft was concealed under the carpet of agricultural subsidies, all leading to the deteriorated quality of supply and even more cross subsidies. Reform efforts did little to change the situation, with the state government controlling the electricity regulatory commission to prevent the ailing utility from reforming itself and protecting it from any competition. Ironically, Tamil Nadu is considered to be a power surplus state now due to falling industrial demand. There are few signs of Tamil Nadu climbing out of this spiral.
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Colopy, Cheryl. "More River Blues." In Dirty, Sacred Rivers. Oxford University Press, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199845019.003.0015.
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It was not entirely clear to me why Ngawang Lama and his group wanted the intake point—the head of the Melamchi tunnel—moved to the spot that was proposed back in the early 1990s, when the World Bank was funding the revamping of Kathmandu’s water supply. But I learned that Norwegian engineers, who were then consultants on the project, had originally placed that intake upstream to provide for a hydropower plant. They saw the Melamchi project as a good opportunity to get more for the same investment of money. The Norwegians had proposed to place the intake several miles above the spot that Cholendra and I almost reached as we walked up the damaged access road. Using that intake point, called Nukute, would have allowed for a twenty-five-megawatt hydropower plant in Sundarijal, where the tunnel ended. The higher intake could give an additional three hundred meters of “head”—water pressure to generate electricity. When the Asian Development Bank took over the project, they scuttled the hydropower component. After this, the Norwegians pulled out. The proposed twenty-five megawatts of electricity would have been welcome in a country that is likely to see power outages for at least another decade. Now, with the planned intake point lower on the river, hydropower is not possible because there would be insufficient water pressure. The ADB’s reasons for dropping the hydro component are a little vague. Ratna Sansar Shrestha dismisses the economic and environmental costs the organization cites as its rationale for dropping hydropower. Ratna is a water resources specialist who is well known for wanting the Melamchi project to include hydropower. He is one of three members of the Regulatory Commission for Water Supply that oversees tariffs and quality of service throughout Nepal. To be charitable to the ADB, he says, “working with Nepal’s bureaucracy is not easy.” Hydropower projects require negotiating with an entirely different ministry from the one that oversees water supply. Cutting out the hydropower component also cut out half the administrative red tape on a project that has been drowning in it for years.
Conference papers on the topic "Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission"
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Arndt, Steven A., and Richard Denning. "Potential Ways to Modify the NRC Safety Goal Policy." In 17th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering. ASMEDC, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/icone17-75852.
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There have been significant discussions over the past few years by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff and the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), as to the adequacy of the safety goals for use with the next generation of nuclear power reactors to be built in the United States. The NRC, in its safety goals policy statement, has provided general qualitative safety goals and basic quantitative health objectives (QHOs) for nuclear reactors in the U.S. Risk metrics such as core damage frequency (CDF) and large early release frequency (LERF) have also been used as surrogates for the QHOs. This study will examine a potential approach to update the safety goals that includes the establishment of new qualitative goals associated with the comparative risk of generating electricity by viable competing technologies, and the development of preliminary tests in support of a new qualitative goal.
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Hanson, John. "The Federal Government’s Role in Enabling the Nuclear Renaissance and a Low-Carbon Energy Future." In ASME 2012 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/imece2012-89997.
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The electric power industry in the United States will face a number of great challenges in the next two decades, including increasing electricity demand and the aging of the current fleet of power plants. These challenges present a major test for the industry, which must invest between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion by 2030 to meet the increased demand. In addition to these challenges, the potential for climate legislation, controversy over hydraulic fracturing, and post-Fukushima safety concerns have all resulted in significant uncertainty regarding the economics of all major sources of base-load electricity. Currently nuclear power produces 22% of the nation’s electricity, and over 70% of the nation’s low-carbon electricity, even though unfavorable economic conditions have stalled construction of new reactors for over 30 years. The economics are changing, however, as evidenced by the recent construction and operating licenses (COLs) awarded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Southern Company and SCANA Corporation to build two new units each. The successful construction of these units could lead to more favorable financing for future plants. This improved financing, especially if combined with appropriate additional government support, could provide serious momentum for the resurgence of nuclear power in the United States. The most important way in which government support could benefit nuclear power is by increasing the amount of loan guarantees provided to the first wave of new nuclear power plants. This will help encourage additional new builds, which will help reduce the financing risk premium for new nuclear and improve interest rates for future plants. Instead of simply increasing loan guarantees for nuclear energy, a permanent federal financing structure should be established to provide loan guarantees for “clean energy” technologies in general, a category in which nuclear energy should be included. Most importantly, any changes should be made as part of a coherent, long-term energy policy, which would provide utilities with the correct tools to make the necessary investments, and the confidence that will allow them to undertake large-scale projects.
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Levy, Salomon. "Obstacles to Overcome by Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)." In ASME 2011 Small Modular Reactors Symposium. ASMEDC, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/smr2011-6553.
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The development of and support for small modular nuclear power plants (NPPs) is gaining strong momentum in USA. The reasons are that they could require reduced financing and shortened construction schedule. Also, they could address the reduced size need for electricity in some USA locations and, in particular, in developing foreign countries. However, the prevailing enthusiasm needs to be moderated until several potential obstacles are overcome. There are three principal USA obstacles: (1) the successful licensing and certification of the SMRs by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to confirm their safety; (2) SMRs ability to demonstrate that they can compete financially against less costly modular natural gas power plants or the limited purchase of electricity from new large light water reactors (LWRs); and (3) the need to work into the prevailing fuel cycle while not deteriorating spent fuel disposal or increasing proliferation. Clearly, Babcock & Wilcox’s and Nu Scale Power’s SMRs have the earliest chance for success because they would rely upon the present LWR regulatory and fuel cycle experience. Their main obstacle will be demonstrated costs from prototype plants and the willingness to accept fixed turnkey contracts for additional units. The more visionary SMRs such as GE-Hitachi PRISM or the Hyperion Power Generation smaller liquid metal closed fuel cycle reactors will have to overcome more difficult and lengthy regulatory assessments. Also, a complete fuel cycle infrastructure will need to be developed. Penetration of developing foreign countries will be the most difficult because it will demand the development and establishment of a nuclear safety infrastructure in those countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA NG-G-31) has detailed the numerous actions and large time schedule and efforts to achieve an adequate safety culture. Also, several export licenses and monetary loans will be required. Furthermore, it will be necessary to overcome the lack of insurance for severe accidents and the anticipated USA refusal to accept domestic disposal of foreign High Level Waste (HLW). This means that government owned suppliers such as Russia have definite advantages over the USA private suppliers because of their willingness to provide loans and handling HLW. This paper first summarizes the power history growth of USA reactors and the recent momentum developed for USA SMRs; it is followed by available brief descriptions of USA LWR SMRs and some of their potential obstacles; more advanced USA SMRs designs and their potential difficulties come next; foreign applications are covered last and they are followed by a Conclusions section.
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Martin, Oliver, Antonio Ballesteros, Christiane Bruynooghe, and Michel Bie`th. "Research Activities in the European Union on Ageing Management for Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants." In ASME 2010 Pressure Vessels and Piping Division/K-PVP Conference. ASMEDC, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/pvp2010-25678.
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The energy supply of the future in the EU will be a mix of renewable, fossil and nuclear. There are 145 nuclear power reactors in operation in 15 out of the 27 EU countries, with installed power ∼132 GWe. The age distribution of current nuclear power plants in EU is such that in 2010 most of them will have passed 20-years and approximately 25% of them 30 years of age. The decrease of energy supply from nuclear generated electricity can not always be compensated in a reliable and economical way within a short time span. For this situation utilities may be keen to upgrade the reactor output and /or to ask their regulatory bodies for longer term operation. Under the research financed in the Euratom part of the Research Directorate (RTD) of the European Commission several projects explicitly address the safe long term operation of nuclear power plants (NULIFE, LONGLIFE) and the topics proposed in the 2010 call explicitly address issues concerning component ageing, in particular non metallic components, i.e. instrumentation and cables (I&C) and concrete ageing. This paper presents an overview of the plans for long term operation (LTO) of nuclear power plants in the EU. Special emphasis is given on research activities on component ageing management and long term operation issues related to safety.
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Lincoln, Donald. "Demand Response and FERC Mandated Compensation Issues." In ASME 2012 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/imece2012-93112.
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This paper describes a Demand Response (DR) pilot event performed at Sandia National Laboratories in August of 2011. This paper includes a description of the planning for the demand response event, sources of energy reduction during the event, the potential financial benefit to Sandia National Laboratories from the event, event implementation issues, and the event results. In addition, this paper presents the implications of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 745, Demand Response Compensation in Organized Wholesale Energy Markets, issued in March 2011. In this order FERC mandates that demand response suppliers must be compensated by the organized wholesale energy markets at the local market price for electricity during the hour the demand response is performed. Energy management in a commercial facility can be segregated into energy efficiency and demand response. Energy efficiency focuses on steady state load minimization. Demand response reduces load for event-driven periods during the peak load. Commercial facility demand response refers to voluntary actions by customers that change their consumption of electric power in response to price signals, incentives, or directions from grid operators at times of high wholesale market prices or when electric system reliability is jeopardized. Demand-response-driven changes in electricity use are designed to be short-term and centered on critical hours during the day when demand is high or when the electricity supplier’s reserve margins are low. Demand response events are typically scheduled between 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on eight to 15 days during the hottest period of the year. Analysis has determined that automated demand response programs are more efficient and effective than manually controlled demand response programs due to persistence. FERC has stated that their Order 745 ensures organized wholesale energy market competition and removes barriers to the participation of demand response resources. In Order 745, FERC also directed that the demand response compensation costs be allocated among those customers who benefit from the lower prices for energy resulting from the demand response. FERC has allowed the organized wholesale energy markets to establish details for implementation methods for demand response compensation over the next four years following the final Order issue date. This compensation to suppliers of demand response can be significant since demand response is typically performed during those hours when the wholesale market prices are at their highest levels during the year.
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Rezak, William D. "Nuclear Power: Time To Start Again." In 12th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering. ASMEDC, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/icone12-49005.
Full textAbstract:
One of America’s best kept secrets is the success of its nuclear electric power industry. This paper presents data which support the construction and operating successes enjoyed by energy companies that operate nuclear power plants in the US. The result—the US nuclear industry is alive and well. Perhaps it’s time to start anew the building of nuclear power plants. Let’s take the wraps off the major successes achieved in the nuclear power industry. Over 20% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power plants. An adequate, reliable supply of reasonably priced electric energy is not a consequence of an expanding economy and gross national product; it is an absolute necessity before such expansion can occur. It is hard to imagine any aspect of our business or personal lives not, in some way, dependent upon electricity. All over the world (in over 30 countries) nuclear power is a low-cost, secure, safe, dependable, and environmentally friendly form of electric power generation. Nuclear plants in these countries are built in six to eight years using technology developed in the US, with good performance and safety records. This treatise addresses the success experienced by the US nuclear industry over the last 40 years, and makes the case that this reliable, cost-competitive source of electric power can help support the economic engine of the country and help prevent experiences like the recent crises in California and the Northeast. Traditionally, the evaluation of electric power generation facility performance has focused on the ability of plants to produce at design capacity for high percentages of the time. Successful operation of nuclear facilities is determined by examining capacity or load factors. Load factor is the percentage of design generating capacity that a power plant actually produces over the course of a year’s operation. This paper makes the case that these operating performance indicators warrant renewed consideration of the nuclear option. Usage of electricity in the US now approaches total generating capacity. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pre-approved construction and operating licenses for several nuclear plant designs. State public service commissions are beginning to understand that dramatic reform is required. The economy is recovering and inflation is minimal. It’s time, once more, to turn to the safe, reliable, environmentally friendly nuclear power alternative.
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Rezak, William D. "Nuclear Power: Time to Start Again." In International Joint Power Generation Conference collocated with TurboExpo 2003. ASMEDC, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/ijpgc2003-40019.
Full textAbstract:
One of America’s best kept secrets is the success of its nuclear electric power industry. This paper presents data which support the construction and operating successes enjoyed by energy companies that operate nuclear power plants in the US. The result—the US nuclear industry is alive and well. Perhaps it’s time to start anew the building of nuclear power plants. Let’s take the wraps off the major successes achieved in the nuclear power industry. Over 20% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power plants. An adequate, reliable supply of reasonably priced electric energy is not a consequence of an expanding economy and gross national product; it is an absolute necessity before such expansion can occur. It is hard to imagine any aspect of our business or personal lives not, in some way, dependent upon electricity. All over the world (in 34 countries) nuclear power is a low-cost, secure, safe, dependable, and environmentally friendly form of electric power generation. Nuclear plants in these countries are built in six to eight years using technology developed in the US, with good performance and safety records. This treatise addresses the success experienced by the US nuclear industry over the last 40 years, and makes the case that this reliable, cost-competitive source of electric power can help support the economic engine of the country and help prevent experiences like the recent crisis in California. Traditionally, the evaluation of electric power generation facility performance has focused on the ability of plants to produce at design capacity for high percentages of the time. Successful operation of nuclear facilities is determined by examining capacity or load factors. Load factor is the percentage of design generating capacity that a power plant actually produces over the course of a year’s operation. This paper makes the case that these operating performance indicators warrant renewed consideration of the nuclear option. Usage of electricity in the US now approaches total generating capacity. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pre-approved construction and operating licenses for several nuclear plant designs. State public service commissions are beginning to understand that dramatic reform is required. The economy is recovering and inflation is minimal. It’s time, once more, to turn to the safe, reliable, environmentally friendly nuclear power alternative.
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Forsberg, C. W., M. Gorensek, S. Herring, and P. Pickard. "Safety Related Physical Phenomena for Coupled High-Temperature Reactors and Hydrogen Production Facilities." In Fourth International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology. ASMEDC, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/htr2008-58223.
Full textAbstract:
High-temperature reactors are a potential low-carbon source of high-temperature heat for chemical plants—including hydrogen production plants and refineries. Unlike electricity, high temperature heat can only be transported limited distances; thus, the reactor and chemical plants will be close to each other. A critical issue is to understand potential safety challenges to the reactor from the associated chemical plant events to assure nuclear plant safety. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently sponsored a Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) exercise to identify potential safety-related physical phenomena for high-temperature reactors coupled to a hydrogen production or similar chemical plant. The ranking process determines what types of chemical plant transients and accidents could present the greatest risks to the nuclear plant and thus the priorities for safety assessments. The assessment yielded four major observations. Because the safety philosophy for most chemical plants (dilution) is different than the safety philosophy for nuclear power plants (containment), this difference must be recognized and understood when considering safety challenges to a nuclear reactor from coupled chemical plants or refineries. Accidental releases of hydrogen from a hydrogen production facility are unlikely to be a major hazard for the nuclear plant assuming some minimum separation distances. Many chemical plants under accident conditions can produce heavy ground-hugging gases such as oxygen, corrosive gases, and toxic gases that can have major off-site consequences because of the ease of transport from the chemical plant to off-site locations. Oxygen presents a special concern because most proposed nuclear hydrogen processes convert water into hydrogen and oxygen; thus, oxygen is the primary byproduct. These types of potential accidents must be carefully accessed. Last, the potential consequences of the failure of the intermediate heat transport loop that moves heat from the reactor to the chemical plant must be carefully assessed.
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Mohanty, Subhasish, William K. Soppet, Saurindranath Majumdar, and Krishnamurti Natesan. "Pressurized Water Reactor Environment Effect on 316 Stainless Steel Stress Hardening/Softening: An Experimental Study." In ASME 2015 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/pvp2015-45694.
Full textAbstract:
In USA there are approximately 100 operating light water reactors (LWR) consisting fleet of both pressurized water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR). Most of these reactors were built before 1970 and the design lives of most of these reactors are 40 years. It is expected that by 2030, even those reactors that have received 20 year life extension license from the US nuclear regulatory commission (NRC) will begin to reach the end of their licensed periods of operation. For economical reason it is be beneficial to extend the license beyond 60 to perhaps 80 years that would enable existing plants to continue providing safe, clean and economic electricity without significant green house gas emissions. However, environmental fatigue is one of the major aging related issues for these reactors, and may create hurdles in long term sustainability of these reactors. To address some of the environmental fatigue related issues, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) with the sponsorship of Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program trying to develop mechanistic approach for more accurate life estimation of LWR components. In this context ANL conducted many fatigue experiments under different test and environment conditions on 316 stainless steel (316SS) material that is or similar grade steels are widely used in US reactors. Contrary to the conventional S∼N curve based empirical fatigue life estimation approach, the aim of the present DOE sponsored work is to understand material ageing more mechanistically (e.g. time dependent hardening and softening) under different test and environmental conditions. Better mechanistic understanding will help to develop computer based advanced modeling tools to better extrapolate stress-strain evolution of reactor component under multi-axial stress states and hence to help predicting their fatigue life more accurately. In this paper (part-I) the fatigue experiments under different test and environment conditions and related stress-strain results for 316 SS are discussed. In another paper (part-II) the related evolutionary cyclic plasticity material modeling techniques and results are discussed.
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Hittner, Dominique, Sander de Groot, Gerard Griffay, Pascal Yvon, Ludwik Pienkowski, Jacques Ruer, Carmen Angulo, and Gaetano Iaquaniello. "A New Impetus for Developing Industrial Process Heat Applications of HTR in Europe." In Fourth International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology. ASMEDC, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/htr2008-58259.
Full textAbstract:
Due to its high operating temperature (up to 850°C with present technologies, possibly higher in the longer term), and its power range (a few hundred MW), the modular HTR could address a larger scope of industrial process heat needs than other present nuclear systems. Even if HTR can contribute to competitive electricity generation, this potential for industrial heat applications is the main incentive for developing this type of reactor, as it could open to nuclear energy a large non-electricity market. However several issues must be addressed and solved successfully for HTR to actually enter the market of industrial process heat: 1) as an absolute prerequisite, to develop a strategic alliance of nuclear industry and R&D with process heat user industries. 2) to solve some key technical issues, as for instance the design of a reactor and of a coupling system flexible enough to reconcile a single reactor design with multiple applications and versatile requirements for the heat source, and the development of special adaptations of the application processes or even of new processes to fit with the assets and constraints of HTR heat supply, 3) to solve critical industrial issues such as economic competitiveness, availability and 4) to address the licensing issues raised by the conjunction of nuclear and industrial risks. In line with IAEA initiatives for supporting non-electric applications of nuclear energy and with the orientations of the SET-Plan of the European Commission, the (European) HTR Technology Network (HTR-TN) proposes a new project, together with industrial process heat user partners, to provide a first impetus to the strategic alliance between nuclear and non-nuclear industries. End user requirements will be expressed systematically on the basis of inputs from industrial partners on various types of process heat applications. These requirements will be confronted with the capabilities of the HTR heat source, in order to point out possible discrepancies and issues, to assess the feasibility of different coupling schemes and to identify development needs. Partners from nuclear regulatory organisations will also address the feasibility of licensing such coupling schemes. The issues they will raise will be taken into consideration for defining coupling design bases and identifying R&D needs. A detailed roadmap for designing an industrial demonstrator of a HTR coupled with process heat applications will be inferred from this analysis, as well as R&D actions required for supporting the development of the reactor, of the coupling system and of possible adaptations or innovations in industrial processes.