13 July

India’s West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) has begun preliminary work to establish the Rs44bn Sagardighi super-critical unit this month, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It expects to complete the development work on the unit over the next 42 months, the Deccan Herald reported. WBPDCL currently has four units of total 1,600MW in the Sagardighi plant. This fifth unit is expected increase the plant’s capacity to 2,260MW.

Vestas has secured a service agreement for wind energy project Orjak in Croatia from Vjetroelektrana Orjak, a company of ECOwind Handels-und Wartungs-GmbH, which in turn is a subsidiary of renewable energy developer BayWa r.e.  As per the agreement, Vestas will be responsible for the maintenance of the project’s five Senvion MM92-2.05 wind turbines. The 18-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agreement will begin on an immediate basis.

As the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has not assumed 50% ownership of the 60MW Khimti Hydropower Project by 11 July this year, the fate of the project remains uncertain. Due to problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the NEA and the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation have not made any arrangements to sign a new agreement. According to the project development agreement, all procedures regarding the acquisition of 50% ownership should have been finished by 12 July and the project should have been operating through a joint venture. The government is now planning to make interim arrangements to operate the Khimti Hydropower Project and the details to assume the 50% ownership will be finalised soon, reported The Himalayan Times.