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Mercury is now traceable | Science & Technology | Down To Earth magazineMercury is now traceable
Arnab Pratim Dutta
The heavy metal can be fingerprinted to find its source
THE global emission of mercury—a heavy metal notorious for its toxicity—is on the rise. Although the metal occurs naturally in stable form, some 2000 tonnes of it is released annually into the atmosphere from coal-based power plants, incinerators and chloro-alkali plants. Various options such as a global mercury convention, inclusion in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and voluntary partnerships, are being discussed to phase it out, but for that the source of the pollution needs to be pinpointed first. Researchers from the department of Geological Sciences and Air Quality Laboratory at the University of Michigan have developed a fingerprint technique to find out how much mercury is released by different sources...................
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GMR bullish on power; plans to buy coal mine in Indonesia-The Economic Times Printed from The Economic Times
GMR bullish on power; plans to buy coal mine in Indonesia
19 Dec 2008, 1318 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: GMR Group plans to buy 100-150 million tonne capacity coal mine in Indonesia to feed 1,500 megawatt power generation capacity for
20 years.
The deal is likely to strike within three months. "The company has plans to set up a 1,000 to 1,500 megawatt coal fired thermal power plant on the western coast. The company has already done the land survey in Maharashtra and Gujarat," GMR Group Chief Financial Officer Subba Rao Amarthaluru told reporters here on Friday.
Divulging details about the company's foray into power sector, he said, "The company would increase its domestic power generation capacity from 800 megawatt to 3,000 megawatt by 2013."
He also said that the company's 1,050 megawatt coal fired power plant in Orissa would be operational by March 2010.
When asked about the future investment plans, he remained tight-lipped and said that amidst the global financial crisis, power sector is a potential sector where there is a scope of investment and higher returns considering the EPC cost coming down to around Rs four crore per megawatt from the earlier Rs five crore to Rs six crore.
He added, "Power is an essential commodity, you cannot postpone the demand. Considering the huge demand of power in our country, this sector will yield higher returns in short term".
On the air passenger traffic, he said it is down one per cent in Delhi and five to six per cent in Hyderabad and this will further come down.
Copyright © 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
PIB Press Release
Press Information Bureau, Government of India
Friday, December 05, 2008
Ministry of Environment and Forests
ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE TO POWER PROJECTS
14:33 IST
A total of 168 power project have been accorded environmental clearance during the last three years. This includes 128 thermal power project, 39 hydroelectric projects and 1 nuclear power project. The State-wise break-up of these projects and their capacity is given in Annexure.Provision has been made in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification. 2006 to set up State/UT Level Environment impact Assessment Authority for appraisal of the specified category of projects.
EIA Notification, 2006 provide for appraisal of the impact that a project will have on the environment. This is done through EIA reports submitted by the project proponents and assessed by the multi-disciplinary Expert Appraisal Committees constituted by the Ministry Environment & forests for the purpose.............
(Total 82,605.50MW of TPP, 11083 MW of Hydro and 1400MW of Nuclear. ie 95088 MW in total)
SteelGuru - NewsNews Wednesday, 17 Dec, 2008
German expertise for thermal plants upgrade
BL reported that thermal power plants in India are set for an upgrade and efficiency improvement as part of an Indo German Energy program that would bring in German expertise.
According to Dr JT Verghese MD of Evonik Energy Services (India) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Evonik Industries of Germany, which is implementing the program, Evonik has carried out baseline studies of over 85 thermal power plants in India.
Addressing a press conference after the inaugural of a one day workshop at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, he said that Evonik has studied four thermal power plants which were more than 25 years old in Tamil Nadu. The next step would be identify the areas for upgrading equipment and training personnel. The study indicates that through selective investments, significant improvements could be achieved.
While the improvement could not be expressed immediately in specific terms, he said that the benefits would be apparent. Thermal power plants need to continuously focus on efficiency not just for cost reduction and increasing power availability but also to control pollution. He added that a 1% improvement in efficiency would mean a saving of over 11 million tonne of coal in India
The benchmark study of the 85 plants was to trigger awareness and the potential that could be achieved. The company was in discussions with the electricity boards in West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.
As per report, Evonik has extensive expertise in the area and operates over 11,000 MW of the total capacity of thermal plants spread across a number of countries.
CM urged to look into Dabhol power plant -Pune-Cities-The Times of IndiaPrinted from Times of India
CM urged to look into Dabhol power plant
16 Dec 2008, 0229 hrs IST, TNN
PUNE: City-based Sajag Nagrik Manch on Monday urged chief minister Ashok Chavan to urgently look into the problems plaguing the Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL/Dabhol) to ensure that the plant starts generating more power before the onset of summer.
In a letter sent to Chavan, Vivek Velankar, founder SNM, said that Maharashtra was going through a serious power shortage, resulting in unbearable load-shedding throughout the state. "Every megawatt of power is very important and from that angle, RGPPL or Dabhol power plant, needs your urgent attention," he wrote.
As per the information available in the daily system report on the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd's (MSEDCL) website, Dabhol has been generating 320 MW power per day as against its installed capacity of 2100 MW.
Velankar stated that Dabhol plant has three blocks, each with installed capacity of 700 MW. Each block has three turbines two gas turbines and one steam turbine. "As per information available with SNM, in block 1, gas turbine 1 A is not working and has been under repair for the last two years. Recently all the required parts have reached Dabhol. It needs to get started as quickly as possible," the letter said.
Gas turbine 1B is working and generating 200 MW power. The steam turbine is based on both gas turbines and as one of the gas turbines is not working, the steam turbine's output is at 100 MW, Velankar stated.
He said that in Block 2, gas turbine 2A was not working and has been under repair for the last six months. It may not be in working condition for a couple of more months. Gas turbine 2B has been under maintenance for the last 15 days and was supposed to be back in operation by the end of this month, according to a statement released by MSEDCL just before the maintenance work started.
"The steam turbine is based on both gas turbines and as both the gas turbines are not in working condition today the output of the steam turbine is nil. If gas turbine 2B is back in operation by end of this month, then the steam turbine's output will be 100 MW," the letter said.
"In block 3 both the gas turbines 3A and 3B have been out of order since last 15 days", Velankar pointed out adding that as steam turbine was based on both gas turbines the out put of steam turbine was nil.
He further stated that currently only one gas and one steam turbine in block 1 was in working condition producing 300 MW power. "Considering the installed capacity of 2100 MW ; this is serious . Hence we request you to kindly take up the matter strongly with National thermal power corporation (NTPC) and the union energy ministry for immediate action on their side so that at least by end of this month Gas turbine 1A and 2 B are functional and from 2009 we can start getting another 600 MW power", the letter said.
The letter said that the problems in block 3, where both gas turbines were down; repairs and ordering of required parts needed to be done on a war footing with sustained follow-up so that another 600 MW becomes available from April 2009.
168 power projects get environmental clearance in last 3 Yrs168 power projects get environmental clearance in last 3 Yrs
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If statistics is anything to go by then Indian power sector is growing at an electrifying pace with a total of 168 power projects getting environmental clearance during the last three years.
EIA Notification, 2006 provide for appraisal of the impact that a project will have on the environment. This is done through EIA reports submitted by the project proponents and assessed by the multi-disciplinary Expert Appraisal Committees constituted by the Ministry Environment & forests for the purpose.
Gujarat received the largest number of environmental clearance for 21 projects with a total capacity of 12,245 mw of power, while Rajasthan ranked second with 15 projects cleared having total capacity of 3,270 mw.
Manch seeks info on load-shedding protocol-Pune-Cities-The Times of IndiaManch seeks info on load-shedding protocol
3 Dec 2008, 0012 hrs IST, TNN
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PUNE: The city-based Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM) on Tuesday demanded that the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) should
suo motu declare the facts and figures that prompted it to select a load-shedding protocol suitable for power shortfall of 4,600 MW to 5,000 MW. The information is being sought under section four of the Right to Information Act.
The power utility on Monday announced the new load-shedding protocol after the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Merc) rejected the petition seeking increase in load-shedding hours on Friday.
In a letter to MSEDCL managing director Ajay Bhushan Pandey and chief engineer of power purchase, Manch founder Vivek Velankar said that the current protocol circular 23 issued by the MSEDCL was based on scenario five in Merc's order wherein demand supply gap is between 4600-5000 MW.
"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that since the last 15 days the demand supply gap crossed the 4,200-MW figure just two days for a couple of hours and has never crossed the figure of 4,600 MW . This has happened in spite of two generation sets at Dabhol not working and reduction in the Mahagenco thermal power generation due to shortage of coal," Velankar stated.
He said that in this background, the load-shedding protocol should have been ideally based on scenario three (suited for shortfall of 3,700 MW to 4,200 MW) if not at least safely on scenario four ( shortfall of 4,200 MW to 4,600 MW). "Considering the fact that there is an industrial slowdown, the demand is not likely to go up in the near future and, as it is winter the use of air-conditioners and fans will definitely go down the demand is not likely to go up," he added.
Velankar pointed out that the improvement in coal supply and resumption of Dabhol generation sets can improve supply in the next couple of weeks. "This means that in the next two months, at least, the demand supply gap is not likely to cross 4,600 MW. In spite of all this you have taken a decision to base load-shedding protocol on scenario five ( 4,600-5,000 MW shortfall )," he said in the letter.
He pointed out that as per Right to information Act 2005 section 4 (1) (C) & (D), the MSEDCL needs to publish suo motu (within 24 hours of the decision ) all the facts and reasons behind the decision to consider scenario five for the load-shedding protocol. He has urged the MSEDCL to publish this information on its website immediately.
