47 power plants in Vidarbha

47 power plants in Vidarbha !
Down to Earth (subscription)
Maharashtra's target is to generate 33000 MW from 47 new thermal power
plants. This is a measure for its power-starved western part; some of it
would go to ...
<http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20100228&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=3>

Towards Sustainable Green Energy

Printed from Renewables can ensure energy security 15 Feb 2010, 0619 hrs IST, G M Pillai, Peak oil has been around for a while now. Energy specialists in India, specially those working in the renewable energy space, are now talking the same about coal: not quite peak coal but an increasing likelihood that coal will not always be available to run power plants. Will this mean that development as we know will come to a halt, given that energy production and consumption are regarded internationally as a major cause for climate change? For India, a net importer of fossil fuel, including gas, and increasingly of coal, energy security is a compelling reason to go green, G M Pillai, director general, World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) believes. Development cannot stop and it needs energy but the conventional sources of energy , oil and coal are fast running out. So, renewables are the only option. And, they are also green. So the primary objective of going for renewable energy, notes Mr Pillai, should be to secure the country’s growing energy needs. Solar energy can be a source for our growing energy needs, but what advancements have been made to store it? Storage technology has been developed to the level that it can be stored for six-seven hours. In states such as Maharashtra, where peak power demand is at night, the stored power can be used. Which means that the grid will have to have a mix of hydro, biomass , solar and a proper dispatch. The hybrid format grid allows using existing thermal power with an RE source. There is already one such at Singrauli in UP. The transition has begun, but the obsession with ultra mega power projects continues. And these projects are being sanctioned without assessing the security of fuel supply for the next 30 years. And, that is where issues over peak coal arise, as Indonesia, a major exporter , gradually caps these. This will mean that India would have to compete with the US and China, for global coal from the one big exporter, Australia. Will we be able to compete with international buyers? The worrying aspect is that some power companies have taken a short-term view, says Mr Pillai. They expect to achieve payback in five years on their projects, hence they are unconcerned about fuel supply for the plant for the rest of its life. How can renewable energy impact our lives? Concentrated solar thermal (CST) units, for instance, can be retrofitted on low-rise buildings — those with up to five floors. Wind mills on buildings to power street lights in a large housing complex too can be considered. Of course, renewables will require that we change the way we do business . While renewables could power households , what about industry and metros? Powering industry using renewables remains a big question. But, smaller, distributed units can reduce the burden on the grid for housing and even agricultural needs. Industry requires those large power plants. “We have 2.13 lakh sq miles of desert in Gujarat and Rajasthan, half of which the government owns. This region can power the country’s industry and metros, with huge solar power plants being set up there. As water is required to cool turbines and that would pose a challenge in the desert, the solution lies in using air cooling systems.” Nevada, in the US, has attempted solar thermal generation. It began with 40MW generation, which is now at 394 MW and can go to 500 MW. The use of deserts to locate such power generation units is best exemplified by the International Renewable Energy Agency, located in Abu Dhabi. The west Asian countries are taking measures with peak oil looming large. Renewables will change the power scene. Over 5-6 years, low-rise buildings could have their own solar-thermal units to take care of at least some of the power needs of the inhabitants there. Software technology firms that have large terraces could be among the first to install such units. Or malls, where the structures are not usually very tall. What else will change through a widespread deployment of renewable energy? Urban planning is one. Tall buildings of over 100 metres cannot be powered by renewables. So, ideas about city development will have to change. What about financing these projects? Mr Pillai pointed out Maharashtra’s four paise per kilowatt hour green cess on conventional power production for industrial and commercial units generates about Rs 100 crore annually. It has been converted into seed money for the Urja ankur nidhi a corpus used solely for the development of renewable energy. The government of Karnataka has also announced a similar cess.

MoEF's Green Signal - Doomsday for Alphonso !

Green signal for power project in middle of alphonso orchards
(http://www.livemint.com/2010/02/14233811/Green-signal-for-power-project.html)

Posted: Sun, Feb 14 2010. 11:38 PM IST

The move has potentially put not just a key export but also the livelihood of local farmers atrisk, say activists Padmaparna Ghosh and Utpal Bhaskar
New Delhi: The Union government has approved the setting up of a controversial power generation project in the middle of a prime growing area for India’s world-famous alphonso mangoes, potentially putting not just a key export but also the livelihood of local farmers at risk.
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has given the green signal to JSW Energy (Ratnagiri) Ltd, or JSWEL, a Jindal South West (JSW) group company, to commission a 1,200MW coal-based power plant at Jaigad in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. The clearance has come despite a court order asking the ministry to study the impact of the project in more detail.
Environmental activists said fly ash produced by the plant will affect agriculture, and a local farmers’ collective has vowed to appeal against the clearance. While issuing the clearance, the ministry put a year-long moratorium on JSWEL’s proposal to add an additional 3,200MW capacity to the power-generation plant. It has also imposed some conditions on the plant—such as taking adequate mitigation measures to desulphurize emissions, providing dense plantation as a buffer and 100% utilization of the fly ash it generates. “Even if there are negative impacts, the impacts are restricted within (a) 5km radius of the project site which harbour poor quality orchards which are a few in number, suggesting that there will be no reduction in mango production,” the site report reviewed by Mint stated.
But Maitree Dasgupta, a campaigner on climate and energy with international activist group Greenpeace, doesn’t agree.
“Fly ash from power plants is known to affect agriculture. For instance, in Parli, Beed district, Maharashtra, we have seen that sugar cane production is getting affected. Power plants make ponds for fly ash outside, which can contaminate surrounding areas later,” Dasgupta said. Questions emailed to a JSW group spokesperson on 8 February were not answered.
With an average annual shortage of 5,000MW, Maharashtra is India’s largest power-deficit state. The shortage is likely to grow, with demand projected to rise by 7-10% every year. The JSWEL project first received environmental clearance in May 2007, which was upheld by the National Environment Appellate Authority a year later.
But the Delhi high court, acting on a petition filed by local farmers, stayed the commissioning of power generating units in September. It asked the ministry to study the effects of the power plant on cultivation and reassess its environmental clearance. The ministry had sent a team to the site for a review. Its report, listed in the minutes of the meeting of an expert appraisal committee on thermal power projects, suggested that alphonso mangoes are more tolerant to high levels of sulphur dioxide than previously believed.
In July 2008, the ministry had also asked state-funded agricultural university Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli (KKVD), to carry out a four-year impact study on alphonso mangoes. The project would be allowed to expand only after that, it said. The university was asked to monitor ambient air quality, the marine and estuarine environment, plant health parameters and fisheries during the entire operative life of the plant, with periodic evaluation by an independent panel of experts nominated by the ministry.
“We will appeal against this clearance again,” said Vivek Bhide, a local mango farmer and president of the Ratnagiri Zilla Jagruk Manch, a farmers’ collective. “This (the clearance) doesn’t seem to follow the high court order, which said to carefully analyse all studies. But the KKVD study is yet to be completed,” he said. This is not the first electricity generation project that has threatened alphonso farmers in Maharashtra. An ambitious power project at Girye had to be dropped due to protests by local mango growers.
India exports around 13,000 tonnes of alphonso mangoes every year. According to the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board, mango cultivation in Ratnagiri is across 62,836 ha that yield production of 115,939 tonnes yearly.
padmaparna.g@livemint.com

Adnani's Mundra unit gets CDM certification !

Posted On Thursday, January 21, 2010
United News of India
Mumbai, Jan 21:
The first two 660 MW unit of the Adnani Power (APL) in Mundra in Gujarat has been certified as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The unit is the first one in the world to get CDM certification for super-critical technology based power project authorised under Kyoto Protocol to register such projects after elaborate and stringent scrutiny.
APL is setting up power plants to the tune of 9,240 MW, including 4,620 MW at Mundra in Gujarat, 3,300 MW at Tiroda in Maharashtra and 1,320 MW at Kawai in Rajasthan. Nearly 85 per cent of the project was based on environment friendly super-critical technology. The first two super-critical units of 660 MW each at Mundra, which are expected to be commissioned in 2010-11, have received this distinction.
Currently in India, sub-critical coal fired power generation is the commonly used technology with no super-critical or advanced super-critical plants in operation. The efficiency of super-critical coal fired power plant is quite high compared to sub-critical coal fired power plants. Enhanced plant efficiency reduces emissions of CO2 and all other pollutants by consuming less fuel per unit of electricity generated. The efficiency improvements and thereby reduction in CO2 Green House Gas (GHG) using super-critical technology leads to registration of such Thermal Power Project as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project and earning of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) through the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol.
APL in a release here said ''A complex and grueling process of project evaluation involves Host Country Approval (HCA) from Ministry of Environment and Forest in India, evaluation by Independent Validator of the Project Concept Note and Project Design Document, followed by review of Independent Validator's report by Committee Members of UNFCCC with final queries being raised by UNFCCC committee members which needs to be replied by the company with supporting documentation. During the 51st Executive Board of meeting of UNFCCC held at Copenhagen, Denmark between November 30 and December four, 2009, the committee members had reviewed the replies and various documents submitted by APL and approved this project as CDM project.
As per the calculations made in line with the guidelines of the UNFCCC under the ACM013 methodology applicable to this project, Mundra 2x660 MW TPP will be eligible to generate 18,39,560 CER per annum for 10 years from the first year of generation.
Adnani Group chairman Gautam Adnani commenting on the achievement said the company remained committed to Clean Development in its pursuit to be one of the largest private sector power generation companies.

35,700 Mw power projects for green nod

Environment panel to look into green nod for power projects

Environment panel to look into green nod for power projects
Sanjay Jog / Mumbai January 11, 2010, 0:35 IST

In a bid to give a big push for the development of coal- and gas-based power projects in the country, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) will take up proposals for terms of reference and environment clearances for 31 projects with a total generation capacity of 35,700 Mw.

The committee is scheduled to meet on January 11 and 12, for the first time this year, where it will discuss projects ranging from a minimum generation capacity of 54 Mw to the ultra mega power projects of 4,000 Mw. The committee would also consider a terms of reference for 60.9 Mw non-fossil fuel-based power plant by Seksaria Biswan Sugar Factory in Uttar Pradesh.

“The ministry, headed by Jairam Ramesh, is bringing a lot of transparency for providing environment and forest clearances expeditiously to power, mining, industrial, coal and other infrastructure projects. The ministry is also aware of the long time taken in these clearances. The issue has been take up by ministries of power and coal in particular,” informed sources told Business Standard.

Sources recalled that at a meeting convened by the power ministry on November 15 last year, various states had sought the ministry’s intervention for environment and forest clearances without inordinate delays. Besides, the coal ministry and the country’s largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd, had brought to the Centre’s notice that it takes two to four years to get environment and forest clearances for coal mining projects. EAC, in its communication to project developers, clarified that it would consider the proposal for environment clearance subject to confirmation of fuel and water linkage.

Some of the major projects to be considered by EAC include the 4,000-Mw ultra mega power project by Tatiya Andhra Mega Power Ltd, 2,640-Mw Bhavanapadu Thermal Power Project by East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd (both in Andhra Pradesh), four thermal projects of 300 Mw each by JSW Energy at Jaigad near Ratnagiri for review of environment clearance, and four thermal power projects of 800 Mw each by JSW Energy at Chiefari near Ratnagiri (both in Maharashtra) for terms of reference.

A large number of mango and cashew nut growers from Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra and non-government organisations have raised objections against these projects. A committee of MoEF had recently visited the project sites to get a first-hand information.

Hold the Public hearings in seriousness- Court to MoEF & GSPCB

Printed from

Hold GSPCB hearings seriously: Delhi HC

PANAJI: The Goa State Pollution Control Coard’s six simultaneous public hearings on five different mines at Sanguem in 2007, has led the Delhi high court to ask the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to take corrective steps and hold the hearings in seriousness.

NGO Utkarsh Mandal had approached the court and sought the quashing of an order issued by the MoEF in 2007 granting environment clearance to Panduranga Timblo Industries (PTI) for renewal of its mining lease at Rivona. During the hearing the scheduling of public hearings by GPSCB in respect of five mines (including that of PTI) on January 31, 2007 at 11 am at Vithal Devasthan at Sanguem came under the court’s scrutiny.

While setting aside the order passed by MoEF granting the environmental clearance to PTI, a division bench comprising chief justice Ajit Prakash Shah and justice S Murlidhar observed, “We find from the notice of the public hearing in the present case that as many as six public hearings were scheduled in regard to the projects (including PTI) by GPSCB on the same date and time and at the same venue.” The court also noted that it is a matter of concern that the requirement of public hearing under the EIA notification has been taken so lightly by the MoEF. “We expect the MoEF to immediately issue necessary instructions in this regard so that public hearings in terms of the EIA (environment impact assessment) notification dated 14th September 2006 take place with the seriousness which they deserve.”

Hanakon thermal power plant project shelved

Hanakon thermal power plant project shelved
The Hindu - Correspondent
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• Activists opposing the project and IBTPL hold press meet
• Ind-Bharath Thermal Power Company Limited was supposed to set up the thermal power plant
• Company and protesting activists to withdraw cases each had filed against the other

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Karwar: Ind-Bharath Thermal Power Company Limited (IBTPL) which had proposed to set up a thermal power plant at Hanakon near Karwar has decided not to go ahead with the project following opposition from environment activists and the general public.
A joint press conference was held here on Friday by Executive Director of the IBTPL Vasurao and members of the Anti-Thermal Power Plant Samiti Satish Sail, Kishore Desai and K.D. Naik.
The decision of IBTPL and the samiti has come as a surprise to many. The samiti members hurriedly called the press conference and declared that they would withdraw all the criminal cases of forgery and cheating that they had filed against IBTPL. Mr. Vasurao said that IBTPL would withdraw the cases filed against the samiti members. The samiti leaders who had been accusing the company all along for using money and muscle power to curb the agitation against the proposed thermal power plant, lauded IBTPL for deciding against the project. Samiti leaders and Mr. Vasurao said that there was a misunderstanding and communication gap because of which there were problems.
Blaming the forest officials for providing the wrong information about the distance between Hanakon and Curtogoa Wildlife Sanctuary, Mr. Vasurao said that IBTPL relied on their report and went ahead with the project. He said IBTPL had no role in the atrocity committed by the police on the agitators on July 30, and said the guilty should be punished.
Asked whether it was a “give and take arrangement” between IBTPL and the few leaders of the samiti, Mr. Vasurao said there was nothing murky in the whole deal and it was done purely in the interests of the people of Karwar. The samiti offered full cooperation to IBTPL if it sets up an “eco-friendly” industry.
Mr. Vasurao said IBTPL would chalk out an alternative plan to develop the land it had purchased in Hanakon. Later, the samiti leaders and Mr. Vasurao went to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and signed an agreement with regard to the decision not to set up thermal power plant in Hanakon.
The sudden decision of some of the leaders of the samiti has created resentment among the other leaders who stayed away from the press meet. Some leaders who were imprisoned in Bellary Central Jail during the agitation were found arguing outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office with those who signed the pact with IBTPL without informing others.
A committee member, seeking anonymity, said that some leaders who were out to take the political mileage out of the agitation had called the press meet without knowledge of others. He said only the leaders from the Congress party were present and other leaders belonging to different other parties were informed in the last minute deliberately so as to keep them away from the press conference.
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