Location and Resource Implication of Upcoming Coal Fired Power Plant

WORLD INSTITUTE OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY,
PUNE
LOCATION AND RESOURCE

IMPLICATION OF UPCOMING COAL
FIRED POWER PLANT
Summer internship project as per the guidelines of MDU
ARPIT JAIN
MBA( Power Management)
NPTI, Faridabad
5 June 2012 to 16th August 2012
th
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................................... 3
ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE ............................................................................................................. 4
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 COAL RESOURCES OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW ............................................................................. 8
2.2 COAL IRONY ............................................................................................................................. 12
2.3 HIGH FUEL SUPPLY RISK HOVERING OVER TPPS ..................................................................... 13
2.4 ARE CIL MEASURES GOOD ENOUGH TO CURB THE CRISIS ? ................................................... 14
2.5 CIL QUANDARY ........................................................................................................................ 15
3.1 THE BLAME GAME ................................................................................................................... 17
3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES: THE PROCESS ...................................................................... 17
3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES: HURRY WITHOUT ANY WORRY! ......................................... 19
4.1 ANOMALY IN FIGURES ............................................................................................................. 21
4.2 LIBERAL POLICY ........................................................................................................................ 21
4.3 CONCERN FOR CONCERTRATION ............................................................................................ 22
4.4 DESTROYING THE DISTRICTS ................................................................................................... 24
4.4.1 CHAMPA-JANJGIR ............................................................................................................. 26
4.4.2 ANGUL-DHENKANAL ......................................................................................................... 27
4.4.3 SINGRAULI ........................................................................................................................ 29
4.4.4 NELLORE ........................................................................................................................... 31
4.4.5 KUTCH ............................................................................................................................... 32
4.4.6 VIDARBHA REGION ........................................................................................................... 33
4.4.7 KORBA-RAIGARH .............................................................................................................. 35
5.1 IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 37
5.2 WHAT CAN BE DONE ............................................................................................................... 38
6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 39
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 40
National Power Training Institute Page 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it.” - William Arthur Ward
I don’t want to miss out on that and hence I would like to avail the opportunity to
express my profound sense of sincere and deep gratitude to many people who
are responsible for the knowledge and experience that I have gained during the
project work.
I would like to thank Mr. G.M Pillai, Director General WISE, for giving me the
opportunity for pursuing my summer internship in the learning environment of
WISE. I sincerely thank my project mentor Prof. Sanjeev Ghotege, Senior
Fellow & Head, Centre for Climate Change & Sustainable Policy, for providing
me with valuable insights on the project, correcting me and guiding me
throughout the project. I am also thankful to Mr. Suhas Tendulkar, AGM (BDE),
Mr.Prabhuram, Senior Research associate, Mr.Rohit Bhide, Senior Research
associate and Ms Bindu Nair, Sr. Executive for their constant support and
guidance. I would also express my regards for Mr. Arun Mehta, Senior research
associate, Mr. Gaurav Jain, Research associate and Mr. Chandan Kumar,
Research associate for their timely support. I would also like to thank Mr. Rohit
Bhutani, fellow intern, for the assistance.
I express my gratitude to my college authority and Mr. S.K Choudhary,

Principal Director (CAMPS) and Mrs. Manju Mam, Dy. Director NPTI for
arranging my summer internship program with World Institute of Sustainable
Energy, Pune. Last but not the least I express my thanks to all the staff at WISE,
from all departments I got in touch with, who have been very cooperative,
helpful, kind and empathetic; time and again, without whom this dissertation
would not have been possible.

ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
World Institute of Sustainable(WISE) energy has been registered as a not for

profit society and trust under the societies registration act 1860 and Bombay
public trust act 1950 and began functioning in Pune from June 2004. WISE is a
financially autonomous institution and comprises some major and eminent
stakeholders from renewable energy sector as its founder member. The
activities of WISE will thus provide a major impetus to the development of
renewable sector in all Indian states, who would immensely benefit from the
trained pool of manpower, policy studies, research, publication, etc. to be
developed by WISE. WISE possesses some of the most talented, highly
qualified and technically proficient people as a part of its workforce. Together,
they strive towards fulfilling one goal, developing WISE into a premier and
apex world class institution of sustainable energy.
Objectives of WISE
 To be a premier outreach centre for communications, information and

knowledge transfer in the fields of sustainable energy, energy
conservation, and sustainable development.
 To function as an apex policy think tank, policy advocacy centre and
consultancy provider in the field of sustainable development, especially in
relation to sustainable energy and energy conservation.
 To conduct short-term and long-term academic and other training
programmes in furtherance of the futuristic human resource needs of the
emerging sustainable energy, energy conservation, and sustainable
development sectors.
 To take up technical and other research in selected and specialised areas
of vital importance for augmenting and accelerating sustainable
development in a holistic manner, for a transition to a cleaner and greener
world.
 To establish, maintain, and operate pilot projects, libraries, laboratories
and prototype training centres, and hold seminars and training
programmes in concordance and furtherance to these objectives.

1. INTRODUCTION
Energy has been universally recognized as one of the most important inputs
for economic growth and human development. There is a strong two-way
relationship between economic development and energy consumption. On
one hand, growth of an economy, with its global competitiveness, hinges on
the availability of cost-effective and environmentally benign energy sources,
and on the other hand, the level of economic development has been observed
to be reliant on the energy demand.
Similar is the case with India where the energy consumption has been
increasing at one of the fastest rates in the world due to population growth
and economic development. The total installed capacity has grown up from a
meager 1362 MW to whopping 2, 05,340.26 Mw as on 30th June 2012. The
per capita energy has also augmented from 15 kwh to 778 kwh during the
same period. But all this data are lustrous values concealing the lackluster
framework of the power sector in the country.
Table 1 Source MOP
Fuel MW %age
Total Thermal 136436.18 66.44
Coal 116,333.38 56.65
Gas 18,903.05 9.20
Oil 1,199.75 0.58
Hydro (Renewable) 39,291.40 19.13
Nuclear 4,780.00 2.32
RES** (MNRE) 24,832.68 12.09
Total 2,05,340.26 100.00
As it appears from the table, Coal-based generation appears likely to remain

the linchpin of the Indian power sector at least for the next few decades,
given the large domestic coal resources and the absence of any other

significant domestic energy sources in the country. Coal power will, thus,
help increase the availability of electricity, particularly in rural areas, which
is an urgent development priority for the country.
Approximately 65% of the installed capacity belongs to thermal, of

which coal fired plants alone forms the major chunk- around 84%. But
today, Indian power sector is marred by a set of diverse problems and
probably the inadequacy of fuel is the most serious concern for the power
market. There is a huge hue and cry over the coal crisis and even Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s office is working on urgent measures to
address the issue
Currently, India requires 690 million tonnes (mt) of coal a year to fire plants,
largely in the infrastructure sectors of power and steel. Domestic production
was originally expected to touch 680 mt by the end of the current Plan
period in March. This was scaled down to 630 mt in the mid-term appraisal
and again to 554 mt at present, creating a 136 mt gap between demand and
supply. Despite its huge resource base, India has not been able to minimize
its coal deficit. Skyrocketing prices of the imported coal has added salt to the
injury.
However, there may be a shortage of coal for power plants but there has
been no shortage of environmental clearances for setting up thermal power
plants in the last five years. The Centre for Science and Environment had
trawled government records to find that in the 11th Plan period, 267 thermal
power plants were granted clearances amounting to 2.1 lakh MW installed
capacity. The capacity granted clearance in the 11th FYP alone is 75,000
MW more than the present installed capacity of all TPPs in the country. This
is about two and a half times the capacity of thermal power plants installed
in the country in the 60 years after Independence. Apart from this, many
projects are at various stages in the environmental clearance cycle, that is,
they are either Awaiting Environmental Clearance, or have Terms of
Reference (TOR) Granted, or are Awaiting TOR. It is extremely rare for a
thermal power plant (TPP) to be denied environmental clearance.
While this may seem as a very serious concern, the actual problem is the
geographical concentration of the upcoming projects. Many of the projects
in pipeline will be geographically concentrated in a few areas. This clearly
indicates that MoEF has granted clearances to way too many TPPs without
considering their cumulative impact on the environment and the local public.
These issue point towards the lack of coordination in the government on
managing supplies of raw material and streaming up the power projects.
With clearances being granted at a rate which is more than six times the
actual installation of thermal power plants as well as using existing
clearances with the coal ministry to push up supplies, the environment
ministry has become an easy outside target to blame. The irony of the
situation is that the shortages faced lay blame partly on the inability of CIL
and its subsidiaries to cater to coal requirements for the massive capacity
addition targets and partly on the environment and forest clearances.
While the currently installed plants are suffering from the critical coal stock,
it is not sure how the upcoming thermal projects would cope up with the
location and resource constraints.

2.1 COAL RESOURCES OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
India has the distinction of being one of the fastest growing economies globally.
This growth has been fuelled with the increasing consumption of resources like
coal, gas, etc. India walks on burning coal. This is not a metaphor. For
practically, every other Indian industry uses the energy of coal to produce power,
steel, bricks, cement etc.
The Indian coal industry is the fourth largest in terms of reserves and third largest
by production in the world. Coal is one of the primary sources of energy,
accounting for about 70 percent of the total energy consumption in the country.
Coal deposits in India occur mostly in thick seams and at hallow depths. Indian
coal has high ash content (15-45%) and low calorific value. Coal India Limited
(CIL) being the apex body along with its 8 subsidiaries, renders around 80 per
cent of domestic coal to various End-users. However with the fast depleting
reserves in the country, coal shortages have been identified as a major issue for
full utilization of the existing capacities of various sectors.
The increasing demand- supply gap in coal supply has become a cause of worry
for stakeholders spanning different industries. To combat the domestic shortage,
coal imports have already seen an increasing trend in the last few years. But with
increased imports, the problem of higher costs arise which affects the earnings
and margins of most stakeholders.
Coalfields in India may be divided into two main categories:
1. Gondwana Coalfields: Strata containing coal extend from Bengal, Jharkhand,

Bihar, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh to Madhya Pradesh.
2. Tertiary Coalfields: Found in Assam and Rajasthan.
1. Gondwana Coalfields
The Gondwana coal is said to be 250 million years old and includes mainly
coking, non coking and bituminous coal.
STATEWISE DISTRIBUTION OF GONDWANA COALFIELDS IN INDIA
 Bihar and Jharkhand
(a) Jharia fields are the most important due to the abundance, high quality and
accessibility. It is situated to the south west of Dhanbad.

(b) Bokaro field lies to the west and produces about a million tonnes of coal.
(c) North and South Karanpura.
(d) Giridih produces good quality coal.
 Orissa
(a)The Talcher Coalfield is one of the oldest coalfields and third most important
after Raniganj and Jharia coalfields. Most of the coal is of low grade and is
suitable for steam and gas production. It supplies coal to Rourkela Steel Plant.
(b) Another important coalfield is the Rampur- Hingir coalfield lying in Sambalpur
and Sundergarh District.
 West Bengal
Raniganj is the most important coalfield in the state and the second largest in the
country. The total coal reserves are about 2691 crore tonnes. The non- coking
coal is mainly used by the railways. Coal is being supplied to Durgapur and
Bandel. Phosphorus in small quantities and is generally free from moisture.
 Madhya Pradesh
The main coalfields are:
(a) Singroli and Suhagpur
(b) Rampur, Tatapani
(c) Sundergarh, Korba
(d) Raigarh
 Andhra Pradesh
Most of the coalmines are located in the Godavari Delta and the largest deposits
are found in Singareni, Adilabad and Karimnagar. Coal is supplied to Thermal
Power Stations at Ramagundam and Nellore.
 Maharashtra
(а) The important coalfields are located at Chandrapur, Ballarpur and Warsova.

(b) There are large amounts of steam and gas coal in Nagpur district. Most of the
coal found here is used by the railways and the Thermal Power Stations at
Kalyan, Trombay, Bhusaval, etc.
2. Tertiary Coalfields
The important areas where tertiary coal is found are: Assam, Meghalaya,
Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal (hilly region) Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil
Nadu.
The coal produced in Namchuk, Namphuk and Makum coalfields is of good semi-
coking coal with a high percentage of phosphorus. Coal is mainly used by the
railways and tea-factories in Assam and West Bengal.
Lignite a brown coal is mined at Neyvelli (Tamil Nadu), Raisi (Kashmir) and
Pallau (South Rajasthan) Statewise Reservation of Coal
Reference: CMPDIL

Reference: CMPDIL

2.2 COAL IRONY
Despite having one of the largest reserves for coal in the world, India is currently
passing through a huge coal crisis now. With many infrastructure related sector
power, steel are immensely reliant on coal as major raw material to feed their
operating units, the shortage of domestic availability is continuously to be met
with imports.
Currently, India requires 690 million tones (mt) of coal a year to fire plants,
largely in the infrastructure sectors of power and steel. Domestic production was
originally expected to touch 680 mt by the end of the current Plan period in
March. This was scaled down to 630 mt in the mid-term appraisal and again to
554 mt at present, creating a 136 mt gap between demand and supply.
The shortages faced are due to the inability of CIL and its subsidiaries to cater to
coal requirements for the massive capacity addition targets. Therefore, to
overcome this issue, the government had allocated captive coal and lignite mines
to the bulk user such as power, cement and other end-use industries.
Interestingly, apart from the slowdown in production from state owned Coal India
(CIL), the private sector accounts for a bulk of the dip in production. Of the 208
captive coal blocks allotted since 1993, with a whopping 49 billion tonnes (bt) of
reserves and a production potential of 657 mt per year (a notch less than India's
annual coal demand), the estimated production is a dismal 37 mt per year from
only 27 captive blocks the private sector has been able to commission so far.
The lack of captive output has led to the government's coal production plan going
completely awry, as projected production from captive blocks had to be brought
down from the initial 104 mt to 81 mt in the mid-term assessment, and again to
56 mt, in line with the overall shortage.
The industries are debatably facing many hurdles in terms of delays in getting
environmental and forest clearances, land acquisition issues, R&R issues to get
started with the activities of a coal block which is in turn attributing to low
production of coal in the country. Low availability of domestic coal is giving rise to
imports in order to meet the increasing demand-supply gap.
Around 250 million tonnes of coal have been planned to be imported by 2016-17.
This has lead to serious implications on the financial viabilities of the various
projects coming up in the country. The question surely arises.
Is INDIA looming towards the sustainable development that we are

boasting about?
Enhancing domestic production is the only way for sustained economic growth.
Having gauged this reality, a strategic re-look towards domestic coal sourcing is
the need of the hour. And while we talk about the strategic re-look towards
domestic coal sourcing, it is necessary to revaluate the actual extractable coal

reserves in the country. Traditionally, India has followed the Indian Standard
Procedure (ISP) Code to assess coal inventory. The ISP Code is based on the
geological evaluation of resources without assessing the quality, mineablility or
extractability of deposits. What is of critical importance is not the total inventory of
coal but how much of that coal is technically feasible to extract and can be
economically mined. If the coal that exists cannot be reached or cannot be
technically or legally mined, then obviously that coal is not available. Similarly, if
coal can be mined, but the cost of mining is such that consumers are not
prepared to pay the corresponding high price, then again the coal should be
considered as ‘not available’. India’s major coal reserves lie in the ‘red’ belt or the
Naxal-affected regions of the country. Power plants fuelled by coal blocks in
these regions face issues like irregular supply.
The coal that can be extracted—taking into account geological, technical, and
economic aspects - is only a small fraction of our total coal inventories, without
taking into account no-go areas where coal mining may not be permitted.
2.3 HIGH FUEL SUPPLY RISK HOVERING OVER TPPS
A coal crunch threatens to trip the power sector with a cascading

impact on the country's growth story. As on 08-July-2012, a report by the
Operation monitoring division of CEA shows that there are as many as 89
existing thermal power projects having either critical* or super critical* stock of
coal. The reasons cited were mostly less receipt, no import, rake diversion or
inadequate coal availability.
This, along with the anticipated growth in the capacities of various other
industries including steel, aluminium and cement that directly or indirectly
(through captive power plants) use thermal coal, is likely to cause a very sharp
growth in domestic coal demand in India over the next five to seven years. As
against the anticipated surge in demand, the bottlenecks on the supply side,
given the structural nature of the issues, are likely to persist in the foreseeable
future, thereby constraining growth in domestic coal production.
Power utilities are increasingly looking at coal imports as an easier

option to ensure coal linkages for their plants. With a large of number of captive
coal blocks stuck in various pre-implementation stages, companies are more
comfortable with their dependence on coal imports. Linkages through imports
have become extremely important for power utilities to ensure timely
commissioning of their planned power capacities. This implies to the increasing
dependence of the power sector players on the imported coal. However the
escalating international coal prices have led to jeopardize the economics of the
power sector.

2.4 ARE CIL MEASURES GOOD ENOUGH TO CURB THE CRISIS ?
NEW COAL DISTRIBUTION POLICY (NCDP)
Many ongoing thermal power projects have been initiated on the assumption
that the required volumes of coal could be available from domestic coal
companies, primarily the CIL group. Since April 2009, CIL has started allocating
coal under a new framework—New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP)—replacing
the earlier system of coal allocation. Under the revised system, CIL has been
issuing LoAs to new customers including TPPs whose projects have been/would
be commissioned after April 2009. The LoA gives an assurance to the TPP on
future supply of coal, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions and the
achievement of certain project milestones by the TPP as specified in the LoA.
Once the conditions and project milestones are met, the LoA holders become
eligible to enter into fuel supply agreements (FSA) with CIL. In addition to the
FSAs applicable to such customers, CIL also enters into memoranda of
understanding (MoUs) with them, and these MoUs form an integral part of the
FSAs.
A careful scrutiny of the NCDP reveals that CIL would commit up to 50% of a
TPP’s Annual Coal Quantity (ACQ) from domestic sources. Any incremental
supply beyond this limit may have to be imported at the TPP’s cost.
EXEMPTION OF POWER FROM THE BIDDING
The government exempted power sector companies from going through the
auction route for the allocation of coal blocks for captive use. However, for users
other than power sector companies, the competitive bidding method would
replace the current practice of allocating blocks for notified captive use on the
basis of recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee. The new system is
expected to induce “transparency and objectivity” in the overall coal block
allocation process.
In the first phase, 54 blocks would be offered to both power and non-power
users, under the new dispensation. Under the new system, while coal blocks
would be allocated to companies in sectors other than power through an
auctioning method, where bids would be invited over a floor price, power sector
companies seeking blocks would be selected on the basis of electricity tariff for
the power plant connected to the block. Power companies will, however, have to
pay the “reserve price” fixed by the central government, according to the 'Auction
by Competitive Bidding of Coal Mines Rules, 2012', notified by the coal ministry.
All proceeds from the process would go to the coffers of the state governments
concerned.

However, the power ministry had recently argued that projects would become
uneconomical if a developer had to go through two rounds of bidding – one for
deciding the tariff for sale of electricity and the other for the allocation of coal
blocks – under the coal block auctioning regime.
2.5 CIL QUANDARY
CIL- A Maharatna company that briefly became India’s most valuable company
by market capitalization in 2011. On paper, this is a company that should be
generating piles of cash. It does currently, but it could only be a matter of time
before it loses that ability.
Coal India is not only India’s but also the world’s largest coal producer. On paper,
everything seems to be favorable for the company. India’s demand for coal is
expected to more than triple in the next two decades on the back of increasing
electricity and industrial output. Coal also accounts for more than half of the
installed power generation capacity in the country.
The furor over whether Coal India Ltd. will meet all domestic demand for coal
misses a bigger problem. While existing power plants face insufficient fuel
supply, the supply and off take uncertainty has caused a whole legion of new
power plant projects to be scrapped. Generation capacity growth may weaken
regardless of whether Coal India can fix the coal supply.
But first, let’s be realistic about Coal India’s ability to meet India’s coal demand.
In the past five years, Coal India coal production increased by a total of 56.4
million tons. Yet it is entering into fuel supply agreements with private sector
electricity producers to supply up to 80% of their coal requirements, versus the
50% it has been offering the past three years.
And more recently, Coal India agreed to pay penalties for failing to provide
sufficient supplies to new power projects that range from 1.5 to 40 percent of a
shortfall, depending on the level of default.
Coal India board agreed to pay a 1.5 percent penalty if its supplies amount to 65
to 80 percent of the contracted volume and 5 percent if they reach 60 to 65
percent. Penalties would rise to 10 percent for 55 to 60 percent, 20 percent for 50
to 55 percent and a maximum of 40 percent for supplies of less than 50 percent
of contracted volumes.
Coal India’s concurrence; places the additional burden of the new supply
obligations for existing plants. And over the next three years, a roughly
equivalent amount of power is slated to come onboard, doubling to the new
production requirements. So undoubtedly Coal India will be forced to import
massively to meet current needs. Importing coal is not a simple thing and would

require tremendous resources for developing the logistical capacity to import.
Coal India will need to demonstrate exceptional flexibility for an Indian public-
sector undertaking to quickly build up a major importing operation. And, from the
quotes of the chairman of the company that “Coal India is a mining company and
not a trading company” the option of coal import is automatically ruled out. The
obvious inefficiencies at Coal India that lead to insufficient coal production have
turned up the volume of observers calling for the company’s domestic monopoly
to be removed. The best solution would be to dramatically ramp up domestic
coal production.
Or else, question surely arises: Is Coal India about to become next Air India?

3.1 THE BLAME GAME
From the previous chapter, it is palpable that India is facing coal shortage and
need urgent measures for overcoming it; traditionally the next step is to start the
blame game. Is it the monopoly of CIL or the hit and miss plans by planning
commission or the flawed policy framework? The answer is none of them. The
sectors pundits have made environment as the scapegoat. The delayed
clearances, the No-Go areas, the nature’s precious heritage are being presented
as the stumbling block for the growth of the nation.
It is said and said that environment is holding up economic growth and India’s
credit rating slipping because of green regulations. There is huge pressure to
dismantle the current environmental regulations. The Chaturvedi Committee (for
the GOM) wants forest clearances for coal mining to go. The Draft Manufacturing
policy wants environmental clearances and regulations to go in manufacturing
zones. Call is to clear projects, dilute procedures because environment “holding
up growth”
So the question surely rises: Are environmental regulations the impediment

for economic growth?
An assertive answer for the above question is not borne out from the statistics, at
least.
So what is it then?
 Is the ministry data wrong?

 Are projects getting stuck at the state/central government level?
 Are companies complaining about environment and forest clearances
purely to get them diluted further?
 Are companies using the environment ministry as an excuse to hold onto
coal reserves for as long as possible?
3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES: THE PROCESS
It will be prudent to know the environmental clearances procedure followed by

the MoEF. The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Government of India,
notified the new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) legislation SO 1533
dated 14th September 2006. In the new EIA notification, the process of screening
and scoping has been made mandatory.
The Schedule in the new EIA Notification provides the List of Projects or
Activities requiring prior Environmental Clearance. All the projects listed in the
notification are categorized into two broad categories, based on the extent of
potential impacts and sensitivity of the candidate sites -

Category A - Appraisal will be done by the Central Level Expert Appraisal
Committee (EAC) and Clearance will be given by MoEF, GoI. EIA is mandatory.
Category B - Appraisal will be done by the State Level Expert Appraisal

Committee (SEAC) and Clearance will be given by State Environmental Impact
Assessment Agency (SEIAA), except in case of special conditions and general
conditions. Sub grouped as Category B1 (EIA necessary) and Category B2 (EIA
not necessary).
The Environmental Clearance (EC) process consist of the following stages -
1. Application for EC - to be made by the Project Proponent (PP) to the

concerned authority with FORM 1 (and FORM 1A with conceptual plan for
construction projects only), Pre-feasibility Report (PFR) and Terms of
Reference (optional) for conducting EIA Study.
2. Screening - to be done by SEAC for Category B projects only, to further
classify as Category B1 and B2. EIA will be necessary if classified as
Category B1.
3. Scoping - Determination of Terms of Reference (ToR) for EIA study for
Category A and Category B1 projects. To be done by EAC (for Category
A) or SEAC (for Category B1).
4. EIA Study - Based on the ToR, the project proponent (PP) will prepare
draft EIA & EMP.
5. Public Consultation - With Draft EIA and EMP public consultation will be
organized. Issues raised will be addressed in final EIA & EMP report.
6. Appraisal - EIA & EMP will be appraised by EAC (for Category A) and
SEAC (for Category B1). For Category B2, EIA is not required; appraisal
will be done by SEAC on the basis of FORM 1 and PFR only.
7. Decision - On the basis of recommendations by EAC / SEAC clearance
will be finally granted or rejected by the MoEF (for Category A) / SEIAA
(for Category B).

3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES: HURRY WITHOUT ANY
WORRY!
While we prefer to lay the blame, it is necessary to have a look on the statistical
data obtained from the MoEF (Courtesy: CSE).
Indian forests are already in the bad shape. There has been an unprecedented
rate of clearance in the last five years. In the last five years 8,284 projects were
granted forest clearance and 2, 03,576 hectare (ha) of forest land was diverted,
which is 25 per cent of all forest land diverted for development projects since
1981. It means that the pace of clearance is almost doubled. In one single year –
2009 – as much as 87,884 ha of forest was granted clearances – highest in any
one year since 1981. (Reference: MoEF & CSE reports)
MINING CLEARANCES
181 coal mines given environment clearance; the combined production capacity
is at least 583 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). In 2010, India produced about
537 million tones coal. So, during last five years, MoEF has granted EC to double
the coal production capacity in the country. Still there is ruckus about the
clearances for the under development of the captive bocks by the private sectors.
.
THERMAL PLANTS CLEARANCES
267 thermal power plants adding up to 2.1 lakh MW capacity granted

environment clearances. 200 coal-based thermal power plants adding up to 1.76
lakh MW installed capacity granted environmental clearance. Current coal-based
power plant capacity is 1,16,333 MW. It is extremely rare for a thermal power
plant (TPP) to have its environmental clearance rejected. The rejection rate is as

low as 1 %. This also includes the rejection of the procedural error like
incomplete submission of the form.( Reference: MoEF & CSE)
During the 10th FYP about 12,114 MW capacity TPPs were installed. So far,
during the 11th FYP, only 32,394 MW capacity TPPs have been installed. The
annual average installation of TPPs during 11th FYP is, therefore, just about
7,500 MW. However, on an average every year during the 11th FYP, about
45,000 MW capacity TPPs were granted clearances. So, clearances are being
granted at a rate which is more than six times the actual installation.
Obviously, the number of projects already cleared was more than the required
capacity. Question surely arises: Why are projects that have been already
cleared not being implemented first before more clearances can be given?
Here the situation is a paradoxical – Evidently, environment clearance is no

impediment to the setting up of thermal power plants in the country. In fact,
MoEF has granted clearances to way too many TPPs without considering their
cumulative impact on the environment and people. Neither there is a coordination
of clearances with the target capacity addition nor there is the assessment of why
so much of the cleared capacity is awaiting commissioning.
Do we require the growth at any cost or the sustainable growth? After all true
Sustainable development is the pattern of economic growth in which resources
aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these
needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come.

Previous chapters have unveiled that currently India is facing huge fuel shortage
but there is no dearth of the clearances provided by the MoEF to the upcoming
thermal plants.
4.1 ANOMALY IN FIGURES

With the Electricity Act 2003 delicensing thermal power generation, this sector is
no longer within the scope of any systematic planning process. Evidence of this
is available in the number of memoranda of understanding (MOU) that state
governments have signed with private companies and in the number of new
applications the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) gets every month
for environmental clearance.
In the past, the CEA, as the body responsible for planning and monitoring power
generation in the country, would have provided the figures. With the private
sector playing an increasing role in new generation capacity, the CEA has
become cagey about figures. It is, however, possible to obtain estimates from a
different source, the MoEF. But that too is limited to the plants having capacity of
more than 500 MW. While Thermal power plants (TPPs) based on coal of more
than 500 MW capacity, and under some other conditions, require prior
environmental clearance (EC) from the central MoEF as per the MoEF
Notification, the plants having capacity less than 500 MW require no prior EC.
And it becomes mystifying about the actual figures.
Though, if we take up projects that are at various stages in the environmental

clearance cycle, that is, they are either Awaiting Environmental Clearance, or
have Terms of Reference (TOR) Granted, or are Awaiting TOR, it will lead to
humongous figures. According to a report*, about 701,820 MW of thermal plants
are waiting to be built in the coming years. The figure surely is scary and more so
when the nation is flaunting support for the climatic concerns by introducing
NAPCC and is surely not serving the purpose of preserving the environment.
While everyone is proclaiming the country to move from being largely a fossil fuel
driven energy economy, to one that is powered by energy from clean and
renewable energy forms. This is not actually happening in reality. Current
electricity policy has turned thermal power generation into a lucrative proposition.
Thermal power plants are the flavor of the day.
4.2 LIBERAL POLICY
What can explain this tremendous interest in thermal power generation that, on
the face of it, looks to be leading to a situation of over-capacity?

Private investors are clearly happy with the policy environment, which does away
with licensing and allows flexible selling arrangements and the realization of
market-determined prices. In the name of attracting investments, state
governments are vying with one another to offer the most favorable conditions for
companies to set up power plants. Their help is not limited to acquiring land and
meeting the water requirements, but also extends to managing the public
hearing, facilitating clearances from state and local bodies and pushing the case
of the company with the central authorities for coal linkages and other
clearances.
In return, the state governments require the power producer to sell them a
portion (that may vary from state to state) of the electricity generated. The
prevailing policy environment has led to an explosion of interest in thermal power
generation in recent years The list of companies planning or building thermal
power plants is not limited to large business houses but also includes a number
of unknown entrepreneurs with no experience of any large industrial enterprise,
let alone power generation. Private investors clearly sense a great opportunity
here.
4.3 CONCERN FOR CONCERTRATION

However, the serious concern lies beneath the statistical stacks of the upcoming
thermal plants. If we closely follow the locational aspects of the upcoming plants
it is inferred that apart from the sheer volume of TPPs being built up, it is the
geographical concentration of these plants that is the real cause of worry.
While many of these planned plants may not deliver on the promise of power
because of non-availability of domestic coal, they are already leaving their imprint
on the ground.
A majority of the plants are coming up in clusters in a few coal mining states of
the Gondwana belt. The thermal capacity addition underway across India is
unevenly distributed. The top six coal-mining states – Jharkhand, Orissa,
Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Andhra Pradesh (AP) –
account for close to half of the capacity addition. Thermal plants take a minimum
of five years from the start of construction to get their first units operational and
two to three years more to get additional units on stream. In the normal course,
this approved capacity should become available for electricity generation
between 2011 and 2019. The thermal generation capacity expansion underway
works out to 1.3 times the current total generation capacity in the country.
How much power India need? Obviously, there is significant demand supply gap
in the electricity and with the vision of ‘Electricity by all’, we surely need additional
installation. But with majority of these clusters being built in the power surplus
areas, the question surely arise: Is it in compliance with the vision of
‘Electricity for all’?

The answer is straight no since generation capacity is coming up in dense
clusters in certain chosen locations to minimize the running costs. Majority of
plants are being set at pit head blocks as it is always easy to transmit electricity
than to transport the coal. It is unlikely that coal mining and thermal power plants
will be able to play useful roles in addressing the development deficit of the
region and use local resources for local development; on the contrary, they are
likely to end up aggravating the already serious impacts.
“We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap”.
Several states - Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh among them - are
building thermal power capacity far in excess of their foreseeable needs. The
upcoming plants are like wolf a Sheep's Clothing for the local community. The
effects of such a deadly concentration of coal-based thermal power plants are
likely to prove devastating to the communities in the midst of whom they are
coming up. The loss of farming land and commons will be felt first.
Once the plants become operational, the surrounding communities will face
threats to their health and, where there is agriculture, to their livelihood. Thermal
power plants using coal are extremely polluting: environmental damage arises
from the transport of coal to the plants, the emissions from the smoke stack, the
storage and disposal of the ash from the burning of coal, the continuous with-
drawal of large quantities of water for cooling and the disposal of wastewater and
effluents. Indian coal has high ash content and a practical solution is yet to be
found for its safe disposal.
On one side, areas where such power plants and mines already exist face
severe problems of pollution, displacement, drying up of ground and surface
water sources, diversion of water from irrigation and drinking water needs,
increase in health problems, fall in agriculture production and productivity and
impacts on livestock. On the other hand, and ironically, the region continues to
face power cuts and lower levels of household electrification and electricity
consumption in comparison to several other parts of the state. This includes
consumption in household and agriculture sectors. A feeling exists in the region
that “our resources” are being used for development of the other areas of the
state, while “we lag behind and are left to bear the burden of all the negative
impacts”. This has raised serious questions on the contribution that the proposed
thermal power plants can make.
 Will these plants usher in all round development in these regions?

 Do these plants represent the best use of local resources?
 Are they the optimum developmental intervention?
 Can they play a useful role in addressing regional imbalance, and under
what conditions?

Given the drastic negative fallout from coal-based thermal power plants for the
health and livelihood of communities where the plants will be located, one would
expect government to intervene on behalf of these communities. These clusters
are, however, coming up with the full support of the state governments. The
central government’s efforts to regulate the location of power plants are limited to
ensuring that the rules and procedures laid down for obtaining environmental
clearance are followed. It has refrained from taking any decisive action to stop
clustering of thermal plants.
4.4 DESTROYING THE DISTRICTS
If we move further for a district wise analysis of the upcoming plants, the
condition even worsens. Just 30 districts (only 4.7% of the total 626 districts in
India) will have more than half of the proposed plants. And many of these
districts are adjacent to each other.
CEPI
In 2009, the MoEF undertook an assessment of selected industrial clusters to

identify the level of pollution in these clusters. This was done using a composite
index measuring land, water and air pollution called the Comprehensive
Environmental Pollution Index or CEPI.
The framework of the CEPI is based on three factors—pollutant, pathway, and

receptor. The present CEPI is intended to act as an early warning tool, which is
easy and quick to use. It can help in categorizing the industrial clusters/ areas in
terms of priority of needing attention.
The analysis shows that there are 43 industrial areas/clusters out of the 88 are
found to be critically polluted, with respect to one or more environmental
component. It is suggested that areas having aggregated CEPI scores of 70 and
above should be considered as critically polluted industrial clusters/ areas,
whereas the areas having CEPI between 60-70 should be considered as
severely polluted areas and shall be kept under surveillance and pollution control
measures should be efficiently implemented, whereas, the critically polluted
industrial clusters/ areas need further detailed investigations in terms of the
extent of damage and an formulation of appropriate remedial action plan.
An important facet of the proposed thermal power plants is that many of them are
located either within such Critically Polluted Industrial Clusters or in the vicinity of
such clusters, in the same districts. This is likely to aggravate the situation in
these areas.

Based on the number of upcoming thermal power plants, I have selected the
following areas for the purpose of my study: Champa-Janjgir, Angul-Dhenkanal,
Korba-Raigarh, Vidarbha, Nellore and Kutch. Out of which Korba, Chandarpur
(Vidarbha), Singrauli and Angul are already in list of critically polluted areas and
to make the matter worse, all of the four are among the unlikely list top 10
critically polluted districts of India.

Overall Rank Plants Cluster AIR WATER LAND CEPI
4 Chandarpur 70.75 67.50 66.50 83.88
5 Korba 67.00 57.00 72.50 83.00
7 Angul 64.00 69.00 65.75 82.09
9 Singrauli 70.50 64.00 59.50 81.73
Reference: CEPI
And with the unprecedented rush towards the capacity addition, it won’t be much
long before Champa-Janjgir and Nellore too join the leader boards.
4.4.1 CHAMPA-JANJGIR
State: Chhattisgarh
River Basin: Hasdeo, a tributary of Mahanadi River.
Major Coal Field: SECL
Current Status: Emerging as one of the major hub for power and steel industry
Some of the major upcoming thermal plants in the district are
Promoter Capacity Location State

Arasmeta CPP 43 Gopaln Chhattisgarh
Athena Power 1,200 agar
Singhit Chhattisgarh
BEC Power 500 arai
Sapos Chhattisgarh
CSEB 1,000 Marwa Chhattisgarh
DB Power 1,320 Tundri Chhattisgarh
Essar Power 1,200 Dabra Chhattisgarh
Ind-Barath Energy 600 Bodasa Chhattisgarh
Ispat Industries 1,200 gar
Dhardei Chhattisgarh
Prakash Industries 1,050 Kusmu Chhattisgarh
Sona Power 600 nda
Mudpar Chhattisgarh
Videocon Industries 1,320 Gaud Chhattisgarh
Wardha Power 3,600 Akaltar Chhattisgarh
Suryachakra Power 600 a
Sapos Chhattisgarh
Co. India limited
ACB 1200 Champ Chhattisgarh
Karnataka Power 2140 a
Godhn Chhattisgarh
Corporation
Facor Power 600 a,
Champ Chhattisgarh
Moser Baer & PTC 150 Champ
a
Champ Chhattisgarh
a
a
DCM Shriram 600 Champ Chhattisgarh
Consolidated a
Champa-Janjgir, a once peaceful district with 80 percent irrigated land, has now
become a hotspot for setting up new industries. The state government has
signed around 34 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for thermal power plants
slated to produce around 34,000 MW— almost one fourth of India’s current
thermal power production and enough to feed all of north or south India.

Chhattisgarh, with a population of 2.5 crore people, currently produces around
5,000 MW, consuming not more than 3,000 MW.
Champa-Janjgir does not have any coal and mineral reserves but became the
new focus when neighboring Korba, known as one of the most industrialized and
mineral- rich districts of India, was ranked as the fifth most polluted in the list of
Critically Polluted Areas in the country in 2009. This led to a moratorium being
imposed there by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on any further
environment clearances being granted in that region.
With good rail and road connectivity to coal-rich Odisha and Jharkhand,
Champa-Janjgir is the least forested district in the state and was traditionally
known for silk, brass and gold. It has now been bombarded with more than 100
new offers by various business houses. An estimated 40,000 acres, equal to half
the area of capital city Raipur, is being acquired for thermal power plants alone.
People who first sold the land to power companies at very low prices felt cheated
later.
4.4.2 ANGUL-DHENKANAL
State: Odisha
River Basin: Mahanadi, Brahmani
Major Coal Field: Mahanadi CoalFields
Current Status: Critically polluted.

NTPC 500 Talcher,Angul Orissa
Monnet & Ispat Industries 1005 Malibrahmani,Angul Orissa
Essar Power 2000 Paranga,Angul Orissa
Jindal Power 1000 Pirhasai,Angul Orissa
Jindal India Thermal Power 1320 Dereng,Angul Orissa
GMR energy 1050 Kamalganga,Dhenk Orissa
CESC Limited 1000 ana
Neulpoi,Dhenkanal Orissa
Lanco Group 2640 Khurunti,Dhenkanal Orissa
Bhushan Energy 300 Mermandali,Dhenk Orissa
NTPC 3200 anal
Kundanalli,Dhenka Orissa
Navabharat Power Private 2240 nal
MermandaliDhenka Orissa
Limited Rungta
Mangilal 60 nal
Tulsidiha,Dhenkana Orissa
Lanco Group 1320 lBabandh,Dhenkan Orissa
al

The districts of Angul, Talcher, Jhasuguda and others in Orissa are rich in
natural resources - water, forests, fertile soil, and minerals. As a result, this
region has seen high levels of industrial activity including coal mines, thermal
power plants, aluminum smelting, iron and steel, sponge iron and others.
Not surprisingly, the region has also emerged as one of the most polluted areas
in the country. (Only a part of these districts has been designated as Critically
Polluted Area, but other parts also bear the impacts of the pollution.)
Black dust from sponge iron plants, discharge of contaminated waste water
from industrial plants and run-off from stock-piles of coal, minerals, solid waste
to local water bodies like nallahs and rivers, coal ash dispersal due to wind,
escape of ash slurry from ash ponds, leaching of contaminants to groundwater
are some of the serious facets of pollution.
But pollution is not the only problem. Use of increasing amounts of land for coal
ash and solid waste disposal, depletion of ground water due to mining activities
and direct diversion of water for industrial purposes, increase in local
temperatures due to the industries like thermal plants, are the other impacts in
the area, all leading to severe health problems and destruction of livelihoods
like agriculture and fisheries.
However, the woes being faced by the people of these districts are likely to be
dwarfed by what lies in the future. Even as the area grapples with the problems
of pollution, depletion of water resources and displacement, the Government of
Orissa has planned a massive industrial expansion that will increase the
industrial activity in the area manifold from what it is now. This can be seen as
the continuation of the industrial expansion drive of the Orissa Government,
which has been marked by the handing over of valuable natural resources of the
state to mainly private corporate houses, large scale displacement and intense
protests.
Some of the biggest growth in these districts will come in the numbers and
capacities of thermal power plants. Currently, the installed thermal power
generation capacity in the state of Orissa, most of it coal based, is close to 7500
MW. Now, capacity addition to the tune of 75000 MW is at various stages of
planning. Out of this, about 40000 - 45000 MW is just in the few districts of
Angul, Jharsuguda, Dhenkenal and Sundargadh. The impacts of this expansion
and creation of a concentration or a cluster of thermal power plants are likely to
be huge.
Large areas of land will be taken up for the plants, related coal mines as well as
for the ash disposal. Air, water and land pollution will increase tremendously.
One of the major problems is the impact of the ash generated. Burning of coal
generates large quantities of ash with about 40 tons of ash generated for every
100 tons of coal burnt. Though the ash is disposed off into ash ponds by

converting it into slurry and piping it to the pond, it still causes many problems to
the neighboring villages. In year 2000, the ash pond had breached, spreading the
ash slurry all over the area. One can only imagine what will happen when the ash
generation goes up eight-fold from the current levels, when the large number of
power plants being planned here comes online.
Moreover, today, the monitoring and regulation of pollution is being done mostly
in a bureaucratic manner. This has to change to include the local communities
and giving them a decisive voice in monitoring and regulating pollution and its
impacts. Lastly, the issue of diversion of water to industries with its impacts on
agricultural, fisheries and other livelihoods has to be addressed with the central
role for the farmers, fisher people and others whose livelihoods depend on water.
Unless the rush is not haulted, Orissa is headed for another round of severe
unrest and protests similar to those that have been faced by the earlier round of
industrialization in Posco, Kalinganagar, Niyamgiri and others places
4.4.3 SINGRAULI
State: Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

River Basin: Rihand
Major Coal Field: SCCL
Current Status: Critically Polluted.

AryanCoal 1200 Bhumka Madhya Pradesh
Benefication
Chitrangi Power 5940 Chitrangi Madhya Pradesh
Essar Power 2000 Singraulli Madhya Pradesh
Jaiprakash 1000 Nigri Madhya Pradesh
Associates
NTPC 1000 Waidhan Madhya Pradesh
Reliance Power 3960 Sasan Madhya Pradesh
NTPC 1000 Rihand Uttar Pradesh
Hindalco Industries 1320 Singraulli Madhya Pradesh
Living in Hell is a metaphor. Not in the small dusty coal town of Singrauli, India.
The Singrauli region, India's energy capital, spreads across Uttar Pradesh
(Sonebhadra district) and Madhya Pradesh (Sidhi and Singrauli districts). The
connection between coal and thermal power is stronger here than anywhere else
in India. With its vast supply of coal, it was a natural home to many thermal
power plants. Initially, it was the Government that eyed the potential of this region
to drive the nation's economy. The arrival of private companies later expanded
the industrial activity. Today, there are several thermal power plants and coal
mines under construction in the region, and areas have been demarcated for
more. Name any of the big energy players in the country, and you'll find them in
the Singrauli region: Reliance, Hindalco, Essar, Jaypee, Dainik Bhaskar Power,
as well as many Special Purpose Vehicles set up as part of public-private
partnerships.
Close study of the Singrauli region over the last several decades has shown
acute pollution, unemployment and displacement-related problems to be
sustained. Many village panchayats, such as Kuldumri (Anpara - Sonebhadra
district in the state of Uttar Pradesh), Chilika Dand (Shaktinagar in the state of
Uttar Pradesh), have been twice or three times displaced since the region began
to be tapped for its industrial and energy potential. The people displaced have
since lived in plots as small as thirty by fifty feet that they received in the form of
compensation. This compensatory land cannot be sold, and access to
employment diminishes with the area’s forests and agricultural lands.
In January 2010, Singrauli was one of the areas where the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MoEF) imposed a temporary moratorium on mining,
whereby no new projects would be considered for environmental clearance, a
requirement prescribed by the Environment Impact Assessment Notification of
2006. The moratorium was the result of the region being one of the areas
identified as critically polluted by the Central Pollution Control Board and Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in the Comprehensive Environmental
Assessment of Industrial Clusters prepared for the MoEF. Singrauli had a Critical
Environment Pollution Index of 81.73, making it a critically polluted area as per
the parameters of the report.
Yet, the moratorium on further environmental clearances in Singrauli was lifted in

July 2011, based on assurance from central and state pollution control boards
that they had initiated the preparation of action plans to tackle pollution and
improve the environment in the area. Therefore, all pending approvals for
environmental and forest clearance (the latter required under the Forest
(Conservation) Act of 1980) could now be processed by the MoEF with
conditional cautions and safeguards.
Singrauli's future is etched with the ambitions of several private and public sector
mining and thermal power operations, some of which are already under
construction or negotiation. Many have got their coal block allotments and their
environment/forest clearances are underway. Large tracts of agricultural lands,
common lands and forest are being taken over for an industrial expansion on a
massive scale; the instances of direct and indirect displacement are only on the
rise in the area. This rapid land take-over for both mining and setting
up ultra or super thermal power plants will only worsen Singrauli's history of
unresolved issues of pollution, forest loss and displacement and health problems.
With older issues still screaming for attention, the coming days in Singrauli are
going to throw many uncomfortable realities in the face of India's energy push.

4.4.4 NELLORE
State: Andhra Pradesh

River Basin: Sea water
Major Coal Field: Imported Coal
Current Status: Adverse Impacts on marine life and local

Vikas Power 540 Krishnapatnam, Andhra
Coastal Andhra 4000 Nellore
Krishnapatnam, Pradesh
Andhra
Power
APGENCO 1600 Nellore
Krishnapatnam, Pradesh
Andhra
Thermal Powertech 1980 Nellore
Painapuram, Nellore PradeshAndhra
Co.
Nelcast energy Co. 1320 Painapuram, Nellore PradeshAndhra
Kineta Power 1980 Thamminipuram, Pradesh
Andhra
Meenakshi Power 300 Nellore
Thamminipuram, Pradesh
Andhra
Simhapuri Power 540 Nellore
Thamminipuram, Pradesh
Andhra
Nellore Pradesh
The concentration of power plants in Nellore is likely to become a cause of
concern. The manner in which all the thermal power plants were being
concentrated in the district and the doom it would bring to the fauna and flora and
the adverse impact they would have on the health of the people is appalling.
Alarming situation is that more than two dozen coal-based thermal power
projects with an installed capacity of over 24,000 mw are coming up in the same
place, which is the main cause of worry for the people in the district. The
government says that the Centre has accorded environmental clearance to only
14 projects to produce 14,460 mw.
Nellore has a coastline of 175 km and one lakh fishermen are depending on the
sea. These new plants require 4 lakh tonnes of coal and produce one lakh
tonnes of ash every day which will be dumped into the sea or dispersed over
mainland This will kill the marine wealth in the sea and fertile lands in Nellore
district will turn barren due to pollution. The thermal plants are expected to
generate only 25,000 direct and an equal number of indirect jobs would be
generated by these plants but its pollution will impact 25 lakh people in the
district who will have to suffer due to the air and water pollution and health
hazards.
It is true that the independent power producers are clamoring to establish their
units in places which have close proximity to Krishnapatnam port because
transportation of imported coal would become easy for them and they can cut the
cost on power generation. But they are unable to look beyond that or are
deliberately ignoring the damage it could cause to the people.

4.4.5 KUTCH
State: Gujarat
River Basin: Sea water
Major Coal Field: Imported Coal
Current Status: Critically Polluted

Sanghi Industries 1200 Sanghipuram Gujarat
Kutch Power Generation 3300 Bhadreshwar Gujarat
Adani Mundra 4620 Mundra Gujarat
Adani Power 660 Tunda Gujarat
Gallant Power 12 Samakhiyali Gujarat
Varsana Energy 36 Varsana Gujarat
Infrastructure
Welspun Corp Limited 123 Varasmedi Gujarat
Kutch is the Largest District in India with a total area of 45652 sq km. Out of this,
the Rann of Kutch or salt desert occupies nearly 30,000 sq km or nearly 2/3rd of
the area.
Gulf of Kutch is one of the few coastal zones in the world having rich bio-
diversity. It comprises of mangroves, Coral reefs, Mudflats, Seaweeds,
Commercial Fishes and several rare marine species. The mangroves of the gulf
are the second largest after the Sunderbans in the mainland of India. Thus, the
Mundra coast is an ecologically sensitive zone as it supports vast areas of
Mangroves, Corals and associated ecosystems.
Destruction of any of the above components of the fragile ecology will disrupt the
entire ecosystem. The mangroves help the ecosystem by contributing to the
oxygen Budget and in Soil Conservation. Mangroves and Corals are the nursing
grounds for a variety of economically important fishes, exotic coral fishes and
innumerable flora and fauna. The gulf also abounds in more than 210 species of
algae. These algae in combination with corals and mangroves provide conducive
ecosystem for diverse flora and fauna. Only the Emergence of the thermal plants
has already caused a large scale Destruction of Mangroves.
The impact of pollutants on the field is clearly visible. The main pollutant is coal
dust and fly ash. There are sprinklers in the power plant to prevent the dust from
being blown by wind, but the sprinklers are rarely used and dust keeps flying out
of the power plant and settles on the nearby fields. Productivity has been badly
affected. Fish catch has also declined considerably thanks to the effluents
released by the power plant.

4.4.6 VIDARBHA REGION
State: Maharashtra
River Basin: Purna and Kanhan, tributaries of Godavari
Major Coal Field: Western Coal Limited (WCL)
Current Status: Chandarpur is already critically polluted (ranked 4th)

Adani Power 1320 Tiroda Maharashtra
Aryan Coal Benefaction 60 Pandarpaun Maharashtra
Dhariwal Infrastructure 600 Tadali Maharashtra
EMCO energy 270 Warora Maharashtra
Gupta Coalfield and 120 Ghuguss Maharashtra
Wwasheries
Ideal energy project 270 Bela Maharashtra
Lenexis Energy 1320 Khursapar Maharashtra
MAHAGENCO 1000 Chandrapur Maharashtra
Maharashtra Airport n100 Hingna Maharashtra
developme
Mantri Power limited 540 Bela Maharashtra
NTPC 1000 Mauda Maharashtra
Sophia Power Co. 2640 Amravati Maharashtra
Suryalakshmi cotton mills 25 Ramtek Maharashtra
Vidharba Industries Power 300 Butibori Maharashtra
Wardha Power Co. 270 Warora Maharashtra
Jinbhuvish Power 540 Yavatmal Maharashtra
Generation
RPL Urja 10 Yavatmal Maharashtra
Vidarbha, consisting of the Nagpur and Amravati Divisions of the state, is its
eastern most part. It consists of 11 districts, contains 32% of the state’s
geographical area and has 20% of the state population. Vidarbha has significant
coal deposits and good water resources in many areas. Thus, coal based
thermal power plants appear to be a good developmental option for the area.
Indeed, there is already significant coal based electricity generation capacity in
Vidarbha, totaling to 5,260 MW.
There is in general lot of resentment, skepticism and even opposition to plans for
building new thermal power plants and expanding the coal mining in Vidarbha.
Part of this is based on the region’s experience with the existing thermal power
plants and coal mines. Massive expansion of the thermal capacity is on the cards
now. Vidarbha area has already proposed capacity addition of 41,195 MW and it
is worth mentioning that the Chandarpur district is leading the ‘critically polluted
district’ list published by MoEF. Chanadarpur has the CEPI score of 83.88 and is
ranked 4th in the list.

The district-wise break up for proposed capacity addition in Vidarbha is given
District Proposed
Capacity
Addition (MW)
Nagpur 10,350
Chandrapur 8,155
Gondia 5,940
Bhandara 5,280
Yavatmal 4,450
Amravati 3,450
Gadchiroli 1,990
Wardha 1,330
Akola 250
Total 41,195
(Reference: Prayas report paper on regional imbalance)
The study, commissioned by Greenpeace, by the Indian Institute of Technology

(IIT), assessing the impact of coal power plants in the Wardha river basin found
that large clusters of coal-fired power plants proposed in Maharashtra's Vidarbha
- known for farmers' suicides - may bring down the future availability of water in
the Wardha River and affect irrigation of farmland in the region.

The proposed generation units will adversely impact the farming community due
to huge water consumption from existing water bodies. Thermal power plants can
lead to serious pollution of water resources. One of the main concerns is the
leakage of ash slurry to water sources either due to overflow or breach of ash
ponds, and seepage and leaching of heavy metals and other contaminants from
ash into the groundwater.
One of the most serious impacts on water resources was the drying up of ground
water sources like wells and tube wells in the vicinity of coal mines. The digging
to very low levels for extraction of disrupts groundwater aquifers and
groundwater flows, and as a result, wells and tube wells in an area of 4-5 km
radius have either totally dried up or dry up soon after the monsoon. Villages are
now facing difficulty in even meeting daily water needs while agriculture is also
severely impacted.
4.4.7 KORBA-RAIGARH
State: Chhattisgarh
River Basin: Hasdeo, a tributary of Mahanadi
Major Coal Field: South Eastern Coal Limited (SECL)
Current Status: Critically Polluted (Ranked 5th)

Korba West Power 600 Korba Chhattisgarh
Jain Energy 1200 Korba Chhattisgarh
Spectrum Coal & Power 50 Korba Chhattisgarh
Vandana Energy 70 Korba Chhattisgarh
Vandana Vidhyut Ltd 540 Korba Chhattisgarh
Patni Power Projects 540 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
NTPC 4000 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
Green Infrastructure 1200 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
Mahavir Global Coal 540 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
SKS Ispat 1200 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
Visa Power 1200 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
Jindal India Thermal Power 1320 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
SV Power 300 Korba Chhattisgarh
KSK Narmada Power 1800 Morga, Korba Chhattisgarh
ACB India limited 270 Chakabura Chhattisgarh
ACB India limited 50 Ratija, Korba Chhattisgarh
ACB India limited 600 Raigarh Chhattisgarh
Maruti Clean Coal and Power 300 Pali, Korba Chhattisgarh
Adhunik Power and Natural
Resources 1320 Champa Chhattisgarh
Gare Pelam,
Lanco group 3000 Raigarh Chhattisgarh

Korba is located at 82° 42' 30" E longitude and 22° 21' N latitude in the eastern
part of Chhattisgarh. It is on the left bank of the Hasdeo River which is a major
tributary of Mahanadi River. Ahiran is another river in the area that joins Hasdeo
River. Coal is the major natural resource available in this region. Major power
generating units of the state have come up in Korba owing to huge reserves of
coal. Korba is popularly known as power hub of India. With a CEPI index 83,
Korba is placed at 05 in the list of critically polluted industrial areas.
Raigarh is also heading towards the same fate. The district has 53 large and 37
small industrial plants at present. Present coal based thermal power capacity is
1,420 MW while the planned power capacity is over 20,000 MW Fourteen power
plants are in the pipeline stage.
(Reference: CSE report on Chhattisgarh: Industrial jungle)

5.1 IMPLICATIONS
The above chapters have made it quite clear that the capacity addition proposed
in the thermal sector is effectively disconnected from the needs and objectives of
the power sector and any sort of planning. Apart from the obvious issues of
excess capacity, it is impossible to optimize transmission planning or even match
demand-supply locations with such a flawed process of capacity addition.
Ever since the licensing requirement for thermal power projects was done away
with, it has been assumed that the setting up and operation of TPPs will be
governed by market forces, which are said to be a more efficient way to plan and
allocate scarce resources. Thus, one could assume that the market would weed
out inefficient and unnecessary capacities. Excess capacity will imply less
demand, and hence an absence of market off-take. This will lead banks and
other lenders to refrain from lending to these projects. Thus, several projects may
not achieve financial closure, and will not take off. Other projects may fall aside
due to a lack of demand.
However, this reasoning ignores the fact that the thermal power sector is not
governed only by the market. In particular, key inputs like coal, gas, land and
water comes under the non market inputs. These inputs involve critical common
property resources like rivers, lakes, forests, agricultural land, gas, and minerals
like coal, and have significant externalities in the form of displacement of
communities, ecological disruption, and destruction of bio-diversity. Thus,
because they involve the allocation of these resources, decisions to establish
thermal power plants come at huge costs to the nation, both in terms of direct
financial, social and environmental costs, and indirect opportunity costs.
Despite the plentiful coal resources of the country are, such a massive expansion
raises questions about the adequacy of the fuel supply for these TPPs. Coal
requirements for individual plants are not available for all the proposed TPPs, but
we can use a thumb rule to estimate the level of coal resources that may be
needed. Based on the data in the MoEF lists, we estimate that around 416,000
MW of capacity based on Indian coal is in the pipeline. Another 144,000 MW
capacity is to be based on imported coal. Assuming a coal requirement of 4,800
tons of coal per MW per year for plants based on Indian coal, we estimate that
close to 2000 million tons (2 billion tons) of coal will be needed every year for
these plants. Another 440 million tons will have to be imported. This is in addition
to coal being used for existing coal power plants.
Despite our plentiful coal reserves, the forecasts for actually achieving the
required domestic production and being able to use these reserves to meet
domestic demands are pessimistic.
(Reference: Prayas Paper report on Thermal plant anvil)

5.2 WHAT CAN BE DONE
The present system is not working. Forest clearances are being granted at an
unprecedented rate without considering the impact of forest diversion on forests,
wildlife, water and the community. No impact assessment reports are prepared.
No system in place to check the veracity of information based on which forest
clearances are granted. There should be a complete stop to this process until a
transparent and effective system is put into place.
In all cases – coal, iron ore, bauxite, limestone, thermal power projects, steel,
and cement – where clearances exceed targets there should be a moratorium on
further clearances. In the case of thermal power and coal projects, there should
be an assessment of why so much of the cleared capacity is awaiting
commissioning.
MoEF must use this moratorium period to strengthen and improve regulatory
procedures. MoEF must deepen the process of public assessment and scrutiny
of all projects. This can be done by greatly strengthening the public hearing
process. All filming made available on a real-time basis through streaming on the
Internet. MoEF must revise its Environmental Impact Assessment Notification to
stipulate that it will only clear projects after considering the cumulative impact.
The cumulative impact assessment is imperative for the ongoing industrialization.
MoEF must strengthen, not dismantle, the Comprehensive Environmental

Pollution Index (CEPI), which allows it to scrutinize projects based on cumulative
impact. MoEF must strengthen its monitoring procedures so that affected people
can scrutinize the compliance with conditions.

6. CONCLUSION
India faces a potential energy crisis and the blame rests largely with its
overdependence on coal. India’s coal reserves which have shaped its energy
policies have been grossly overestimated. This compromises India’s argument
for depending on indigenous coal for energy security reasons. But worse than the
imminent shortage of domestic coal, are the severe social and environmental
impacts inherent to India’s coal sector are the mounting problem of climate
change.
The economic, environmental, social and political realities of 21st century India
are obviously much changed from the period following post-independence, when
coal was considered an ideal energy resource. But coal is no longer a suitable
fuel of choice for India, and is now seriously compromising the country’s energy
security and the health of its communities and natural environments. There are
huge environmental and social costs attached to coal use in India but the current
market price of coal does not reflect the value of ecological and social resources
implicit to the exploitation and use of coal. Tragically, such costs often wind up
being “paid” by those communities subject to coal generated pollution, in the form
of degraded natural resources, loss of livelihood, displacement, and a myriad of
health problems.
May be the blackout of July was a symbolic metaphor for the nation’s political,
economic and infrastructural failure. Surely, it is the high time to rethink India’s
future policies which else would pave way towards a ‘coalish’ tomorrow for the
coming generations, dark and dusty. May be it is the time to look beyond short
term profits and perceive the imminent losses of this unprecedented rush.
"The superior man seeks what is right; the inferior one, what is
profitable."— Confucius

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Minister of Power
 Minister of Coal
 MoEF
 CSE report: ‘Chhattisgarh- Industrial Jungle’
 Reports from Prayas, Greenpeace, Sierra club, Down2earth, and Beyond
Coal
 CPCB report for CEPI
 CEA
 ‘New thermal plants cluster’ by Kannan Kasturi
 Respective project promoters’ websites
 Various news articles from Business Standard, Economic times, The
Hindu and Business line
 Metis report on Coal block
 Planning commission report- ‘Energy statistics India-2012’
 RTC on ‘Way forward to Coal’
 ‘Impact of coal fired power plants on Western Ghats’- a comprehensive
study by IISc
 National Electricity Plan

Location and Resource Implication of Upcoming Coal Fired Power Plant

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WORLD INSTITUTE OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY,

LOCATION AND RESOURCE

National Power Training Institute Page 2

I express my gratitude to my college authority and Mr. S.K Choudhary,

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World Institute of Sustainable(WISE) energy has been registered as a not for

 To be a premier outreach centre for communications, information and

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Table 1 Source MOP

As it appears from the table, Coal-based generation appears likely to remain

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Approximately 65% of the installed capacity belongs to thermal, of

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Coalfields in India may be divided into two main categories:

1. Gondwana Coalfields: Strata containing coal extend from Bengal, Jharkhand,

2. Tertiary Coalfields: Found in Assam and Rajasthan.

STATEWISE DISTRIBUTION OF GONDWANA COALFIELDS IN INDIA

 Bihar and Jharkhand

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(c) North and South Karanpura.

(d) Giridih produces good quality coal.

The main coalfields are:

(a) Singroli and Suhagpur

(b) Rampur, Tatapani

(c) Sundergarh, Korba

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Is INDIA looming towards the sustainable development that we are

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2.3 HIGH FUEL SUPPLY RISK HOVERING OVER TPPS

A coal crunch threatens to trip the power sector with a cascading

Power utilities are increasingly looking at coal imports as an easier

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NEW COAL DISTRIBUTION POLICY (NCDP)

EXEMPTION OF POWER FROM THE BIDDING

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2.5 CIL QUANDARY

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So the question surely rises: Are environmental regulations the impediment

 Is the ministry data wrong?

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES: THE PROCESS

It will be prudent to know the environmental clearances procedure followed by

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Category B - Appraisal will be done by the State Level Expert Appraisal

The Environmental Clearance (EC) process consist of the following stages -

1. Application for EC - to be made by the Project Proponent (PP) to the

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267 thermal power plants adding up to 2.1 lakh MW capacity granted

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Here the situation is a paradoxical – Evidently, environment clearance is no

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4.1 ANOMALY IN FIGURES

Though, if we take up projects that are at various stages in the environmental

4.2 LIBERAL POLICY

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4.3 CONCERN FOR CONCERTRATION

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“We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap”.

 Will these plants usher in all round development in these regions?

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4.4 DESTROYING THE DISTRICTS