Coal curbs to hit new power units

Timely commissioning of over 50,000 Mw of power generation capacity has been jeopardised owing to the environment ministry's latest move to classify India's coal-bearing regions as "go" and "no-go" areas. This comes at a time when the country is striving to bridge the widening gap in the demand and supply of electricity.

This power capacity being held up on environmental grounds forms half the overall capacity addition target for the 12th Plan period and over 80 per cent of the current Plan period's likely capacity addition of 62,000 Mw. "The capacity of projects that have come under no-go classification is roughly 50,000 Mw. This includes projects to be commissioned both in the 11th and 12th Plan periods," confirmed a senior power ministry official. The ministry is pushing for speedy clearances.

What makes matters worse is the latest assessment by the Central Electricity Authority that most of the thermal power projects with coal blocks in no-go areas have already made substantial investments and, therefore, it might not be feasible to allot alternate blocks for such projects at this stage. CEA is the government's apex power sector planning body under the aegis of the ministry of power.

The environment ministry's categorisation specifies regions where coal mining can be permitted only after stringent forest clearances are obtained. Though this is only indicative in nature, it has worried power project developers, as several existing and upcoming mines now fall in areas barred for mining.

India generates around 700 billion units of power annually, but continues to face an over 12 per cent deficit. While limited availability of coal has always remained a major constraint for power capacity addition, the latest controversy prohibiting mining in certain blocks citing ecological degradation has led the government's major infrastructure ministries of power and coal to lock horns with the ministry of environment.

A high-level committee under Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi is currently trying to work out a mechanism to provide preference to companies developing the threatened projects during coal block allocation. "The idea behind the CEA report was to see whether some relaxation is possible for no-go projects. We have recommended favourably from our side. We want the blocks in no-go areas to be converted to go areas," said a senior CEA official.

The findings of the report have already been shared with the power, coal and environment ministries. An informal group of ministers comprising coal minister Sri Praksh Jaiswal and environment minister Jairam Ramesh is currently finalising a policy on the matter under the direction of the Prime Minister's Office. The CEA report would be an input for a final decision.

Experts believe that the government's policy should aim to maximise coal extraction with minimum damage to the environment. "Coal mining practices should be improved. Coal companies can be asked to conduct compensatory afforestation. Also, we must avoid misleading recording of forest areas. For a developing country, energy is as important as the environment," said former power secretary Anil Razdan.

He also added that India's reliance on coal for energy security has created an unavoidable need for coal mining.  "Unless we have enough projects in the pipeline, we could even be landing in a situation where we have spare capacity, but not enough fuel to run it," he said.