Govt plans to invite bids for Cheyuur project by Jul

The government plans to invite bids for a 4,000MW coal-based power project at Cheyuur in Tamil Nadu by July in the hope of restarting its so-called ultra mega power project (UMPP) scheme, which has been weighed down by ecological concerns and local resistance.

Power secretary P. Umashankar said environmental studies for the Cheyuur project are expected to be completed by April. “We expect to start the award process by June-July,” he said.

The project will rely on imported coal, whose price, including freight charges, are prone to fluctuations. It will thus be crucial for companies to secure coal supplies to bid for the project, as movement in international coal prices would impact input cost.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government wants to set up 16 UMPPs, or power projects that produce at least 4,000MW each, to meet the needs of the world’s second fastest growing major economy after China. India has a power generation capacity of 169,000MW and expects to add 62,374MW by 2012.

Nine UMPPs were originally planned, but only four have been awarded—at Mundra in Gujarat, Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand. Two projects, at Girye in Maharashtra and Tadri in Karnataka, had to be abandoned due to local resistance. The bidding process of two others, located near coal mines at Bedabahal in Orissa and Surguja in Chhattisgarh, has been delayed.

Power Finance Corp. Ltd, the nodal agency for awarding UMPPs, extended the deadline for companies to respond to the request for qualification (RFQ) for the Orissa project for a fifth time on 31 January. The new deadline for submission of RFQ applications for the Orissa project is 31 March, and 8 March for the Chhattisgarh project.

“The RFQ deadline for the Orissa project has already been extended till 31 March. We are working with the MoEF (ministry of environment and forests) to find a solution,” said Umashankar.

The power ministry is working with MoEF on a compromise that would allow coal mining to fuel the Orissa project—in an exception to the government’s so-called “no go” policy for coal miners.

In June 2009, MoEF and coal ministry announced “go” and “no-go” areas for coal miners to protect best quality forests.

Mint reported on 26 November that MoEF is ready for a compromise to allow coal mining to fuel the Orissa UMPP.

UMPPs follow a competitive tariff-based bidding in which a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is set up to reduce risk perception and increase investor confidence. This SPV takes care of regulatory requirements such as land acquisition and environmental clearances and transfers these to the winning bidder. Each project requires an investment of around R

s.

20,000 crore.

“After the award of the first three projects, the whole process has taken enormously long,” said Anish De, chief executive at Mercados EMI Asia, an energy consulting firm. “The drive which was there for the earlier UMPP award process needs to be brought back.”

Source: Govt plans to invite bids for Cheyuur project by Jul - Home - livemint.com

Ramesh, Jaiswal meet; GoM will now take up contentious no-go issue

NEW DELHI: A second round of meeting between the Union environment and coal ministers on Friday yielded some results though the contentious no-go zoning plan remained unresolved. It will now be taken to the meeting of the group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh offered to call a meeting of the senior forest officials from Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra to expedite forest clearances at the state level.

Also, in an attempt to ease the process he offered to amend the compensatory afforestation rules and allow coal miners to plant trees on degraded forest lands instead of going on a wild hunt for difficult to find new government land.

The coal ministry, headed by Sriprakash Jaiswal, submitted a list of 15 projects that are awaiting final environmental clearance out of which it was pointed out four were awaiting clarifications from the coal companies.

The mismanagement at the coal company's end was also highlighted between the two. One project where actual production is far less than the permitted levels, it was noted, has asked for expansion. Three coal mines where illegal extraction has been carried out in excess of clearance have asked for regularisation.

The coal ministry had also demanded that the moratorium put on mining in seven coal blocks due to high levels of industrial pollution be withdrawn. Ramesh has committed to send expert teams to the seven sites to assess improvements if any.

Ramesh also noted that only two of the 55 coal projects awaiting forest clearance were with the Centre, the rest being stuck at the state level for various reasons.

After the meeting though Sriprakash Jaiswal initially told media that the no-go policy had been withdrawn, he soon retracted to align himself with Ramesh in stating that it had not been discussed and would be taken up later at the GoM.

Read more: Ramesh, Jaiswal meet; GoM will now take up contentious no-go issue - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ramesh-Jaiswal-meet-GoM-will-now-take-up-contentious-no-go-issue/articleshow/7470135.cms#ixzz1Dd5oykDn

BJP MP threatens economic blockade against CIL, NTPC

BJP Lok Sabha MP from Godda (Jharkhand) Nishikant Dubey has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, threatening to block coal mining operations of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and enforce economic blockade against the CIL and NTPC in Santhal Pargana region as these two are “not doing” enough for the betterment of the local people.

“I am informing your good office about the economic blockade from 15th February, 2011, onwards against Coal India Limited and NTPC for not doing any CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities in Naxal-affected most backward Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand,” Dubey wrote to the PM on Thursday, alleging his repeated attempts to secure desired attention from both the PSUs for the local people had failed.

“We will stop coal mining operation of Coal India Limited in this region and supply of coal to NTPC’s Kehlgaon and Farakka Super Thermal Power Plant will be completely stopped. The supply of coal to NTPC plants based in Punjab will be stopped as well,” he added.

The BJP MP said the NTPC had incurred an expenditure of only about Rs 2 crore in his constituency since the inception of its plant about 29 years ago. “Coal India says that they are in loss but the fact is that the operation in Santhal Pargana region is very profitable for them and they simply cannot escape/elude/avoid their CSR responsibilities in this region,” the letter noted.

He alleged that the NTPC had failed to provide jobs to the people displaced during the setting up of the NTPC project in Santhal region.

Source: BJP MP threatens economic blockade against CIL, NTPC

ONGC finds shale gas in Bengal

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country’s biggest energy explorer, has struck shale gas reserves in its maiden well in West Bengal. This is the first time shale gas has been discovered in sedimentary shale gas rocks outside the US and Canada.

“ONGC created an exploration landmark when gas flowed out from the Barren Measure shale at a depth of around 1,700 metres, in its first R&D well, RNSG-1, near Durgapur at Icchapur, West Bengal,” the state-run company said in a statement.

Though the well is still under assessment, the breakthrough is significant, as India is the first Asian country where gas was discovered from shale outside the US and Canada. “The well was drilled down to a depth of 2,000 metres. The Barren Measure Shale, which is the main target, was encountered from 985 to 1,843 metres,” the statement said.

Exploration of shale gas, an unconventional energy source, has witnessed a surge in the US and Canada in recent times and is making substantial contribution to total gas production. In the US, shale gas contributes nearly 17 per cent of total gas produce.

The R&D project, which involved drilling of four wells in the Damodar Basin — two wells in the Raniganj sub-basin in West Bengal and two wells in the North Karanpura sub-basin in Jharkhand, was operationalised with the help of Schlumberger. “The estimated expenditure is about Rs 168 crore and the total project is expected to be completed within 520 days,” ONGC said.

Source: ONGC finds shale gas in Bengal

SAIL may not get nod to mine Chiria

Forest Advisory Panel Asks Ministry Not To Grant Clearance To PSU
Urmi A Goswami NEW DELHI

Akey environment ministry panel, the Forest Advisory Committee, has recommended that the public sector steel major SAIL not be allowed to mine iron ore from the Chiria reserves in Jharkhand. The recommendation is likely to put Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in a tough spot yet again. It is likely to re-open the economic growth versus the ecological and environmental imperatives debate. 

The steel ministry is keen that SAIL be given the clearance to mine the Chiria reserves. These reserves, located in the West Singbhum district of Jharkhand, have depositis of nearly 2 billion tonnes of high grade iron ore. SAIL has the rights to half of these deposits or 1 billion tonne. SAIL has argued that it needs access to the Chiria reserves to fuel its expansion plans. 

However, the forest panel has recommended to the ministry not to grant the clearance. This is because the Chiria mines are located in the Saranda forests bordering Orissa and Jharkhand. This is among Asia’s largest and best sal forests. It is also an important elephant habitat. The Saranda forests area is home to tribal groups like the Ho. 

Uncontrolled mining, both legal and illegal, for iron ore has been destroying the forest and wildlife. The area is dotted with iron ore mining towns including Gua, Chiria, Kiriburu and Noamundi. The impact on the forests has been significant. State forest reports show that that between 1997 and 1999, about 3,200 hectares of forest was lost in the Singhbhum region. Between 2001 and 2003 some 7,900 hectares of dense forests were lost in the East and West Singhbhum districts. Experts say that further degradation of the Saranda forests, which has been affected, will have serious consequences for the area’s considerable biodiversity. It will also have an adverse impact on the livelihood of the local tribal communities. 

The Chiria reserves are located in an elephant corridor and habitat. The report of the Elephant taskforce stated that mines are a major issue in the region, especially in the rich sal forest of Saranda, which is a prime elephant habitat. 

The taskforce report Gajah: Securing the future for elephants in India suggests that Saranda forests “can be secured with careful regulation to protect intact habitat from being fragmented by mines.”

Source: Article Window

PMO favours joint mining by NTPC, RPower in Jharkhand

THE prime minister’s office has recommended that NTPC and Reliance Power should jointly mine adjacent coal blocks in Jharkhand to help them extract about 200 million tonnes of additional coal that would have been lost if the mines were delineated and drilled independently, government and company officials said. The proposal also has the backing of Parliament’s standing committee on coal. 

NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury told ET that the company has found merit in the proposal. “It is a good proposal. But we have to examine it closely since we would start production much ahead of them. These evaluations would take some time,” he said. 

As per statutory norms, companies owning different blocks are required to maintain a “safety angle” between the blocks, reducing the amount of coal they can extract. 

A Reliance Power spokesperson confirmed the development and said: “This is the optimum way to mine coal for promoting coal conservation. We look forward to discussing with NTPC on how to co-ordinate mining operations.” 

Reliance Power had sought government’s approval for joint exploration of coal mines attached with Tilaiya ultra mega power project and NTPC’s Kerandari Aand Pakri Barwadih blocks. Tilaiya blocks – Kerandari B and Kerandari C – lie in between NTPC’s Kerandari A and Pakri Barwadih blocks. 

“The proposal has been recommended by PMO and the standing committee on coal. We have written to the power ministry seeking directions to NTPC for the same. The two companies should now be working toward a strategy to extract coal blocked in barriers and batters in their respective coalfields. They will have to get the strategy approved by the government,” a coal ministry official said.

Source: Article Window