India's coal rush - July 2012 status update

From SourceWatch

2007-2011: India's coal rush gains speed

As shown in Table 1 below, India's coal plant capacity was relatively stagnant through the end of the 10th Plan on March 31, 2007. Since then, growth has been rapid, including a 79% increase in capacity from March 31, 2007 through May 31, 2012 (mostly since the beginning of 2010) and an additional 76% increase represented by projects currently under construction. ^[1][2]

Table 1: Coal plant capacity additions since 1985, and current capacity under construction

Date	Capacity (MW)	Growth (MW)	Growth rate	Period
31-Mar-85	26,311
31-Mar-92	44,791	18,480	70%	(7 years)
31-Mar-97	54,154	9,363	21%	(5 years)
31-Mar-02	62,131	7,977	15%	(5 years)
31-Mar-07	63,951	1,820	3%	(5 years)
31-May-12	114,782	50,831	79%	(5 years, 2 months)
Under construction 5/31/12		87,122	76%

2012: The boom has slowed, but plenty of projects remain in the pipeline

In August 2011, a study by Prayas Energy Group found approximately 590,000 megawatts (MW) of coal projects in the pipeline, having received or expecting imminent environmental approval.^[3][4] However, since the release of the Prayas study there has been a major slowdown among planners of new coal capacity. As shown in Table 2, 41,650 MW of projects were deferred (i.e. progress was on hold) as of May 31, 2012, and an additional 22,420 MW of projects had been cancelled. The reasons for the slowdown were multiple: (1) Dramatic rises in the cost of imported coal; (2) Insufficiency in domestic coal output; (3) An unfolding domestic crisis over the integrity of the coal allocation process, known as "Coalgate," (4) Difficulties obtaining financing. Nevertheless, 87,122 MW or projects were under construction as of May 31, 2012 and an additional 68,200 MW of projects were in advanced development, having achieved most milestones (permits, water, land, coal, and financing).

Table 2: Summary statistics for proposed coal plants in India

Status	# of Plants	Capacity (MW)
Proposed	132	153,122
Early development	114	157,002
Advanced development	59	68,200
Construction	109	87,122
Newly commissioned (since 1/1/2010)	62	37,378
Deferred	27	41,650
Cancelled	19	22,420
Unconfirmed	20	24,685
Uncertain	7	17,300
Total	549	608,879

Within India, grassroots opposition to coal continues to be intense -- and the opposition is showing success

Table 5 shows the locations of at least 39 plants that have been the subject of opposition. More details may be found at Opposition to coal in India. To date, clashes over coal mines, plants, and rail lines have been less intense in 2012 than in 2011. That year saw large scale-scale protests in numerous locations, including multiple cases of violent police action against rural protesters. Among such incidents were the following:

• In January 2011 in Bihar, a farmer was killed during protests against the Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Project.
• In January 2011 in Chhattisgarh, 25 people were injured and over 100 imprisoned during protests against the KSK Mahanadi Power Project.
• In February 2011 in Andhra Pradesh, two people were killed and 25 injured during protests in Srikakulam against a plant proposed by East Coast Energy.
• In April 2011 in Jharkand, four people were killed and 21 injured during protests against over the clearing of land owned by Bharat Coking Coal Limited.
• In August 2011 in Punjab, a farmer was killed and others injured during protests against the Gobindpura power station.
• In October 2011 in Andhra Pradesh, villagers were attacked by police and a doctor leading the protests beaten during hearings on a coal plant in Ankulapaturu village.
• In November 2011 in Jharkhand, anti-coal organizer Sister Valsa John was hacked to death, allegedly by agents of local mining companies.

Opponents have halted 45% of proposed plants -- that's 5 times the expected attrition rate

In cases where opposition to coal plants has been reported, it appears that the opposition has had a high rate of success. As shown in Table 5 below, the results are as follows:

• Plants deferred - 11
• Plants cancelled - 6
• Total number deferred or cancelled - 16
• Total number of plants with reported opposition - 38
• Success rate for opponents - 45%

The success rate of 45% compares to approximately 9% of coal projects deferred of cancelled overall in India (48 out of 549 projects, as shown in Table 4 above). The result shows that when communities use employ grassroots tactics to oppose coal plant proposals that threaten to encroach on their land, water, crops, or fisheries, their chances of seeing a coal plant deferred or cancelled increase fivefold over the average rate for the country as a whole.

Opponents have been particularly successful in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra

As shown in Table 4, two states, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, account for 29,600 MW of cancelled or deferred projects, nearly half of the 64,070 MW of cancelled or deferred projects for the nation as a whole.

Table 5: Plants that have been the object of community opposition

State	Plant	Reason for Opposition	Opposition groups	Status
Andhra Pradesh	Ankulapatur power station phase 1	pollution concerns	Jana Vignana Vedika	Construction
Chhattisgarh	Athena Chhattisgarh power station	multiple	LIFE, Jan Chetana	Advanced development
Orissa	Babandh power station	land, displacement		Construction
Orissa	Balangir power station	land acquisition		Early development
Chhattisgarh	Baradarha power station	displacement, forests	Centre for Science and Environment	Advanced development
Uttar Pradesh	Bara Thermal Power Project	land		Construction
Gujarat	Bhadreshwar power station (OPG)	fisheries, impacts of multiple plants	MASS	Deferred
Gujarat	Bhadreshwar Thermal Power Project (Adani)	fisheries, impacts of multiple plants	MASS	Deferred
Andhra Pradesh	Bhavanapadu Thermal Power Project	multiple		Deferred
Chhattisgarh	Birra Thermal Power Project	displacement, impacts of multiple plants		Early development
Karnataka	Chamalapura power station	displacement	Chamalapura Ushnavidyut Sthavara Virodhi Horata Samithi	Cancelled
Maharashtra	Dahanu Power Station	agriculture, fisheries	DPBS, INTACH, KVIC, DTEPA, DTEWA, Tamarind Tree	Cancelled
Andhra Pradesh	Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station	wildlife		Cancelled
Maharashtra	Dhopave Thermal Power Station (Mahagenco)	land acquisition		Deferred
Punjab	Gidderbaha power station	land acquisition		Deferred
Maharashtra	Girye Ultra Mega Power Project	land acquisition and displacement		Deferred
Punjab	GNDTP Bathinda power station	air pollution and coal ash	Joint Action Committee	Cancelled
Punjab	Gobindpura power station	land acquisition		Construction
Karnataka	Gulbarga power station	land acquisition		Advanced development
Andhra Pradesh	Gunipudi power station (NBPL proposal)			Deferred
Tamil Nadu	Hanakon Thermal Power Project			Cancelled
Andhra Pradesh	Hinduja Power Plant	land acquisition, coastal impacts		Deferred
Orissa	JR Power Project	pollution of farmland, water competition		Early development
West Bengal	Katwa Super Thermal Power Project (NTPC)	land acquisition		Deferred
Chhattisgarh	KSK Mahanadi Power Project	land acquisition, displacement		Construction
Bihar	Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Project	land acquisition		Advanced development
Andhra Pradesh	Nagarjuna Construction Company Sompeta Thermal Plant	agriculture, fisheries, wildlife		Deferred
Punjab	Rajpura_Thermal_Power_Project	lack of local hiring for construction		Construction
Maharashtra	Ratnagiri Power Plant expansion	agriculture, impacts of multiple plants	Ratnagiri Zilla Jagruk Manch	Deferred
Punjab	Ropar thermal plant	air pollution, fly ash, agriculture		Proposed
Madhya Pradesh	Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project	Ex-Im Bank policy, CDM issues	Friends of the Earth	Construction
Andhra Pradesh	Simhadri Power Station	Fly ash, fisheries		Operating
Andhra Pradesh	Sree Siva Satyadeva Power Plant	coastal impacts		Cancelled
Gujarat	Tata Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project	fisheries, agriculture, CDM	MASS, etc.	Construction
Chhattisgarh	Tamnar II Project	pollution, displacement	Jan Chetna	Advanced development
Karnataka	Udupi power station	Fly ash		Early development
Maharashtra	Veshvi power station	agriculture, fisheries		Proposed
Karnataka	Yeramarus thermal station	fly ash, impacts of multiple plants		Construction

Regional analysis

As shown in the Google map here, proposed coal projects are located in nearly all parts of India. However, as shown by the table below, some states have a greater amount of proposed capacity additions than others, with Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra accounting for 36% of all capacity under development, and 94% of all development taking place in 12 of India's 28 states.

Table 3: Projects by state

State	# of Plants	Capacity (MW)	Cumulative?%
Andhra Pradesh	71	80,560	13%
Chhattisgarh	64	69,058	25%
Maharashtra	65	68,245	36%
Orissa	51	58,600	45%
Madhya Pradesh	45	57,979	55%
Jharkhand	38	44,380	62%
Uttar Pradesh	38	39,540	69%
Bihar	26	37,030	75%
Gujarat	29	36,873	81%
Tamil Nadu	32	32,693	86%
Karnataka	24	24,290	90%
West Bengal	20	20,631	94%
Punjab	12	14,180	96%
Rajasthan	19	12,630	98%
Haryana	7	6,000	99%
Assam	5	3,050	99%
Kerala	1	2,400	100%
Meghalaya	2	740	100%
Total	549	608,879

Table 4: Status breakdown by state (Megawatts)

State	Proposed	Early development	Advanced development	Construction	Newly commissioned since 1/1/10	Deferred	Cancelled	Uncertain	Unconfirmed	Total (MW)
Andhra Pradesh	19,885	9,022	10,310	7,933	2,900	11,330	5,720	300	13,160	80,560
Assam	2,300	0	0	750	0	0	0	0	0	3,050
Bihar	5,660	14,380	3,300	4,690	0	1,800	2,040	5,160	0	37,030
Chhattisgarh	13,910	18,125	13,830	11,858	1,595	4,000	540	4,000	1,200	69,058
Gujarat	11,488	6,960	1,975	5,990	5,670	2,940	1,600	0	250	36,873
Haryana	660	0	0	500	4,840	0	0	0	0	6,000
Jharkhand	6,260	22,875	660	5,455	2,170	0	2,000	0	4,960	44,380
Karnataka	2,820	11,570	5,180	0	1,950	0	1,450	0	1,320	24,290
Kerala	0	2,400	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2,400
Madhya Pradesh	3,740	26,530	9,200	11,909	0	5,280	1,320	0	0	57,979
Maharashtra	13,340	10,350	9,420	9,350	4,240	10,100	2,450	5,200	3,795	68,245
Meghalaya	240	500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	740
Orissa	26,285	11,860	6,695	8,820	2,940	0	2,000	0	0	58,600
Punjab	5,660	1,320	0	3,900	0	0	660	2,640	0	14,180
Rajasthan	1,340	5,350	2,890	2,010	1,040	0	0	0	0	12,630
Tamil Nadu	18,133	4,540	2,420	5,327	953	1,320	0	0	0	32,693
Uttar Pradesh	13,180	11,220	0	6,530	6,330	2,280	0	0	0	39,540
West Bengal	8,221	0	2,320	2,100	2,750	2,600	2,640	0	0	20,631
Total	153,122	157,002	68,200	87,122	37,378	41,650	22,420	17,300	24,685	608,879

Region-by-region discussion

While coal plants are being built and planned in all parts of India, the following are areas of particular concentration:

• Western Maharashtra: Along the Konkan Coast, mostly to the south of Mumbai southward along the coast, at least a dozen projects totaling 25,785 MW have been proposed. However, none of these projects is in the Construction or Advanced Development category, and only one project, the Kinebodi power station, is in the Early Development stage. Other projects are considered Proposed, (i.e. no significant progress toward permits, land, etc.), Uncertain, Deferred, or Cancelled. A significant victory recently was the decision by Tata Power to place the Coastal Maharashtra Project on hold.

• Eastern Maharashtra: There are two concentrations, one around Nagpur and the other around Chandrapur. Around Napur, there are nine projects totaling 6870 MW. Of these, five projects are already in Construction or Operating. The remaining 4 projects are in Early Development or Unconfirmed. Around Chandrapur, there are 14 projects totaling 8,930 MW. Six of these projects are in Construction or Operating. Two are in Advanced Development.

Articles and resources

References

1. ? "Growth of installed capacity since 6th Plan," Central Electricity Authority, accessed June 2012
2. ? The figure for current capacity as of May 31, 2012 comes from Table 2, "Summary statistics for proposed coal plants in India," which is derived from the complete table shown in Proposed coal plants in India
3. ? Using data from the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Prayas found that 192,913 MW of coal and gas capacity had received environmental clearance, with another 508,907 MW in the pipeline and expected to be approved, for a total of 701,820 MW. Of this total, Prayas estimated that coal accounts for 84%, or 589,529 MW. See "Thermal Power Plants on the Anvil," Prayas Energy Group, August 2011.
4. ? For plant-by-plant information, see Proposed coal plants in India.

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External resources

Source: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=India's_coal_rush_-_July_2012_status_update&diff=576701&oldid=prev

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