India proposes guidelines for decommissioning coal-based power plants by Mayank Aggarwal
https://india.mongabay.com/2021/11/india-proposes-guidelines-for-decommissioning-coal-based-power-plants/ 11 November 2021
The proposed guidelines note that predetermining the future use of the site (of the thermal power plant) can help reduce the costs of dismantling and cleaning up, if buildings and infrastructure are to be retained, while adding that “prior to permitting demolition operations, an engineering survey of the structure must be made.” They recommend that while preparing the EMP and conducting the EIA report for the decommissioning process, “laws on environmental and safety issues, as well as community concerns should be taken into account and necessary permission taken prior to initiating the decommission process.”
They suggested measures to deal with stormwater discharge once the plant is shut down and emissions from the demolition of the plant. They also noted that closure of ash ponds probably “will be the most challenging tasks to undertaken during a decommissioning process” and suggested that “closure of most surface impoundments of the power plant will require drainage, placement of an impermeable cap, and topping with soil and a vegetative cover until full compliance with ash utilisation notification is achieved.”
On September 30, the NGT bench headed by Justice K. Ramakrishnan directed the MoEFCC to finalise the notification within six months (by March 2022) after following an extensive consultation process involving all the stakeholders.
In India, as of March 31, 2021, there are 267 thermal power plants with a total installed capacity of 234,728.2 MW – which is over 61 percent of India’s total installed capacity of 382,151.2 MW. In fact, according to the official data, in the last five years, thermal power plants of about 9,908 MW capacity have retired and about 1,988 MW capacity have been identified for retirement in near future.
The CEEW study by Karthik Ganesan and Danwant Narayanaswamy had proposed that “30,000 MW of the surplus capacity, which represents the older and some of the least efficient assets, be taken up for accelerated decommissioning as these have been identified in the National Electricity Plan (2018) for decommissioning during the course of this decade (2021-2030).”
“Each passing year of delay increases the burden on us with a higher electricity bill and more air, water, and soil pollution to manage. It also results in a one-time saving of Rs. 10,200 crore (Rs. 102 billion) in avoided pollution-control retrofits, which would otherwise be needed should some of these plants continue to operate,” the study had said. It had emphasised that nearly 20,000 MW of capacity “can be considered for mothballing and based on a more rigorous assessment, it can be decided where they would be called upon to generate if contingencies are likely to arise.”
Draft Guidelines: https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/11/10130032/draft-guidelines-for-decommissioning-of-coal-based-power-plants.pdf
