Phase-down mode: Nod for just 1 coal-power plant in 2021 | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India opted for ‘phase-down’ of coal, instead of phasing it out, during the Glasgow climate summit last year, and this got truly reflected in the country’s move on clearing new coal-fired power plants in 2021 when it gave the green nod to only one such plant — the least since it joined over 195 other nations in approving the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015.
The analysis of environmental clearance (EC) awarded to ‘non-captive’ coal-fired power plants in the past seven years, done by environmental research group Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), shows that the country.

had given green nod to five plants in 2015 which increased to as high as nine in 2017, but finally decreased to one last year. It also shows consistent decline in capacity addition since 2019.
“The low number of projects approved clearly reflects that it is becoming difficult to set up new coal-fired power plants. This could be attributed to lack of financing and competition from renewable energy,” Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer and founder of LIFE, told TOI.
“It is a fact that banks as well as insurance companies are now moving away from coal-fired power plants due to concerns over climate change, high risk due to social opposition and large number of stranded assets where existing power plants are not able to find takers for the power generated,” he said.
The EC granted to coalbased power plants is a useful indicator to study power generation trends in India. Prior EC is a prerequisite for commissioning construction activities. Such green nod is the foremost requirement for establishment of new as well as expansion of existing coal power projects.
Since all other required clearances/permissions are processed only on the basis of grant or rejection of the EC to a proposed project, tracking the number and capacity of projects granted clearances gives an accurate picture of upcoming changes in power generation at the planning stage.
LIFE’s research, done by its associate analyst Subhrajit Goswamishows that the capacity addition, considering only the ‘non-captive’ thermal plant, through the EC was 2,400MW during 2021 compared to 3,060 MW in 2020 and 3,860MW in 2019.
The project got the green clearance in 2021 is 3×800 MW NLC Talabira Thermal Power Project based on supercritical technology at Kumbhari and Tareikela villages in district Jharsuguda and Thalloid village in district Sambalpur, Odisha by NLC India Ltd.