standing committee of the coal ministry has recommended coal linkages to state-run power plants with a cumulative capacity of 3,300 megawatt (MW) in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra had sought 3.18 million tonne (MT) of coal per annum for an upcoming 660 MW unit of the Bhusawal power plant. The linkage committee, based on the Union power ministry’s recommendation, has sanctioned fuel supply to this unit which is expected to be commissioned in FY22.
The committee also recommended bridge linkage to a 660 MW unit of Tamil Nadu’s state-owned Ennore SEZ super-critical thermal power project. However, the quantity of coal to be supplied would be sufficient for only half the unit’s capacity as its boiler is designed to run on an equal blend of domestic and imported coal.
Bridge linkages are temporary fuel supply contracts for electricity generation units which have already been allotted coal blocks that are yet to commence production. The unit has been allotted the Chandrabila coal block, which is expected to start production in FY24.
Under the same bridge linkage structure, Uttar Pradesh’s 1,980 MW Ghatampur plant will also get 0.5 MT of coal in FY21. The three units of the plant, of 660 MW each, are scheduled to be commissioned in November 2020, April 2021 and December 2022, respectively. The plant was allotted the Pachwara South coal block, where excavation is supposed to begin in May 2022.
The committee also allowed NTPC and Coal India another six months to sign the fuel supply agreement for a 500 MW unit at the Unchahar power plant. It has also recommended the extension of existing bridge linkages to NTPC’s 500 MW Barauni Stage-2 plant (Bihar) and Damodar Valley Corporation’s units in Mejia (West Bengal) and Chandrapura (Jharkhand).
NTPC Barauni will receive coal under the bridge linkage till September 2022 — three years from the formal allotment of the Badam coal block in September 2019.
A new study published in Nature Sustainability has calculated that the recent shutdown of coal power plants in favor of natural gas has saved 26,000 lives due to reduced air pollution. I don't trust this data but if validated, it means that the natural gas revolution that has brought America energy independence for the first time in 75 years has both reduced greenhouse gas emissions and has saved lives.
While the Obama administration did much to kill the coal industry with strict environmental regulations, the recent spate of replacements with natural gas has been fueled by competitive gas prices, as evidenced by the fact that, despite deregulation, 50 coal power plants have been decommissioned under the Trump administration. The rise of natural gas, then, is due to good old-fashioned free-market competition with reduced pollution and lives saved as possible beneficial side-effects.
Caveats And Uncertainties
Does the study stack up to reality? Too often, scientific work that reaches the headlines is overhyped and the uncertainties and caveats are downplayed – and so it is with this study. First, the coal plants that were closed were old and built on deprecated technology. Comparing outdated technology with the latest and freshest natural gas technology is unfair because there exists a panoply of modern, clean coal technologies (CCT).
Originally, CCT meant the extraction of coal in an environmentally friendly manner but it has since come to also mean clean power generation, which involves fuel preprocessing and scrubbing of exhausts to remove as much air pollution as possible. This new generation of coal power plants is just as clean as natural gas and switching to it would produce the same environmental benefits. The reason why such a switch has not occurred is, largely, because natural gas is cheaper.
Dangerous Pollution?
The second issue with the study is the assumption that tiny amounts of particles from coal power plants cause disease and death. This suffers from the same faulty Linear No-Threshold-theory that has plagued nuclear power. Everyone understands that if someone drops a piano on your head from the fifth floor, you will certainly die.
If you drop something smaller, it reduces the risk, and at some point, you might find that there is a linear relationship between the mass and the risk of death. That’s not unreasonable, but what about a grain of sand dropped on your head? Can that ever kill you? According to the linear theory, there is a tiny chance but, in practice, there is a threshold below which any pollutant or toxin becomes innocuous.
For coal power, it means that if you live in China, oozing pollution kills hundreds of thousands, whereas, in America, most coal plants are so clean that there are diminishing returns to cleaning them more. Maybe the switch to natural gas really did save 26,000 lives, but it is crucial to understand that the number is theoretical and the underlying assumptions may be flawed.
Still Life In Coal
Although natural gas is gaining ground, there is still plenty of life left in coal. In many regions, it makes more economic sense to utilize coal. In some cases, additional cleaning costs are even an advantage.
Consider municipal waste handling. Despite what you regularly hear from environmentalists, energy recycling is the best way to deal with garbage. That is, burning plastic, paper, and other combustibles to produce electricity is the cleanest and most economical method of eliminating waste; best of all, it can be combined with coal. Using much of the same cleaning and scrubbing technologies on both allows a community to finance clean coal by eliminating municipal solid waste.
America is, therefore, in the privileged position of being able to pick and choose domestic energy solutions that are both economical and environmentally friendly.
SAN Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL) will “switch on” its 500-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon, on Tuesday, injecting the much additional capacity needed in the Luzon grid.
SBPL, a partnership between Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) and New Growth BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (Egco Group) of Thailand, will supply power for 20 years to Meralco, which is Metro Manila’s only electric distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 22 cities and 89 municipalities.
“SBPL’s 500 MW will prove to be a significant contributor for Meralco to fulfill its mandate to provide adequate, reliable supply of electricity at the least cost,” said Meralco Vice President and Head of Regulatory Management Atty. Jose Ronald Valles.
SBPL’s incoming capacity will prove critical in the coming months, particularly in light of the scheduled maintenance shutdowns of Luzon’s biggest power generation suppliers.
Ilijan unit 1 (600 MW) is on planned maintenance for 13 days from October 3 to 15. Also, its capacity will be curtailed from October 16 to 18, 2019.
Sual 2 (647 MW) is also slated to shut down for 30 days from October 19 to November 17, 2019.
San Lorenzo Module 50 (250 MW) is scheduled to go on maintenance for five days on October 26 to 30, 2019.
Masinloc 2 (344 MW) will also be on scheduled outage for 35 days, beginning October 30 to December 4, 2019. The country’s biggest natural gas facility, Malampaya, will not supply fuel to generation facilities from October 12 until October 15, 2019. Malampaya supplies more than 40 percent of Meralco’s power requirement, and provides natural gas fuel for Santa Rita, San Lorenzo, Ilijan, San Gabriel and Avion.
SBPL’s commercial operation date was targeted at September 15, 2019, but was deferred due to questions raised by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on SBPL’s utilization of water rights.
The ERC eventually issued a PAO, or a provisional authority to operate SBPL’s power plant.
“On September 23, ERC received from NWRB [National Water Resources Board] its explanation. ERC lost no time and, hence, on September 24, the PAO was issued to SBPL,” ERC’s Chief Agnes Devanadera said.
ERC said SBPL submitted incomplete requirements, the most important of which was the Conditional Water Permit (CWP). This, it added, was issued in the name of Meralco and not under the name of SBPL.
“A PAO has to be issued instead of a COC [Certificate of Compliance] in view of the other requirements which must be submitted within a specific period of time,” said ERC.
Devanadera said the ERC is mindful of the present supply situation but advised parties to do their share in securing the necessary permits from other agencies. She asked them to be more diligent in their work, and not pass on to ERC the burden of having to divine the documents that they submit.