Mumbai, India — Greenpeace today released a report that emphasises no need for capacity addition of electricity generation through thermal power plants (TPPs) in Maharashtra (1). "The current shortage in the state can be easily met through energy efficiency and reduction of transmission and distribution losses (T&D) without adding a single climate threatening megawatt to meet growing demand," said Soumyabrata Rahut, Greenpeace Energy campaigner.
The report presented on the eve of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Mumbai is significant in light of the Mumbai floods (2). "Mumbaikars have experienced first hand the true costs of climate change due to global warming now linked to irresponsible power generation choices. Maharashtra must reconsider its plans to expand 4 existing TPPs and immediately stop building 4 additional TPPs to prevent worse human induced calamities."
"We are witness to the fact that w ithout urgent action, climate change will devastate life on earth. Over their lifetime these 8 Maharashtra TPPs will further add considerable CO2 that is highly avoidable to the atmosphere. Though India has no compulsion to reduce carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, we must take responsibility to proactively protect our people from climate change impacts and look beyond fossil fuels for lasting energy security," said Soumyabrata.
The report, Switching the Energy Paradigm: Towards a New Capacity Planning Approach for Maharashtra, by Professor Narasimha Rao, details the energy scenario from FY05 to FY10 and identifies that the state must adopt integrated resource planning approach (IRP) to meet its peak power shortage of 2600 MW through the implementation of energy efficiency measures.
"A programme promoting a massive uptake of efficient devices must be taken up immediately. For example, just replacement of incandescent bulbs by efficient lamp such as CFL can save 6% of total demand and reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) losses." Girish Sant, Coordinator, Prayas Energy Group said. "It costs five times more to add a MW of electricity generation through a TPP than practising energy efficiency and addressing T&D losses."
The choices made in the next five to ten years will determine the extent of the devastation faced by future generations (3). "Politicians at all levels have so far failed to take any action to avoid climate change. Maharashtra must seize the opportunity to significantly reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming without compromising the growing energy needs of the state through the IRP approach," said Soumyabrata.
Related Reports
* Narasimha Report
October 04, 2006
Notes to Editor
(1) TPPs are the biggest culprits that cause global warming and contribute nearly 21% of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
(2) "A city like Mumbai, India's business capital could be seriously affected by sea level rise. The danger from this would lie not only in the threat of complete submergence of low lying areas, but much higher level of damage from storm surges, cyclones and other extreme weather events, such as flooding that took place in 2005." Dr. R.K.Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Millions of lives and a multitude of species will be lost if the average global temperature increases by 2°C. To prevent this, global greenhouse gas emissions must start to fall irreversibly by 2015.
voxpopuli
Agreed. But those suffering hrs of load shedding will not get convinced I guess.