Given the huge decommissioning load expected over the next few decades, India must utilise the opportunity and transfer the closed thermal power plant sites back to nature and script a win-win success story both for humankind and nature script a win-win success story both for humankind
Thanks to a growing awareness about the ill-effects of fossil fuels especially coal, thermal power plants are in the crosshairs of environmental groups. This growing consciousness is leading to a rapid advancement of green technology-based solutions to generate clean energy. Solar and wind-based energy is quickly emerging as the preferred alternative to the smoke emanating from thermal power plants.
Even as these smoky and soot-covered symbols of environmental pollution are consigned to the past one by one across the world, the precious land that they stand on, is still not able to feel the respite even after the plant is closed down and that needs immediate remedy.
In the coming decades, the world and especially India, will witness a closure of many thermal power plants bringing in its wake, unemployment, displacement of population and legacy contamination.
In these circumstances, it is essential for India to have in place a robust thermal power plant closure policy that can not only handle the aftershocks of the closure of plant but also accelerate the restoration of the plant site to its previous natural state.
This turning of the clock back is a tough call as years and possible decades of fly ash contamination and other harsh chemicals take a severe toll on the topsoil of the plant site, rendering it pretty much useless for any other purposes. Restoring biodiversity in these sites can pose an unimaginable challenge.
Decommissioning of a thermal power plant is only a part of the larger process and is by itself not conclusive. In a country like India, the bureaucratic procedures to closure accompanied by worker settlement and not to mention the legal hurdles in the form of cases filed by affected parties can all make it a long drawn affair.
In the midst of all this, the environment stands as the silent sufferer. Till the last of the claims are settled and the final paperwork has completed, the interests of the environment are not pursued. Preparation of the site for reuse can often prove to be a complex, multi-year process, which apart from the decommissioning and cleaning up the contamination in form of materials, soil and groundwater, can take quite some time. The creation and implementation of a redevelopment plan take even a longer time.
To remedy this, the local leadership backed by an effective redevelopment policy that separates the bureaucratic procedures from rescuing the land from the adverse impact of the plant will a go a long way in restoring the environmental richness to the beleaguered site in record time. Awareness generation is key to getting the redevelopment off the ground.
Committed public involvement and the establishment of a balanced and inclusive stakeholder group can guide the redevelopment process by considering factors and unique conditions of a coal plant site, along with the community’s redevelopment goals. This considerate approach can convince the local population into providing their best support for the initiative.
India is witnessing a massive energy transition; rooftop solar power generation units are fast becoming the norm enabling the installers to sell energy back to the grid. Given this pace, conventional methods of energy generation that results in pollution will soon be a thing of the past.
This democratisation of energy generation in India has resulted in the energy consumers turning to energy ‘prosumers’ — those who consume as well as produce electricity. These are heartening developments in the face of plummeting air quality standards. Deaths and diseases due to air pollution have cost the global economy more than five trillion dollars annually.
In India, the loss to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeds five per cent. Globally, China has taken the lead and is now regularly shutting coal power plants on designated days. India has to take a step further and begin permanent closure of plants in sensitive areas.
According to certain estimates, the coal-based energy generation is bound to slow down and the year 2050 will witness the last closure of the polluting plants in India. But for these estimates to turn into reality the Government’s fragmented policies will need regrouping and cohesive implementation.
Given the huge decommissioning load expected over the next few decades, India must well utilise the opportunity and transfer the closed thermal power plant sites back to nature and script a win-win success story both for humankind and nature.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)