11 thermal plants in NCR accounted for 7% of Delhi air pollution in Oct-Jan: Study
The 11 coal-fired power plants in the National Capital Region contributed just 7 per cent to Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution on an average between October 2020 and January 2021, while vehicles contributed 14 per cent, according to a new study. The findings are significant considering that the Delhi government had recently moved to the Supreme Court, seeking closure of the coal-fired power plants in the vicinity of the city using outdated polluting technology. On April 1, the Union Environment Ministry had issued a notification with amended rules allowing thermal power plants within 10 kilometres of the National Capital Region (NCR) and in cities with more than 10 lakh population to comply with new emission norms by the end of 2022. In its latest analysis, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a Delhi-based not-for-profit policy research institution, said, “Given the EPCA (Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority) directives on account of GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) implementation and presumably low demand due to lockdown, the power plants also operated at much lower levels in October and November 2020.” “We observe that energy generation from NCR coal-fired plants was 25 and 70 per cent lower in October and November, respectively, compared to the corresponding months in 2019, implying a lower contribution in these months,” the report read. The research team of L S Kurinji, Adeel Khan, and Tanushree Ganguly found that the average contribution of emissions from the 11 power plants in Delhi-NCR was 7 per cent between October 2020 and January 2021. “However, once the ‘fuss’ about air quality dissipated and demand picked up, the daily energy generation levels scaled up to 2019 levels in December 2020 and January 2021,” it said. The share of vehicular emissions to Delhi’s PM 2.5 pollution was 14 per cent on an average between October 2020 and January 2021. According to the study, a relatively longer stubble-burning period and unfavourable meteorological conditions were primarily responsible for Delhi’s worsening air quality in winters last year. Household heating and cooking were responsible for 40 per cent of the pollution burden in December 2020 and January 2021. The analysis showed the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels exceeded 30 per cent for seven days (between October 10 and November 25) in 2020 as against three days in 2019. “This season was longer compared to 2019 or 2018 as fires started early in late September and a significant increase in the number of fires was observed,” it said. The stubble burning phase (October 15 to November 15) in 2020 experienced 172 hours of calm and light winds (speed less than 5 km/h) compared to 101 hours in 2019. In the winter of 2020, Delhi recorded only six rainy days as against 10 in the winter of 2019. The months of October and November in 2020 were cooler, with the air temperatures being 1-1.5 degrees Celsius lower than the corresponding months in 2019, according to the study. “We find that air quality in the winter of 2020 was worse than in the winter of 2019. Lower vehicular congestion and power generation levels in October and November 2020 are indicative of reduced emissions from these two activities,” the report read. “A relatively longer stubble burning period, colder and drier winter conditions, and calmer winds in October and November 2020 were primarily responsible for the worsening Delhi’s air quality that year. As the winter season progressed, most anthropogenic activities such as power generation and vehicular levels bounced back to previous year’s levels,” it said. The interplay of meteorological conditions on Delhi’s air quality cannot be discounted, but there is a need for steeper cuts in emissions across sectors. The GRAP presents the state government with an opportunity to constitute an air quality forecasting cell that can advise the government to take necessary measures to prevent severe air quality episodes in the capital city, the CEEW said. “We recommend that in addition to supporting source identification studies, the government should also encourage air quality modelling and forecasting efforts. Augmenting the existing monitoring infrastructure would help air quality modellers validate their forecasts,” it said.
ONGC seeks Tamil Nadu nod to drill 10 oil exploration wells
Days after chief minister M K Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Union government not to allow oil and gas exploration in Cauvery delta districts, ONGC has approached the state environmental impact assessment authority (SEIAA) seeking clearance to drill 10 exploration wells in Ariyalur district. The ONGC letter circulated widely on Wednesday attracted sharp criticisms from political parties and farmers who have been up against oil exploration in the agrarian region which had been designated a protected special agriculture zone by the previous government. According to the application dated June 15 submitted to the state government, the oil major plans to drill 10 exploratory wells in Ariyalur district where there is the likelihood of hydrocarbon reserve. ONGC sources said an environmental clearance application and pre-feasibility report have been submitted for Cauvery Basin. If any oil or gas reserve is found, plans will be afoot to establish development wells by the Cauvery asset section of ONGC in Karaikal that oversees exploration in the delta districts. “Only with the exploration wells can we identify natural oil and gas reserve. Perhaps the application was submitted because the proposed area falls outside the protected zone,” an official source in ONGC said under the condition of anonymity. The development comes close on the heels of a similar oil exploration proposal at Vadatheru in Pudukottai district sparking protests. “Already Ariyalur district is facing the bad consequences of excessive limestone quarrying and cement industries. Our groundwater level is depleting and oil exploration will make our livelihood worse,” Varanavasi K Rajendran, state secretary, Consortium of Indian Farmers Association, told TOI. Last year, the AIADMK government had declared Cauvery delta districts a protected zone for agriculture covering a part of Ariyalur and banned oil exploration activities. Farmers said the state government should not allow such exploration. “We will convey the concern of farmers to the chief minister. We will not allow any project that harms farmers,” K Chinnappa, Ariyalur MLA, said. Meanwhile, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss and Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Vasan have appealed to the state government not to allow the proposed exploration.
India to boost ethanol production as people facing problems due to high fuel rates: Gadkari
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said India is going to increase the production of alternative fuel ethanol as people are facing problems due to a rise in the prices of petrol and diesel. Addressing a conference organised by BRICS Network University virtually, Gadkari mentioned that automobile makers are producing flex-fuel engines in Brazil, Canada and the US providing an alternative to customers to use 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent bio-ethanol. “Now Indian production (of ethanol) we are going to increase because of the rise in petrol price, people are facing a lot of problems,” Gadkari said while explaining that the use of ethanol is cost effective. Petrol prices in some parts of the country, including metro cities Mumbai and Hyderabad, have crossed Rs 100 per litre mark due to multiple fuel price hikes in past six weeks. Petrol retails at over Rs 100 per litre mark in seven states and union territories — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Ladakh. Gadkari pointed out that the ethanol price will be Rs 60-62 per litre and petrol price is more than Rs 100 per litre. “As far as caloric value of ethanol is concerned, the 750 ml of petrol or 800 ml is equal to 1 litre of ethanol, still there is Rs 20 saving per litre,” the road transport and highways minister said. “And it is an import substitute and cost effective, pollution free and indigenous,” he added. The minister pointed out that for all the racing cars, all over the world ethanol is used as fuel. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the target date for achieving 20 per cent ethanol-blending with petrol has been advanced by five years to 2025 to cut pollution and reduce import dependence. The government last year had set a target of reaching 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2022 and 20 per cent doping by 2030. Currently, about 8.5 per cent ethanol is mixed with petrol as against 1-1.5 per cent in 2014, Gadkari said adding ethanol procurement has risen from 38 crore litres to 320 crore litres. Highlighting the need for a policy for import substitution, the minister said India imports Rs 8 lakh crores of crude oil, and this will rise two-folds in the next 4-5 years which would have a huge impact on the economy. Gadkari said India’s minimum support price (MSP) for some crops are higher than international prices that is why the government allowing ethanol production from sugarcane, foodgrains and corn. “We will make ethanol economy of Rs 2 lakh crore in the next five years,” he said. Ethanol extracted from sugarcane as well as damaged food grains such as wheat and broken rice and agriculture waste is less polluting and its use also provides farmers with an alternate source of income. The minister also mentioned that the government is working to support electric vehicle (EV) industry, and American electric car major Tesla is going to enter the Indian market soon. The government has facilitated sale of 2-3 wheeler EVs, he said, adding that the “government is giving permissions to start petrol pumps, which will also have EV charging infrastructure”. He also said that the indigenous battery technology will make electric vehicle (EV) most efficient means of transportation and the country aims to shift public transport on electricity. He also said that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is 60 per cent complete.
OMCs again resort to alternate day fuel price revision
Oil marketing companies seem to have moved once again towards a revised fuel price mechanism, shifting to the practice of changing petrol and diesel rates after every couple of days rather than undertaking changes on a daily basis. In the last few days, pump prices of petrol and diesel have been revised every two days but the practice had not helped consumers as even under this system prices have only moved up making the fuel dearer. On Thursday, OMCs kept retail price of petrol and diesel unchanged. So petrol still costs Rs 96.66 per litre and diesel Rs 87.41 per litre in Delhi. In Mumbai, where petrol prices crossed Rs 100 mark for the first time ever on May 29, the prices continued to be at new high of Rs 102.58 per litre on Thursday. Diesel prices also remained unchanged at Rs 94.70 a litre, the highest among metros. Across the country as well, the petrol and diesel price prices remained static on Thursday but its actual retail prices varied depending on the level of local levies in respective states. The price pause on Thursday came after petrol and diesel prices were raised by 25 and 13 paisa per litre respectively in Delhi on Wednesday. Prior to Wednesday, there was no price revision on Tuesday. Similarly, while fuel prices were raised on Monday, it remained unchanged in the previous day. “It seems oil companies are giving a sense of relief to consumers as fuel prices are not being raised on a daily basis. But still prices are not actually falling but being raised on every alternate day too this month,” said an oil sector expert not willing to be named. He said that the practice of daily price revision, started after deregulation of petrol and diesel prices. Under daily price revision, OMCs revised petrol and diesel prices every morning benchmarking retail fuel prices to a 15-day rolling average of global refined products’ prices and dollar exchange rate. However, in a market where fuel prices need to be increased successively, alternate day price revision seems to be the flavour. With Thursday’s price pause, fuel prices have now increased on 25 days and remained unchanged on 23 days since May 1. The 25 increases have taken up petrol prices by Rs 6.26 per litre in Delhi. Similarly, diesel have increased by Rs 6.68 per litre in the national capital. With global crude prices also rising on a pick up demand and depleting inventories of world’s largest fuel guzzler — the US, retail prices of fuel in India is expected to firm up further in coming days. The benchmark Brent crude is currently over $74 a barrel on ICE or Intercontinental Exchange.
Petroleum Min proposes changes in law to include hydrogen in mineral oil
The petroleum ministry has proposed amendments to existing law to include cleaner sources of energy like hydrogen within the definition of ‘mineral oils’ for which the government gives out licence to explore and produce. Seeking stakeholder comments, the ministry said the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill 2021 proposes to amend the present Act to “create opportunities for exploration, development and production of next-generation cleaner fuels and mitigate regulatory challenges and risks.” It also proposes a new definition of ‘mineral oils’ by including within its ambit modern and cleaner sources of energy like hydrogen. Conventionally, mineral oil is understood to mean hydrocarbons in various forms including natural gas and petroleum oil. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the global community is committed to developing and using clean energy sources. Hydrogen gas is one such clean source of energy, which can be produced, distributed and regulated in conjunction with natural gas, it said. “Presently, the Oilfields (Regulation & Development) Act, 1948 deals with ‘mineral oils’ as understood in the conventional sense. In order to facilitate the development and production of alternative/derivative clean energy sources that are being or may be developed in future, this Bill seeks to redefine ‘mineral oil’,” the draft said. The term as defined in the Bill includes not merely hydrocarbons but also the next-gen fuels viz. ‘other gases which are capable of being used as fuels occurring in association with mineral oils or can be produced from mineral oils such as hydrogen’. The Bill also seeks to foster investment in the exploration and production of oil and gas by offering a lease on stable terms and enabling the government to prescribe a compensation mechanism to protect the investment. The compensation shall be payable in case of suspension, revocation or cancellation of the lease or in case of restriction of access to the leased area. The Bill also seeks to explicitly enumerate the power of the government to prescribe rules for the extension of the period of the lease, the maximum or minimum area of the lease, a mechanism for determination of the economic life of the oilfield, terms for merger or combination of leases and resolution of disputes. It provides for the imposition of fines of up to Rs 1 crore for the first contravention of provisions of any rules. Subsequent contraventions will attract a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh per day. The Bill also seeks to empower the government to recover royalty, cess, lease or licence fee, penalty payment under the law, the draft said.