Decks have been cleared for taking up work on the 4,000 MW Yadadri coal-based supercritical thermal power project at Dameracherla in Nalgonda district, in the next couple of months following the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) recommending the issuance of environmental clearance to the project.
The 5x800 MW thermal project is one of the two power projects conceived by Telangana Government soon after the State formation in 2014 and the foundation stone for the project was laid by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on June 8 in 2015. The recommendation for the environmental clearance comes as big step forward to the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco) plans to make the State self-reliant in the energy sector.
The eight-member EAC chaired by Dr. Navin Chandra that met in Delhi on April 26 has recommended to the MoEF issuance of environmental clearance (EC) for the project after going through the revised/final environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management plan (EMP) submitted by the project proponent addressing the issues raised through public representations and online applications.
The recommendation for issuance of EC comes subject to conditions including written commitment from the project proponent that Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) would supply coal through railway line only; that a100-metre wide area on either side of a stream flowing through the plant site be earmarked to raise greenbelt among many other specific conditions laid down for thermal projects.
According to TS-Genco officials, of the total 2,800 acres land required for the project, 2,095 acres is forestland and 704 acres is patta, government, udafa and d-patta land with only a part of it under cultivation.
Officials stated that the project would use 50% indigenous and 50% imported coal or 100% imported coal and the requirement of coal is estimated to be 39,657.6 tonnes per day (TPD), 12.25 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) with 85% plant load factor in case of blend and 35,587.2 TPD, 11.02 MTPA at 85% PLF in case of total imported coal. Domestic coal would be sourced from SCCL and a memorandum of understanding was signed for supply of 7 MTPA of G9 and above grades of domestic coal.