Cement, Energy and Environment

STATES TO NAME PEOPLE AFFECTED BY MINES FOR PROFIT SHARING While the mines ministry has managed to get green signal from GoM on the proposal that mining firms would share 26 per cent of their profit with the affected people, the discretion to decide who is affected and the list of affected people has been left to the state governments. In its last meeting, the GoM headed by Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee approved the new Mining Bill that proposes 26 per cent profit sharing by miners with the people affected by the project. The new Bill has proposed creation of a fund, district mineral foundation, to pay the beneficiaries. Besides, it proposes that in case of a mine being non-functional or in losses, the firms should compensate the people affected by land acquisition, by paying them amount equal to the royalty given to state governments. Courtesy: TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Newswire, 1-15January2011, P16. Renewable Energy MOST STATES FAIL TO ACHIEVE RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET UNDER THE CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN Two states succeeded. Rest did not. The National Action Plan on Climate NEWS BRIEF Change (NAPCC) envisages five per cent of total energy production every year from all states will be from renewable sources. But in the financial year ending March 201 0, the achievement was of 3.9 per cent, majority of which came from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The gap is likely to increase as NAPCC's target will rise by one per cent annually to touch 15 per cent by 2020. Launched in 2009, NAPCC outlined existing and future policies addressing climate mitigation. A report issued by the forum of electricity regulators was released following the launch. The report recommended that to be in sync with NAPCC's target, the level of renewable purchase obligation (RPO) to be achieved by all states should be above five per cent by 2010. Set by a state for itself, RPO is the percentage for electricity to be procured from renewable energy sources. Till November 2010, 21 states had specified their RPO capacities. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had achieved an RPO level of more than 10 per cent by March 201 0, while Punjab, Madhya Pradesh , West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Bihar cocld generate less than two per cent. One of the reasons the target was not met was "electricity is a concurrent subject where states retain the authority to frame policies on renewable energy", said Rakesh Shah, adviser (renewable) with the Central Electricity Regulatory commission (CERC). In addition, most states have made achieving RPO nonmandatory by adopting "genuine difficulty" clause mentioned in a model regulation framed by CERC. The regulation states: "In case of 'genuine difficulty' in complying High cost of renewable energy, lax rules and less participation could be the cause with RPO, the obligated entity can approach the commission for carry forward of compliance requirement to the next year". High cost of generating renewable energy could also be a reason. "DISCOMS do not want to buy energy from renewable sources because of the high cost. It discourages a state to meet its RPO despite it being mandated by the state," said Ashwin of Prayas, a non– profit on energy research in Pune. Courtesy: Down to Earth, March 16-31, 2011. P24. 37