The Center has approached the Supreme Court looking for amendments to its order directing that every one transmission cables within the residence of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) be stored underground, which states that within the area falling in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the nation A big a part of the whole photo voltaic And wind energy capability and course of will drive up the price of renewable power technology and damage India’s renewable power trigger.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta talked about the petition earlier than Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and urged him to checklist it for listening to. The CJI mentioned that he would look into it.
To verify the dwindling numbers of the endangered Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican, a Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had on April 9 directed that overhead energy traces be positioned underground wherever potential. , passing alongside the habitat of birds in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Seeking amendments to this order, the appliance collectively filed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), states that the SC path “for the facility to adversely impacts the broader sector in India and the power transition away from fossil fuels” and that the MNRE was not heard earlier than the order was handed.
The authorities acknowledged that power transition is critical to scale back emissions and management local weather change and India has agreed to transition to non-fossil fuels underneath the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) together with the settlement signed in Paris in 2015. worldwide commitments. to scale back emissions. It added that India has set a goal of reaching 175 GW of put in renewable power capability (excluding massive hydro) by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.
The petition states that “the world to be restricted in Rajasthan and Gujarat is 80,688 km2 … and the present habitat of the GIB is protected by enclosures, which occupy just one% of it. This space is being restricted. It additionally features a very massive proportion. The nation’s whole photo voltaic and wind energy potential and, specifically, there may be a variety of photo voltaic radiation. It isn’t technically potential to place excessive voltage energy traces underground. Over such a big space Undergrounding the medium/low voltage traces will lead to larger value of RE produced from the world…”
The authorities identified that “so far, only 3 percent of the region’s estimated capacity of about 263 GW of renewable energy has been used” and that “if the remaining capacity remains untapped, we will need an additional 93,000 MW of coal” sooner or later. The potential to interchange unused renewable power that might trigger an opposed direct impression on the setting.
The authorities mentioned that to make sure the conservation of the GIB and its habitat, MoEF&CC has developed National Bustard Recovery Plans that are at the moment being carried out by conservation companies. MoEF&CC, Government of Rajasthan and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have additionally arrange a conservation breeding facility at Desert National Park in Jaisalmer in June 2019.
It mentioned that the menace to GIB is because of a number of causes, which necessitate measures on the central, state and native ranges unfold over varied areas. The petition additionally identified a number of technical difficulties in enterprise the undertaking as “there is no manufacturer of underground/insulated cable for 765 kV in the world”.
It urged the courtroom to permit excessive voltage and further excessive voltage traces i.e. energy traces of 66 kV and above in precedence GIB habitat as overhead energy traces with set up of appropriate mitigation measures like fowl diverters.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
