Protect Western Ghats from power plants

By Shankar Sharma
17 Feb 2010

If we can improve our efficiency in power generation, delivery and conservation, it could save enough power required to be generated through new power plants and thereby, we can protect the priceless Western Ghats from the destruction caused by such projects.

The Western Ghats, designated to the list of 18 biodiversity hotspots in the world, and covering an area of more than 1500 kms in states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, provide ecological services of immense economic value to our society. Western Ghats are the source of several major and minor rivers of peninsular India, and provide livelihood for millions of families.

Therefore, it is crucial not only for the adjoining states but also for the entire peninsular India that these Ghats are well protected and maintained. While many kinds of human activities have been damaging for the Western Ghats for many decades, the impacts since independence are massive and irreversible because of the power projects.

A dispassionate analysis of the impact of power projects on Western Ghats and suitable remedies is urgently needed in order to arrest their accelerated decay.

Impact of Electrical Power Projects

The power projects of relevance to Western Ghats can be broadly classified into the following categories:

Dam based hydel projects including small size hydel projects
Thermal projects based on fossil fuels like coal, diesel and gas
Nuclear power projects
Large size windmills
Transmission lines

A common impact of all these categories of power projects is the diversion of sizeable chunks of forest lands for transmission lines. Transmission lines are needed to evacuate power from large size power plants to be transmitted /distributed over large areas. As compared to small size power plants, which will cater to the local electricity needs only, large size power plants have huge transmission network destroying the forest cover, fragmenting the forests, and opening up the thick forest cover leading to accelerated deterioration.

In addition to the forest lands needed for the 'Right of Way', such transmission lines lead to deterioration of forest ecology due to dust and noise pollution during the construction activities such as forest clearing, excavation, debris dumping, temporary shelters for workers, chopping trees for firewood etc. Frequent movements of vehicles add to the problems.

Dam based hydro power stations

Amongst the four categories of power projects, the dam based power projects have the maximum impact on Western Ghats in the form of dams, reservoirs, power stations, staff quarters and other civil / hydrological structures. Combined together these will divert large chunks of forest and fertile river valley agricultural lands. Some of the major impacts of the dam based power projects are:

Submergence of lands, agricultural fields, forests, grazing lands and homes on a large scale leading to the displacement of a large number of people;
Disruption to downstream flows impacting agriculture and fisheries threatening the livelihoods of people;
Construction of dams are preceded by clearing of trees, excavation, fragmentation of the forests, dumping of debris/ construction materials, noise and air pollution due to construction activities etc. These would lead to the degradation of natural surroundings, and to degraded water sources;
Impounding of water in the dams is known to cut off access roads thus isolating villages/ communities;
Impact of one dam may not appear to be as huge as compared to the cumulative impact of a number of dams in one region or as a cascade of dams on one river. Example of 4 hydel projects in Sharavathy valley;
Impoundment of large quantity of water in dams are suspected to trigger earthquake;
The hydel dams are not renewable in a true sense, because the dam and other hydro structures have a finite life of say 50-75 years after which they will need decommissioning. Even though storing of water may be done away with after decommissioning, the forest wealth, which might have been destroyed at the time of dam building, would be lost for ever.
The official project reports [detailed project report (DPR)] are known to ignore the true costs (direct and indirect) of impact on Western Ghats. These costs when taken into objective account can have a major impact on the cost vs. benefit ratio of the project itself.
A major issue with dams is that the quantity, quality and pattern of water flow in the rivers get impacted with the result that biodiversity dependent on river flow is severely affected. One or more dams on a river will severely affect this characteristic of a river, and hence will deprive us of all the associated benefits.
Whereas the National Forest Policy has recommended a target of forest /tree cover of 33% of the land area, the national average is known to be less than 25% as per the MoEF report "The State of Environment 2009". If we continue to build more dams, not only this target will never be reached, but the region and the country as a whole will be affected ecologically.
It is very disturbing to note that there are no legally mandatory norms in our country which stipulates the minimum fresh water flow in a river with or without hydro electric dams. Authorities seem to consider the water flowing to sea as a waste, without appreciating the need for such a flow to conserve the ecosystem. Such 'Environment Flows' are required to maintain the ecological integrity of a river and its associated ecosystems, and of the goods and services provided by them.
Dams prevent the silt from flowing down the river and seriously affect the availability of nutrients to the bio-diversity down stream.
The Western Ghats are not only recognized as bio-diversity hotspots but also as fragile ecosystems with many species of flora and fauna amongst the endemic types. Dam building activities like digging, blasting, excavation, dumping of debris etc are highly likely to severely damage their ecology.


Coal based power stations, although never located within Western Ghats, can have massive direct and indirect impacts on Western Ghats, even if located on the west coast of our country.

Pollution due to dust from the handling of large quantity of coal; coal dust from the activities such as unloading from ship /rail, storage, crushing at sea port or project site can travel the distance to Western Ghats and lead to fast deterioration of the flora and fauna;
Pollution due to flue gases from the plant chimneys; fly ash is known to be able to travel long distances of up to 100 km radius and have huge impact on nearby flora, fauna and human beings including the agricultural crops;
Sulphur gas emitted from the combustion of coal is highly likely to react with humid air of the coast and cause extensive acid-rain damage on Western Ghats;
Increase in atmospheric temperature due to flue gases from the chimneys can affect certain species of flora and fauna;
The unknown deleterious impact of the combination of salty air and coal/ ash pollution cannot be ignored;
Potential for adverse impact on micro-ecology of the locality including insects, worms, marine creatures etc. can be considerable;
The Global Warming, for which the fossil fuel power stations are major contributors through Green House Gases (GHG) emission, will have long term impact on the sensitive ecology of Western Ghats.
Nuclear power stations

In addition to the requirement of large chunk of agricultural and forest lands, if situated in west coast areas as in the case of Kaiga power plant, the nuclear power plants also have the credible risk of nuclear radiation affecting the bio-diversity of Western Ghats.

Large size wind mills

The large size wind mills, though deemed to be environmentally friendly, require forest lands for locating the wind mill, access roads and electricity network required to evacuate the power. Additionally, they are also known to be affecting the free movement of birds and land animals in the area because of the height of the windmill blades and the noise they create.

The growing conflict: electricity needs vs. environmental protection of Western Ghats

A rational analysis of the power situation in the country provides a different story. In view of the fact that a considerable portion of Indian population (about 40% of total) is yet to have access to electricity, and that our population is growing continuously, we have to take a rational look at the real/legitimate demand for electricity. The legitimate demand for electricity, which is required to meet our essential needs and which is required to run our economy, could be vastly less than what is being projected by the authorities. This will be evident if we care to classify the electricity requirements of our society into three categories; the real needs, preferable wants, and vulgar luxuries. Most of the electricity demand for the economically productive activities such as general lighting, industries, transportation and agricultural purposes can be termed as real needs; the electricity demand for certain domestic and commercial appliances such as fans, TVs, radios, refrigerators etc. can be termed as preferable wants; but our society has to take a tough call to categorize certain electricity demand such as night time sports, heated swimming pools, air conditioned homes/shopping malls etc as vulgar luxuries.

Sustainable and eco-friendly ways to meet electricity demand

An objective review of the Indian power sector reveals that there has been gross inefficiency in the way we have utilized the existing electricity infrastructure, which if taken to international best practices level, can not only satisfactorily meet all the legitimate demand for electricity for next few years, but can also go a long way in protecting the Western Ghats.

If all the potential in efficiency improvement, energy conservation and Demand Side Management (DSM) are effectively implemented, it may be feasible to achieve savings of about 50,000 to 60,000 MW in actual demand for electricity, and also achieve a virtual capacity addition of about 20,000 MW. Even if we achieve 50% of this potential, it is credible to argue that the Western Ghats can be spared from the ravages of power sector on a sustainable basis.

In addition to this huge potential in getting virtual capacity addition, India being a tropical country also has a huge potential in new and renewable energy sources (N&RE). N&RE potential is even more if they are considered as stand alone, decentralized energy sources either at roof-top or at community centers.

The scope for efficiency improvement in the existing electricity infrastructure and the potential in M&RE sources together can make it possible to meet the legitimate demand for electricity of the country on a sustainable basis without having to build large number of conventional power stations, which in turn can significantly reduce the devastation on Western Ghats.

Credible ways to protect Western Ghats from the ravages of power plants

Consider Western Ghats as a source for ecological services only on a sustainable basis;
Keep it out of the purview of the conventional thinking of developmental process;
Declare entire Western Ghats as reserved bio-sphere, and conserve it;
Improve the efficiency in the existing electricity infrastructure and explore the potential in N&RE sources to the maximum extent possible;
Since the economic value of various ecological and product service rendered by Western Ghats is immense, the real costs vs. benefits of building any power project in the vicinity of Western Ghats should be objectively calculated through costs and benefits analysis (CBA) process.
Bio-diversity has many kinds of values and potential benefits for the humans and the world as a whole. UN Convention on Biological Diversity has advocated a wise policy to apply 'Precautionary Principle' and take necessary action to conserve Bio-diversity before components of it are permanently lost.
A detailed study to estimate the immense economic value of the biodiversity of the entire Western Ghats and different sections of the same should be carried out to prove to the government that it is more valuable than any conceivable man-made projects.