- Many pre -selected projects located in areas with water razor.
- Access the water a late occurrence for thermal plant operators.
- The expansion is likely to drive more conflicts between residents and industry.
Chandrapur: April marks the beginning of the cruelest months for the residents of Olpur, a warm and dry district in western India. As temperatures rise, water availability decreases. In the maximum summer, the waiting for the taps to flow can stretch a week or more.
Only a decade ago, the water flowed every two days, according to the local government and the residents of the overlap, about 400 km from the interior of Mumbai.
Then, in 2017, a coal power plant with 1,320 megawatts led by NTPC controlled by the State began operations. He provided the Energy District, and competed with residents and companies for water from a deposit that serves the area.
Socapur illustrates the CATCH-22 faced by India, which has 17% of the planet’s population but access to only 4% of its water resources. The most populous country in the world plans to spend almost $ 80 billion on water hungry coal plants for 2031 so that energy cultivation industries, such as data centers operations.
The vast majority of these new projects are planned for the driest areas of India, according to a document from the Ministry of Energy reviewed by Reutersthat is not public and was created for officials to track progress.
Many of the 20 people interviewed by Reuters For this story, which included executives of the electricity company, energy officials and industry analysts, said that the thermal expansion probably foreshadowed the future conflict between industry and residents about limited water resources.
Thirty -seven of the 44 new projects named in the list of future operations without date of the Ministry of Energy of Future Operations are found in areas that the Government classifies as suffering from scarcity or water stress. NTPC, which says it attracts 98.5% of its water from areas with water stress, is involved in nine of them.
NTPC said in response to Reuters“Questions that” continually strives towards the conservation of water with the best of our efforts in Olanpur “, including the use of methods such as treating and reusing water. Consultations on possible expansion plans did not respond.
The Ministry of Energy of India told legislators in Parliament, more recently in 2017, that the locations of coal power plants are determined by factors that include access to land and water and that state governments are responsible for assigning water.
Access to Earth is the dominant consideration, two federal officials of the Groundwater Board and two water researchers said Reuters.
The laws of complex and arcane lands of India have delayed many commercial and infrastructure projects for years, so that energy operators under pressure to comply with the flourishing demand selection areas where they will probably face little resistance, said Rudrodip Majumdar, professor of energy and environment at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru.
“They look for areas with easy land availability, minimal resistance to the maximum land, even if the water is available only far,” he said.
The Federal Ministry of Energy, as well as the energy and water authorities in the state of Maharashtra, where Olanca is located, did not respond to the consultations.
Delhi tried to reduce his coal dependence before reversing the track after the Covid pandemic. It has invested a lot in renewable energy sources such as solar and hydroelectric energy, but thirsting thermal energy will remain dominant during the next decades.
India’s old energy bureaucrat, Ram Vinay Shahi, said that access ready to power was strategically important for the country, whose per capita energy consumption is much lower than its Chinese regional rival.
“The only energy resource we have in the country is coal,” he said. “Between water and coal, coal preference is given.”
‘Nothing’ in Olanpur?
The resident of Olapur, Rajani Hhoke, plans his life around the water in high summer. In the days with supply, “I do not concentrate on anything but store water, wash clothes and that job,” said the mother of two children, that policies strictly on the use of her family’s water.
Sushilkumar Shinde, the Federal Power Minister who approved the Vapur Plant in 2008, when the area had already been classified as “scarce of water,” he said Reuters He helped NTPC acquire the Earth negotiating payments from the locals.
The member of the opposition Congress party, who won the elections to retain the parliamentary seat of the Olapur one year after the approval of the plant, defended the operation for reasons of the considerable investment of NTPC. The $ 1.34 billion plant generated thousands of jobs during construction and now provides part -time employment to some 2,500 premises.
“I made sure that farmers obtained good money for the land that NTPC acquired,” he said, added that the poor management of local authorities was the fault of water scarcity.
The municipal official of the Olapur, Sachin Ombase, acknowledged that the water distribution infrastructure had not been up to date with the growth of the population, but said that the authorities were trying to address the problem.
Shinde said that “there was nothing” in Suapur in 2008 and that residents who received land payments were not right to oppose the plant.
The researcher Shripad Dharmadhikary, who founded the Environmental Defense Group Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, said local politicians often supported infrastructure projects made to increase their popularity.
Any “problem appears much later,” he said.
Even before the soapur plant began operating, there were signs of problems to come. The first of its two units would begin to generate energy in mid -2016, but more than 12 months was delayed due to years of severe water scarcity, according to a regulatory presentation of 2020.
The absence of nearby water resources meant that the station ended up drawing water from a deposit about 120 km away. These distances can abruptly increase costs and the risk of water theft, said Dharmadhikary and two plant sources.
As of May 2023, the station is among the least efficient in India’s water, according to the latest federal records available. It also has among the lowest capacity use rates of coal plants, according to data from the Niti Aayog government experts.
NTPC said its data indicates that the soapur plant has an online efficiency relationship with the country’s standards.
The Indian stations generally consume twice as much water that their global counterparts, according to the fighting center of the Science and Environment Center based in Delhi.
The Olanpur plant officials told journalists in March that the use of capacity will improve with the growing demand, indicating that water consumption could increase in the future.
An upcoming survey on the use of water in Olanca directed by the state authorities of groundwater and reviewed by Reuters He showed that the demand for irrigation in the district exceeds the offer in a third.
Dharmes Waghmore has a few miles from the plant and said that developing it would provide more financial security than its current casual work.
But he said that taking money to develop the earth piercing a time well is too risky: “What happens if there is no water?”
Kuladep Jangam, a senior local official, said the authorities were struggling to attract Business to Olapur.
The lack of “water neutralizes all other attraction factors,” he said.
Thirst
Since 2014, India has lost 60.33 billion units of coal power throughout the country, equivalent to 19 days of coal power supply at the June 2025 levels, because the shortage of water forces plants to suspend the generation, according to federal data.
Among the facilities that have fought with the scarcity is the 220MW Superpur Superpur Thermal Energy Station, one of the largest in India.
Located about 500 km to the northeast of Olapur, but also in an area stressed by water, the plant closes several of its units for months at a time when the monsoon delivers less rain than usual, according to Niti Aayog data.
Despite the challenges, the plant is considering adding 800MW new capacity, according to the Power Ministry list seen by Reuters and half a dozen sources in Mahagenco, which operates the station.
The document indicates that the plant has not identified a water source for expansion, although it has already obtained its coal.
MAHAGENCO OF STATE PROPERTY did not respond to Reuters‘ questions.
The thirst for water from the plant has previously led to tensions with the residents of the nearby city of Chandrapur. The premises protested the station during a drought in 2017, which led officials such as the local legislator Sudhir Mugantiwar to order that the water diverted to the homes.
Mungantiwar, however, says it supports the expansion of the plant, which expects it to lead it to remove the oldest units that are removed in the water.
But the station has already delayed a plan to dismantle two polluting and water units with a capacity of 420MW for approximately seven years, citing instructions from the federal government, said the company’s sources.
The Indian government asked electric companies not to withdraw the old thermal plants until the end of the decade due to an increase in demand after pandemic, Reuters He has reported.
The resident of Chandrapur, Anjali, who puts himself with a name, said he resorts to visit a tap installed by the station near one of its doors for drinking water.
“We are poor, we manage what we can,” he said.
