Twelve major Indian ports will invest Rs.1,000 crore to generate 150 MW of "clean" power and reduce their reliance on the power grid, union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said here on Friday.
"We have sanctioned a plan of 150MW of green power for the ports. The plan will involve setting up solar and wind capacities on rooftops and windmills in the sea," he said after inaugurating the country's first sophisticated Tier-I Oil Spill Response for Mumbai and JNPT harbours to mark the World Environment Day.
For setting up windmills to generate powera, the government has appointed a consultant to check the feasibility of the venture, which had immense possibilities for a city like Mumbai, the minister added.
He pointed out that there are projects which produce power through clean sources like solar, wind, wind in the sea and tidal energy at a single location.
Adapting these could help eliminate Mumbai's reliance on the power grid and he would visit one such project during his forthcoming trip to Japan, Gadkari said.
Similarly, he said that the sewerage from Mumbai which goes and pollutes the Arabian Sea can be used to generate bio-gas that can power 2,000 buses for which the government is acquiring the required technology.
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Urging striking a balance between development and environment, he said extreme approaches either way do not help.
The new OSR has a capability to tackle oil spills of upto 700 tonnes and follows the increase in the quantum of liquid bulk petroleum cargo products handled at the Mumbai Port Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
The MbPT, JNPT and oil companies like ONGC, BPCL, HPCL, IOCL, Tata Power, RIL, CTTL and Aegis Logistics Ltd signed an MoU to enable the OSR.
The above-mentioned companies and MbPT will tender the monitor the Tier-I OSR facilitiy with the participation of the Indian Coast Guard for technical and other support.