A giant, poor-sighted bird stands in the way of India’s green goals - The Hindu BusinessLine 03/11/21, 4:48 AM

A giant, poor-sighted bird stands in

the way of India’s green goals
A Supreme Court order is asking for transmission
lines to go underground to protect the endangered
bird, the Great Indian Bustard, from a fatal collision
course
Bloomberg

Pity the great Indian bustard. The majestic, endangered bird is massive,
making it slow to manoeuvre in flight. It has poor frontal vision, and an
unfortunate habit of scanning the earth while flying across the flat
grasslands of India’s western borders. That combination too often sets it
on a fatal collision course with power lines.

Pity also, if you will, the plight of India’s renewable energy developers.

The wide-open region that’s home to the rare bird has long been an ideal
location for wind and solar projects. In an effort to save the great Indian
bustard from flying into power lines, a Supreme Court order is asking for
transmission lines in a large swathe of the region to go underground. The
companies say the directive could cost an estimated $4 billion in extra
expenses, and jeopardize nearly 20 gigawatts of awarded solar and wind
projects.

Also read: Renewable energy players trip up over SC order

Before taking sides, though, be aware that the issue is more nuanced
than a straightforward clash pitting industry against nature. The effort to
save the bustard holds risks for what is arguably an even larger
environmental cause: It could set back India’s climate goals, which

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A giant, poor-sighted bird stands in the way of India’s green goals - The Hindu BusinessLine 03/11/21, 4:48 AM

depend heavily on the availability of wasteland like the bustard’s domain

for putting up solar panels and wind turbines.

“The whole renewable industry, especially solar, could come to a

standstill,” said Parag Sharma, chief executive officer at O2 Power Pvt., a
Temasek Holdings-backed developer that’s building a 780-megawatt
solar project in the western Indian town of Jaisalmer. “You won’t find land
that easily anywhere else in the country.”

Other companies that have projects in the region include Adani Green
Energy Ltd., ReNew Power Pvt. and Acme Solar Holdings.

‘Certain’ Extinction
The April ruling was a result of a petition filed in 2019 by M.K. Ranjitsinh
Jhala, a former bureaucrat turned wildlife activist. The judges based their
order on a report by the State-run Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which
said that “unless power line mortality is mitigated urgently, extinction of
GIBs is certain.”

The court ruled that all low-voltage lines, including existing ones, need to
be taken below the earth. It formed a three-member committee to
examine the feasibility of also putting high-voltage cables underground.

Also read: Hide-and-seek with the Indian blue robin

The problem, according to the energy companies, is that the court went
well beyond the report’s prescription. While the WII advised burying
cables in a region where most of the birds live, the court also called for
action in potential habitats, expanding the protection area and the cost
burden for the companies.

“We were taken by surprise,” said Subrahmanyam Pulipaka, CEO of

industry lobby National Solar Energy Federation of India. “We are
discussing all options, including filing a review petition before the court,
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A giant, poor-sighted bird stands in the way of India’s green goals - The Hindu BusinessLine 03/11/21, 4:48 AM

approaching the committee to present our case, or both.”

‘Slow Bird’
Great Indian bustards – the name means “slow bird” in Old French – are
among the heaviest flying creatures on earth. They stand about 1 meter
tall (3.3 feet), have a wing span of about 2 meters, and weigh nearly 18
kilograms, more than twice the size of a peacock. The easily frightened,
ground-nesting bird used to roam across 11 States in India, but their
dwelling ground has shrunk to mostly Rajasthan.

A WII survey covering 80 kilometers of power lines across the Thar

desert region of the State found four bustard deaths during a single year
due to high-transmission wires, including some connected to wind
turbines. The study found that the birds died either because of the
impact of the collision or electrocution.

Besides the transmission wires, a rapid conversion of grassland for

farming or industrial projects and a slow birth rate – bustards lay one egg
every year or two – have also led to their depleting numbers.

Also read: Ecologist Sunil Harsana on saving the Mangar Bani, a 250-
hectare forest next to a concrete jungle

“These birds are on the brink of extinction and are now confined to a very
small area. Saving that ecosystem should be as much a part of our
climate goals as any other thing,” said Sreeja Chakraborty, a Bengaluru-
based environment lawyer. “If the industry finds it tough to comply with
the court’s order, they should move their projects to other locations.”

Since the ruling, the power companies and government and State
officials have scrambled to find a solution for both businesses and birds.
In a meeting in early May, the participants discussed the technical
difficulties of taking high-voltage lines below ground, the cost

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A giant, poor-sighted bird stands in the way of India’s green goals - The Hindu BusinessLine 03/11/21, 4:48 AM

implications and even environmental hazards of below-the-earth cabling,

according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

Taking lines underground can inflate project costs and power prices by
nearly 20 per cent and getting lenders to fund the additional expenditure,
estimated at around ₹300 billion ($4 billion), could be a challenge due to
regulatory delays, according to the solar lobby group’s Pulipaka.

“That means developers will have to put in their own equity money and
then run around for years to get that reimbursed,” he said.

Also read: Earth in rest

India, the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, plans to

expand its renewable power capacity nearly five-fold to 450 gigawatts by
the end of this decade. Solar and wind, which together account for about
90 per cent of the country’s renewable power capacity, are expected to
form most of the new installations.

The court, in its ruling, acknowledged the need to weigh sustainable

development for humans with the rights of other creatures. While it
sought to find a balance between the two sides, the court gave more
weighting to the heavy, poor-sighted bustards.

“Irrespective of the cost factor, the priority shall be to save the near
extinct birds,” the two-judge bench ruled.

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