Member Countries of BIMSTEC recently discussed the draft text of Coastal Shipping Agreement drafted by the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.
It would apply to coastal shipping (i.e) shipping within 20 nautical miles of the coastline.
The objective is to facilitate coastal shipping by promoting lot of cargo movement between the member countries through the cost effective, environment friendly and faster coastal shipping routing.
It is expected to give a boost to trade between the member countries.
Coastal ship movements require smaller vessels and lesser draft, and therefore, involve lower costs.
BIMSTEC grouping - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand
Sharavathi Project
Sharavathi Project is a pumped storage scheme planned by Karnataka Power Corporation.
It involves constructing an upstream reservoir across one of the tributary of Sharavathi River.
There will be one underground power station which will utilise the water from the upstream and downstream reservoir for power generation with a capacity of 2000 MW of electricity.
The underground pipeline connects two reservoirs such as Talakalale and Gerusoppa reservoir. And a power plant is situated underneath a reserve forest.
The forest comes between the sharavathi wildlife sanctuary near Jog forest reserve and Aghanashini Lion Tailed Macaque conservation reserve.
It got pre-construction clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Pumped Storage Scheme
Pumped storage hydro plants store and generate energy by moving water between two reservoirs at different elevations.
During times of low electricity demand, such as at night or on weekends, excess energy is used to pump water to an upper reservoir.
The turbine acts as a pump, moving water back uphill.
During periods of high electricity demand, the stored water is released through turbines.
A pumped-storage plant works much like a conventional hydroelectric station, except the same water can be used over and over again.
Floating Solar Power Plant
India’s largest floating solar power plant project at the Banasura Sagar Dam in Wayanad district is completed and going to be commissioned soon.
It has the generating capacity of 500 Kilo watt and it will be fed to the Kerala State Electricity Board grid using underground cables.
It can be more efficient than their ground-mount counterparts due to the water body’s cooling effect on the modules.
They collect less dust which cuts down on maintenance and they also preserve water levels through shading.
Earlier in the year NETRA (NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance), installed a 100kW floating solar plant at Kayamkulam, which is also in Kerala.
Frequent cyclones in Arabian Sea
A recent study by researchers has found that extremely severe cyclones are becoming more frequent in the Arabian Sea.
Researchers pointed global warming as a reason for increasing frequency of cyclones.
Normally, Arabian Sea sees one extremely severe cyclone in every 4 years.
Cyclones in Arabian Sea –
1998 – 2013 - Only 5 extremely severe cyclones
2014 - Cyclone Nilofar hitting Gujarat.
2015 – Two cyclones Chapala and Megh hitting the Yemeni island of Socotra.
2017 – Cyclone Ockhi.
There are two factors contributed to the increased severity of Arabian Sea cyclones, particularly post-monsoon.
First, Arabian Sea surface becomes warmer than the other ocean basins during this period.
Second, due to the interplay of global warming, climate variability and weather changes, winter monsoon circulation has been weakening over the years.
