Tata Power’s Jojobera plant bags Golden Peacock Award for Environment Excellence
June 13, 2005

Tata Power’s Jojobera division was presented the Golden Peacock Award for Environment Excellence for the year 2005 at a glittering ceremony of the World Congress on Environment Management (WCEM) at the hands of Shri Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, governor of Himachal Pradesh and Dr Ola Ullsten, former prime minister of Sweden. The award is a significant recognition of the Jojobera division’s unstinting pursuit of environmental excellence. The plant is also certified to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards.

The Golden Peacock awardee for 2005 was decided by an eminent jury headed by Dr S Z Qasim, former member of the planning commission, and presented at a gala awards night on June 11, 2005 at the S M Convention Centre, Palampur (HP). The awards ceremony was part of the Congress Banquet of the 7th World Congress on Environment Management (WCEM), 2005 held at the same venue.

Driven by its commitment to power generation harmonious with nature, Tata Power has taken concrete steps to sustain the ecological balance. Over Rs 100 crore have been invested on pollution control equipment at the Trombay Thermal Power Plant in Mumbai alone, to install India’s first-of-its-kind flue gas-de-sulphurisation plant to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions in flue gas, based on the sea-water scrubbing principle; the set up of electrostatic precipitators of 99.5 per cent efficiency; fly ash aggregate plant to convert fly ash into light weight aggregates, a valuable building material; and installation of tall chimneys (152 m and 275 m) to limit the ground level concentration of emissions. Besides, Tata Power has also initiated an afforestation programme to plant over 10 million trees to increase the green cover around its catchment areas in Lonavala in Maharashtra.

The 307.5 MW Jojobera thermal station has consistently received several quality and safety awards / certificates, setting high benchmarks in environmental conservation. The Jojobera division has also adopted a nearby village, Khayerbani, for rural electrification with 13 solar streetlights lighting up the village and 36 solar lanterns providing light to numerous families. Currently work on an additional 120 MW unit at Jojobera is also underway, which is scheduled to be commissioned in October 2005.