Essar Energy

Essar Energy is a London-headquartered energy company with interests in the power generation and oil and gas industries. On its website the company states that it is "focused on India and positioned to capitalize on India’s rapidly growing energy demand". The company is 76% owned by Essar Group in India. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Essar Group, Essar Energy's parent company, owns Trinity Coal Corporation, which has operations in Kentucky.

In June 2012 the U.S. EPA sued Essar Group alleging in a federal lawsuit that mountaintop removal mines in three counties dumped pollutants into tributaries of the Levisa Fork River in 2005 and 2007.

The company states that it "currently has 8,070 MW of power generation projects under construction, with 2,910 MW to commence operations by FY 2012" and is expanding the Vadinar oil refinery.

Coal powered projects under construction
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Coal mines
In its 2010 prospectus Essar Energy listed existing coal mines it had as being the:


 * the Mahan mine in India;
 * the Chakla mine in India;
 * the Ashok Karkata mine in India;
 * the Aries mine in Indonesia; and the
 * the Cambulatsitsi mine in Mozambique;

It also listed the Neptune mine in India as a project which it was seeking to complete the purchase of.

In its 2010 annual report Essar complained that "we are still awaiting forest clearance for our Mahan, Chakla and Ashok Karkata coal blocks which will provide fuel for the Mahan I and Tori power stations. This clearance is delaying the development of a number of coal blocks in India and as a result, an Empowered Group of Ministers was formed by the Prime Minister’s Office to resolve all cases where significant progress has been made on construction of the power plant. Despite a visit to our sites in July 2010 and a favourable recommendation, we have not yet received forest clearance."


 * "While we are optimistic of a favourable outcome, we will not be in a position to supply coal from our own mines ahead of the commissioning of the 1,200 MW Mahan I coal fired power project. The first unit of this power plant will commence commissioning in September 2011. We have therefore applied to Coal India Limited for tapering coal linkage until our own mines are operating at full capacity. We expect to receive this clearance shortly."

Contact details
Registered office Essar Energy plc 3rd Floor, Lansdowne House 57 Berkeley Square London, W1J 6ER Telephone: +44 (0)20 7408 7000

Head office Essar Energy plc 6th Floor, DCDM Building 10 Frere Felix de Valois Street Port Louis Mauritius Telephone: +230 202 3136 Phone: +44 (0) 207 408 8700 Website: http://www.essarenergy.com/

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 * India and coal