Coal news and updates

The older thermal power plants are likely to get more time beyond December to meet the strict emission norms set by the environment ministry, power minister Piyush Goyal said here today.

 

"We took up the issue with the environment ministry. They agreed with us that the deadline should be extended so that old polluting plants can be replaced with supercritical super efficient plants. This will reduce the pollution to just 10 per cent of the existing levels of these old plants... I think it should be extended (beyond December 2017) because it should be done in a way so that the poor should not be affected," Goyal told reporters at an NTPC conference here.

 

"I don't want that we import equipment (to meet deadline for meeting emission norms). We realised after discussions that it would put more burden on the consumer and they will have to pay more for electricity," Goyal said responding to queries on the environment ministry's tougher norms on the use of water, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and mercury.

 

According to industry estimates, the cost of upgrade could be up to Rs 1.5 crore per megawatt.

 

In December 2015, the environment ministry had set new norms for coal-based units to cut down emissions of particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen and improve the air quality around plants.

 

The ministry wanted plants to meet the guidelines by the end of this year.

 

Goyal is of the view that instead of going for renovation and modernisation, the power plants should be replaced with latest energy efficiency and less polluting technology.

 

Rating agency Icra said the norms would impact 187GW of existing thermal plants and 74GW of capacity under development.

 

"These norms would entail a capital investment of Rs 0.6 crore to Rs 1 crore per mw, based on the age of the plant. This amounts to an aggregate capex requirement of about Rs 1.2 lakh crore, which is likely to materialise over a 2-3 year period, given our assumptions about the implementation delays," Icra said. This is likely to result in an increase in the cost of generation of such plants by about 13-22 paise per unit on account of the capital charges alone, apart from entailing additional operations and maintenance charges.

 

PFC profit

 

Power Finance Corp reported an over 23 per cent surge in standalone net profit to Rs 1,949.91 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,582.32 crore for the corresponding quarter of last fiscal, PFC said.

 

According to the PFC statement, total income has increased to Rs 7,063.08 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 6,994.10 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Source: Telegraph India