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New UserCoal-based power plants again get extension to install emissions control equipment
07 Sep 2022
NEW DELHI:
After extending deadlines twice for coal-based power stations to implement
emission standards notified in 2015, the environment ministry has once again
extended the timeline for installing pollution control technologies.
The latest notification, issued
on Monday, has extended this deadline for retiring units (older than 25 years)
to December 31, 2027 and for non-retiring units to December 31, 2026. It also
extended the implementation timeline for power plants within 10 km radius of
Delhi-NCR and million-plus population cities to December 31, 2024 from the
earlier deadline of December 31, 2022.
Under 2015 notification of
emission norms for control of sulphur dioxide (SO2), NOx and mercury from
coal-fired power plants, all these plants were required to achieve the target
for emission standards and install flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) — the
process of removing sulphur compounds from the exhaust emissions of
fossil-fuelled power stations — by December, 2017. “The
emissions norms were put in place, recognising the coal-based power plants as a
major factor contributing to air pollution and resulting mortality. But these
extensions in implementation show that the interest of polluters prevails more
than public health in India, and that needs to stop immediately,” said Sunil
Dahiya, analyst at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The units which have plans
to retire before December 31, 2027, will now be exempted from installing FGD,
and instead they will just have to submit an exemption request to the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) citing
the grounds for retirement. The
CREA’s findings show that out of a total 35 units (33 units within 300 km
radius of Delhi-NCR and two beyond), only six units have installed FGD or Dry
Sorbent Injection (DSI) for controlling SO2 emissions as on date, leaving 29
units without any SO2 controls.