TPPs in all the eastern states including Odisha are non-compliant.

TPPs in all the eastern states including Odisha are non-compliant.

By Bijay Mishra
Bhubaneswar, June 23, 2023: 

None of the states in the eastern region -- Odisha ,Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, and Jharkhand – have any thermal power plants that (TPPs) are at present complying with the emission norms.

India’s coal-based thermal power plants continue to drag their feet in meeting emission norms, says a new analysis done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions are a case in point: the CSE analysis finds that a mere 5 per cent of the installed capacity in this sector has put in place an air pollution control device – flue gas de-sulfurization (FGD) system -- for controlling SO2 emissions.

The CSE analysis is based on the updated FGD status released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the technical arm of the Union Ministry of Power, for April 2023.

Nivit Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution unit, CSE told that “The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had issued a notification specifying the emission norms for coal-based power plants way back in December 2015. Since then, the norms have been diluted for several parameters and deadlines delayed.”
As per the CSE analysis, the 5 per cent of plants that have so far installed FGDs for controlling SO2 emissions include 9,280 MW that have been reported to have commissioned FGDs and another 1,430 MW that ‘claim to be SO2 compliant’. 

Anubha Aggarwal, programme officer, IPU , CSE said that  “ we have found that despite five to eight years of extensions in deadlines, 43 per cent of the capacity (Category A, which includes plants within 10 km radius of Delhi-NCR or cities with million-plus population); 11 per cent of the capacity (Category B -- within 10 km radius of critically polluted areas); and 1 per cent of the remaining capacity (Category C) are unlikely to meet the norms by the latest deadlines of 2024, 2025 and 2026, respectively.”

Only 0.81 GW of the 32.63 GW newly commissioned capacity is complying with the norms.Approximately 13 GW is now likely to comply because of the extension in deadline. Approximately 23 GW capacity is still exploring the feasibility of commissioning FGD in its premises. Approximately 2.47 GW is identified to be decommissioned, but the retirement plans of these plants are unclear.

None of the states in the eastern region -- Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, and Jharkhand – have any thermal power plants that (TPPs) are at present complying with the emission norms.

As per the CSE analysis, another 3,365 MW capacity belonging to Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal is still at the very initial stages of compliance -- seven years after the emission norms were introduced. Except Jharkhand, the remaining four states in the eastern region have commissioned coal-based power plants of total 6,962 MW capacity after January 1, 2017. All these plants were built without a provision for FGD systems, despite the fact that the notification had been introduced in 2015.
 
The latest National Electricity Plan (NEP) for 2022-32 justifies the lackadaisical approach of the power generation companies by putting the onus on delays in implementation of the norms on several factors.

Aggarwal says that the unlikelihood of compliance by even 1 per cent of the sector at this point is disappointing, as enough opportunities have been given to the power plants to comply with the norms. She adds: “Any violation of the norms at this stage should be considered as a deliberate act signifying unwillingness to adhere to the norms.