The Indian government has granted a two-year extension to all coal-based power plants for installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology which is used to curb sulphur emissions.
The deadline for FGD installation for retiring units (plants older than 25 years) has been extended to December 2027 and for non-retiring units to December 2026. However, there remains varying timelines in case of non-retiring units based on plant locality.
Under the non-retiring category, the power plants located within a 10 km radius of the National Capital Region (NCR) or cities with population of over one million would have to install FGD by December 2024 instead of December 2022.
For plants within a 10 km radius of critically populated areas, the new deadline has been pushed to December 2025 from December 2023. For the rest, the deadline is December 2026, instead of the last month of 2024.
This is the third time that relaxation in the form of timeline extension has been accorded to these power generators.
India had initially set a 2017 deadline for FGD installation for coal and lignite-based plants which was later changed to varying deadlines for different regions, ending in 2022, and further extended last year to a period ending 2025.
Penalty provision
Power producers that are planning to retire their plants before December 2027 would be exempted from installing FGD provided they submit an exemption request to the Central Pollution Control Board and Central Electricity Authority citing the grounds for retirement.
However, severe punishment has been mulled for the remaining plants if they fail to comply with the norms for reducing sulphur emission.
Accordingly, the power plants would be forcibly retired if the requirements are not met by 2027. In addition, the power plants near populated areas and New Delhi would have to pay penalties to operate after December 2024, while those in less polluted areas would be penalised after December 2026.
India’s total power generating capacity was assessed 404.13 gigawatt (GW) as on 31 July. Of this, coal-based plants with an installed capacity of 204.08 GW account for half of the capacity.
Nevertheless, these coal plants have shown little progress as regards installation of FGD technology.
Union Minister for Power and New Renewable Energy, RK Singh, while answering to question in the Rajya Sabha in March, informed that seven power companies have installed FGD in 20 units to control emissions of sulphur dioxide, with all the installations coming up prior to FY’22.
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