• Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) extended the deadline for coal-fired power plants to install equipment to cut sulphur emissions by two years.
• This was the third time that the Ministry has extended the deadline for the installation of pollution control technologies.

Coal-fired power plants in India

• At present, thermal power accounts for almost 60 per cent of India’s total installed power generation capacity.
• It is produced by burning fossil fuels like coal, gas, etc.
• It has been the centrepiece of India’s energy ecosystem for several decades largely because it is the cheapest natural resource and is abundant in India.

Potential

• India’s coal reserves are expected to last 100 years, compared to around 50 years for gas and about 16 years for oil.
• An expert group formed by NITI Aayog expects India’s coal-based power generation capacity to touch 250 gigawatts by 2030 from around 202 gigawatts currently.

Emissions from coal-fired power plan

• Several principal emissions result from coal combustion. These include:
• Sulphur dioxide (SO2), which contributes to acid rain and respiratory illnesses
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contribute to smog and respiratory illnesses
• Particulates, which contribute to smog, haze, and respiratory illnesses and lung disease
• Carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the primary greenhouse gas produced from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)
• Mercury and other heavy metals, which have been linked to both neurological and developmental damage in humans and other animals
• Fly ash and bottom ash, which are residues created when power plants burn coal

Why is the world turning against coal-fired power plants?

• The 2018 report by the IPCC warned against climate changes in the coming decades.
• It stressed on severely limiting the operation of coal-fired power plants by 2050 to limit global warming.
• Coal-based power plants are also a significant contributor to pollutants such as particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2).

Genesis

• The environment ministry had in 2015 set new emission norms and fixed deadlines to meet them.
• Since then, the deadlines have been extended thrice.
• A task force was constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It was mandated with the task of:
• categorising the existing thermal power plant of India and
• fixing a deadline by which power plants of each category are supposed to meet the new emission norms.
• The task force recommended creation of three categories of power plants based on their locations.
• The categorisation of power plants was done in April 2021 on the basis of an amendment to The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Summing up

• Through a government notification, India extended a deadline for coal-fired power plants to install equipment to cut sulphur emissions by two years.
• The process of eliminating sulphur compounds from the exhaust emissions of fossil-fuelled (coal-fired) power plants is known as flue gas desulphurisation (FGD).
• This is accomplished by including absorbent materials, which can eliminate up to 95% of the sulphur from the flue gas by scrubbing.

Key highlights

• In the notification, the Ministry set up three different timelines for three categories of thermal power plants for ensuring the installation of pollution-control technologies.
• For power plants within a 10 km radius of Delhi-NCR and million plus cities (Category A):
• The deadline has been extended to December 31, 2024, from the earlier deadline of December 2022.
• For power plants within a 10 km radius of critically polluted cities (Category B):
• The deadline has been extended to December 31, 2025, from the earlier December 31, 2023.
• For all other power plants across the country (Category C):
• The new deadline stands at December 31, 2026. The earlier timeline for such plants was December 31, 2024.
• The notification also extends the timeline until 2027 for retiring units (power plants that are over 25 years old or more) and 2026 for non-retiring units.

Concerns

• Environmentalists have raised red flags over the deadline extensions as it could potentially dent India’s emission targets.
• They argue that India’s National Clean Air Programme’s target of reducing air pollution by 20-30% by 2024 will never be achieved if the government gives repeated leeway to violators.
• With this extension, a clear message has gone from the Central Government to all power companies that they should not take environmental norms seriously.

Challenges in implementing flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology

• As per the government, following are the challenges in implementing FGD technology:
• Time period available for FGD commissioning was not sufficient if the deadlines were to be followed strictly.
• Limited availability of vendors.
• Price escalation due to the limited supply of components.
• The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the supply chain and manpower availability.