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Coal-fired power plants in India are spewing sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere way above the allowed limit. The biggest culprits are those built after January 1, 2017, which are also wayward in putting out nitrous oxides, data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shows (see table).
This brings into question the issue of installing ‘flue gas desulphurisation’ (FGD) in coal-fired plants, for which thermal power companies have managed to secure repeated extensions from the initial 2017 deadline.
India has 2,07,045 MW of coal and lignite-fired power plants, of which only 22 units with a total capacity of 9,280 MW – less than 5 per cent – have been fitted with FGD.
FGD benefits
According to the Centre for Atmospheric Science, IIT Delhi, an FGD unit can remove anywhere between 50 and 99.8 per cent of SOx emissions, depending on the power plant’s vintage. CEA data shows that most of the plants with FGD have been able to keep SO2 emissions below the norm – only NTPC’s Dadri units 1, 3 and 4 – each of 210 MW capacity – are wayward.
Sulphur dioxide is bad for health and the environment. “Short-term exposures to SO2 can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult. People with asthma, particularly children, are sensitive to these effects of SO2, says the US Environment Protection Agency. At high concentrations, SO2 can harm trees by damaging foliage and stunting growth. When the gas mixes with falling raindrops, we get a shower of sulphuric acid.
In December 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change stipulated SO2 emission norms for coal-based power plants, compliance with which is possible only with the installation of FGD.
“Phased implementation”
“The implementation of the emission norms, requiring the installation ofFGD technology, got delayed due to various techno-economic constraints faced by thermal power plants and further affected by the impact of Covid -19 pandemic,” the Ministry of Power told the Parliament in July.
The government initially decided on phased implementation of FGDs with maximum timelines up to December 2022 but later granted an extension of the time limit twice for implementation of the new emission norms for SO2 parameters up to December 2024, December 2025 and December 2026 for different categories of plants, based on their location.
In July 2022, the Centre for Atmospheric Science, IIT Delhi, recommended a “phased implementation” of FGDs across the country, the fifth phase ending in July 2034.
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