“At the rate that they are going, 65 percent of them may not be able to comply even by this extended deadline,” Nivit Kumar Yadav, senior programme manager of CSE’s industrial pollution team said.
In December 2015, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had notified emission norms for four pollutants in the coal-based thermal power sector - particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), mercury, as well as for specific water consumption.
The deadline for meeting the norms was set for 2019, which was later extended till 2022 under pressure from the industry.
The norms categorise power plants into three groups – units installed before 2004, between 2004 and 2016, and to be commissioned after 2016.
Different emission and water discharge standards have been specified for each category. Units commissioned after January
1, 2017 have to meet the most stringent standards. Older and smaller units have to comply with relatively lenient norms compared to newer and bigger units – the rationale was the age of the plant and the need to retire these facilities, which meant that investment in improvement could be avoided.
The norms
Power stations installed before 2004 have to meet lenient PM and NOx norms: 100 mg/Nm3 and 600 mg/Nm3, respectively. Mercury standards do not apply to this category
Plants commissioned between January 1, 2004 and 2016 have to meet slightly tighter norms of 50 mg/Nm3 for PM, 450 mg/Nm3 for NOx, and 0.03mg/Nm3 for mercury
Both the categories have to meet a specific water consumption norm of 3.5m3/MWh.
Sulphur dioxide norms for both the categories are based on the unit size. Units of a size larger than 500 MW will need to meet 200 mg/Nm3 and those smaller, 600 mg/Nm3
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Coal Insights.
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This story is from the September 2020 edition of Coal Insights.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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