Centre Relaxes FGD Rule, Electricity Cost to Reduce by 25-30 Paise a Unit

The government's move to ease sulphur emission rules for most coal-fired power plants strikes a delicate balance between costs, climate and compliance and is expected to cut electricity costs by 25-30 paise per unit, officials said on Sunday.

- TDG NETWORK

In a gazette notification, the government has restricted the 2015 mandate of installing flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems that remove sulphur from power plants' exhaust gases, only to plants located within 10 kilometres of cities with a population exceeding one million.

Plants in critically polluted areas or non-attainment cities will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis while all other plants — accounting for nearly 79 per cent of India's thermal power capacity — are exempt from mandatory FGD installation.

The notification stated that the decision was made following a detailed analysis by the Central Pollution Control Board, which found increased carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the operation of existing control measures.

Industry officials said this would lead to differentiated compliance based on proximity to urban populations and the sulphur content of the coal used.